And my hammer.

 Hi everybody! I'm back with a brand new topic right from the rez! This time we will be having a look at the representation of sexism in The Rez Sisters. Apart from all the other things we have been talking about, it can be mostly seen in Pelajia and her apparently “inability” to rule the reservation.

The character of Pelajia, as well as the others, but we are talking about her, right?, experiments a big change after the trip to Toronto.

At the beginning of the text, Pelajia complains about the reserve and her life there, for her everything is gray and static, and she seems to have turned part of the landscape “Ah, but I'm just plain old Pelajia Rosella Patchnose, and I'm here in plain, dusty, boring old Wasaychigan Hill … Wasy … waiting … waiting … “ (3)

She also talks about her children and her husband working far from the reserve, feeling like she is the only one left behind.

Pelajia and Nanabush

Then, Pelajia is always complaining about the dusty roads and how the chief promised to pave them and how they are still full of dirt.

“Pelajia: When I win me that jackpot next time we play bingo in Espanola... (…) I'm going to put that old chief to shame and build me a nice paved road right here in front of my house. Jet black. Make my lawn look real nice.

(…)

An if that old chief don't wanna make paved roads for all my sisters around here … “ (8)

At this point, Pelajia is just talking, not really thinking of actually doing anything. But after the trip she experiments a big transformation and challenges the chief's authority with the support of the other women.

“Pelajia: It's these dirty roads (… ). If I were the chief around here, that's the very first thing I would do.

Philomena: Oh go on. You'll never be chief.

Pelajia: And why not?

Philomena: Because you're a woman.

Pelajia: Bullshit! If that useless old chief of ours was a woman, we'd see a few things get done around here. We'd see our women working, we'd see our men working, we'd see our young people sober on Saturday nights, and we'd see our Nanabush dancing up and down the hill on shiny paved roads.

Annie: Pelajia for chief! I'd vote for you.” (113-114)

Pelajia seems to really care for the reserve and has ideas about what it should be done to improve people's lives. Unfortunately, she's unable to achieve that position in which she could act because she is a woman.

Here Pelajia encounters once again one of the big problems depicted in this play, that is, the clash of white and native culture. But we will see how and why this happens later on, in another entry.

What do you think about Pelajia? Do you like her as much as I do? Do you think she would be a good chief and get shiny paved roads? Should we already create the 'Pelajia fan club'?