Unity Within Symbolism: How Unity Is Presented Through Symbols (Essay Example)

What is unity? Unity is the state of being united or joined as a whole. The topic of unity can be seen in different texts and is connected to other several topics such as family, trust, and support. For example, unity is spotted in The Marrow Thieves by Cheri Dimaline when the protagonist Frenchie is constantly strengthening his relationships with whoever he meets or encounters during the journey of his run from the recruiters. Unity can also be detected in The Grizzlies directed by Miranda de Pencier when the Indigenous students work together as a team while playing lacrosse with the help of their teacher. Finally, unity is seen in the urban legend “The American Pepper” when a foreign family receives a silver container which leads them to work as a group to figure out what exactly the powder found inside could be. Altogether, the texts The Marrow Thieves, The Grizzlies, and “The American Pepper” utilize symbolism to highlight the importance of uniting with others in order to accomplish goals.

First and foremost, The Marrow Thieves utilize symbolism to highlight the importance of uniting with others in order to accomplish goals. The supporting character, Miig, explains that “dreams get caught in the webs woven in your bones.” (pg 18) and also adds the fact that only Indigenous people are born with these dreams because “their DNA weaves them into the marrow.” (pg 19). This shows that the bone marrow is a symbol that represents unity because it is an important object that all Indigenous people share in common. As mentioned before, the main goal in this novel is to avoid being harvested of this special bone marrow so the theme of unity is a reminder to Frenchie that he is not alone in this situation and he can trust himself to align with Miig’s group and the council. Another symbol in The Marrow Thieves that represents unity is the Indigenous braid. This symbol is present when Rose willingly brushes and rebraids Frenchie’s hair (pg 166). The inclusion of the braid and the small moment shared between the pair illustrates unity with others because it is an instance of building relationships. In addition to sharing similarities with others, the action of braiding made Frenchie feel “more nishin” (pg 166) which expresses the fact that unity can bring people closer and keep them in place. All in all, the goal to survive running from the recruiters was accomplished by Frenchie because he was able to use his bone marrow as motivation to keep running and build trust with his community.

Proceeding to the next text, The Grizzlies utilizes symbolism to highlight the importance of uniting with others in order to accomplish goals. The main symbol in The Grizzlies that unites the teacher and students together is the lacrosse stick. The teacher Russ is constantly expressing his concern for his students in many ways and this can be seen when Russ grabs his lacrosse stick in an attempt to use it as a defence weapon against the abuse he witnesses going on at Kyle’s house (12:28-13:14). The symbol of the lacrosse stick represents accomplishing goals because Russ was successful in his purpose to change the lives of his students when he first introduced the game of lacrosse. As a result, the topic of unity ties in with the relationship between Russ and his students because he earns respect from them by demonstrating his interest, support, and care. Another way the lacrosse stick represents accomplishing goals was by uniting the lacrosse team together. During the lacrosse nationals game, Kyle calls a timeout and gathers the team together to come up with a plan. The game continues and the team successfully scores a point for themselves using their strategy (1:36:57-1:38:47). It is no secret that the lacrosse team members have individually suffered from their low quality of life and unstable home environments. The team members usually turn to harmful substances to help cope with their problems but are now using the symbol of a lacrosse stick to accomplish their goal of honouring their former teammate by scoring one point. To summarize, the goals set in The Grizzlies were to heal the Indigenous students from their traumatic lifestyle and also score one point for their late friend during the national lacrosse game. These goals were successfully accomplished with the use of the lacrosse stick symbol because it was a method for Russ and the students to spend more quality time with each other and also create a good strategic plan during the nationals.

Lastly, “The American Pepper'' utilizes symbolism to highlight the importance of uniting with others in order to accomplish goals. One symbol found in “The American Pepper'' is the powder from the silver container. When Murna and her family gather around the parcel in line 41, they start to create different conclusions together as to what this unknown powder could be. Murna’s brother, Arinas, says “It must be pepper!” in line 58 which causes the family to collectively agree and plan to use the powder for their family stew later in line 62. The powder packaged in the parcel represents accomplishing goals by uniting with others because it is the main reason why the family was brought together in the first place. The concept of unity is an effect of the foreign family sharing similar ideas and putting their mysterious powder to good use later on. Speaking of working together, another symbol in “The American Pepper'' would be the English letter. Along with the silver container, there is a letter written in English found in the parcel in lines 32 to 34. The family does not speak the language and can not understand the content but fortunately find help from their doctor who is able to translate the letter. This symbol of a letter and the unity with the doctor helped the family accomplish their goals of discovering the real cause of the powder. Ultimately, the benefit of the family uniting with the doctor is the showcase of different sets of skills as he was practically the missing piece to the family’s puzzle.

Given all of these points, the three texts have successfully executed the vast concept of unity perfectly through various examples. The bone marrow, braid, lacrosse stick, powder, and letter were all significant symbols that presented the goals of the characters in each text and assisted them in reaching these goals. One little object that holds some form of importance can bring so many people and dreams together which is why the reason for the topic of unity and the link to symbolism is so important.