50 pages • 1 hour read
Katherena VermetteThe Break
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Break
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses sexual and physical violence and racism against Indigenous people.
The Break,” as a barren piece of land, exists between the traditional reservations of the Métis people and Winnipeg, which represents the colonized land by white Europeans. It serves as a motif within the novel to illustrate the characters’ struggles against racism and grapples with Indigenous Identity in a Colonized Culture. Stella, who lives on the edge of this land, struggles with her own identity as she has seemingly lost ties to her family through her marriage with Jeff. In Chapter 1, the Break appears to be “mostly a blank slate of white stretched out to the house beyond” due to the snow (8). The imagery of the white snow that covers the land between the hydro towers and other houses reflects processes of cultural erasure, depicting the impact of colonization on its inhabitants, including Stella. The houses were originally “built for Eastern European immigrants,” but, once Indigenous peoples moved to the neighborhoods, the immigrants “slowly starting creeping out of the neighborhood” (3-4). The word “creeping” implies stealth, as though the Europeans are quietly escaping a threat, highlighting their negative perceptions of Indigenous people. Although the idea was to integrate the white population with the Indigenous one to create an inclusive community, the Indigenous people were not welcomed. Just as Stella struggles to find a balance between her white husband and her Indigenous family, the local community around the Break struggles to integrate with the European immigrants due to racial prejudices.
Dreams
Throughout the novel, the characters are constantly discussing their dreams, which tend to be not only a way for them to interpret their memories but also how they stay connected with each other. Dreams symbolize their desires, such as Cheryl’s wish to reconnect with Rain, and particularly their desire to heal from their traumas by maintaining a connection to those who matter most to them. Cheryl dreams of being in the bush with Joe, and she encounters a “shadowed face [that] kept shape-shifting in the snow” (110). The faces would change between her daughters and her sister, which illustrates her desire to be connected with them. However, the shadowed figure runs away from her, and Cheryl’s inability to catch up creates stress and frustration; the dream symbolizes yet refutes her desire.
Dreams also allow the characters to escape their waking life and grapple with their emotions. Phoenix, despite being awake, claims to be existing within a dream as she thinks of her sisters. Here, her dreams represent her desire to feel a sense of belonging. Similar to Phoenix, during the morning after the assault, Ziggy stays within a dream-like state until she “wakes up” at the hospital. She dreams of being with her grandfather in the bush, and it is so vivid that “she can smell […] her Moshoom’s wood stove burning” as though she is actually there (130). She craves to establish her waking life within the culture of her people. In these memories, or dreams, she remembers moments of happiness with her family. As symbols of the characters’ desires, vermette uses dreams to explore how memory can be used as a tool of healing or escape.
Wolves
Wolves in the novel symbolize strength and a connection to the natural world. vermette presents wolves through the lens of Cheryl and Rain; Cheryl paints the women in her family as wolves because they “teach humility—they teach that we are all in this together, all part of the same whole” (118). Just as wolves exist in packs, the Charles/Traverse family are their own close-knit group that rely on each other for strength. Her act of painting wolves depicts how Cheryl maintains a connection to the natural world while living in an urban area. Cheryl’s ability to view the people in her life in the form of wolves depicts how connected she is to their emotions and to their souls. For example, for Cheryl, Rain “would have made a good wolf” due to her free-spirited and strong demeanor (254). This symbol of strength and connection to the natural world illustrates the importance of protecting Indigenous beliefs through the passing down of values and culture. Many of the characters desire to stay connected to their homelands, so vermette’s representation of wolves illustrates the possibility of maintaining this connection through communal strength and a relationship with nature.
