5.1.1 The great famine......................37
5.1.2 The great pain............................39
Chapter FiveKARMA AND RESPONSIBILITY OF THE IHALMIUT
5.1 Eco-ethical Trauma and Misery of the Ihalmiut
Government agents,missionaries,and fur traders all descended onto the Barrensin the middle of the 20th century,as Mowat describes via an ecocritical lens in Peopleof the Deer.This forced the indigenous people into the fringes by robbing them oftheir means of subsistence and cultural identity.These local inhabitants from the area lost both their cultural identity and means of life.The extinction of the Ihalmiuts isimminent.
The traders were the first to make a profit from the sale of weapons,while thethe Deer People lost their skill in the use of traditional weapons.Worse still,thetraditional weapons that had lasted for countless centuries strictly constrained theamount of hunting hunters could do,keeping the demand within the basic limits,while the destructive nature of modern weapons greatly disrupted this balance,andthe importation of modern weapons meant a break in the lifeblood of the Ihalmiuts.Inaddition,the predatory resource trade brought merchants greater profits than the saleof weapons,while the indigenous people gradually lost the basis of their existence.Deer were no longer hunted for survival,but for trade.After the deer’s doom,it wasthe fox’s turn,and fox skins,which greatly exceeded demand,created a rotten market,reduced profits,and merchants quickly disappeared.As the fundamental ecologicalprocesses are destroyed and the source of life no longer flows abundantly,theIhalmiuts,who have lost their traditional hunting skills,are forced to reach the end ofthe racial tragedy in the sharply reduction of the deer.
Chapter SixCONCLUSION
People of the Deer is Farley Mowat’s observations and personal experiences inthe Canadian Arctic Barrens.Additionally,he uses a documentary narrative method tovisually depict the lives and customs of Canadian Eskimos,namely the Ihalmiuts,showing their fragility of wildlife,ecological environments,and indigenouscivilizations.This novel forces the Canadian government to give these areasadditional consideration and security.As an internationally ecological writer,Mowatis interested in the interaction between people and the natural world.He records hisexperiences in the Barrens on various perspectives in an effort to advocate theecological justice and to appeal much more attention on the nature and the situation ofthe Ihalmiuts.This thesis aims to explore and interpret People of the Deer from theperspective of ecological ethics.After text detailed analysis,the conclusion of theresearch can be summarized in the following way:
Firstly,the thesis discusses the ecological stability and balance in the Ihalmiuts’life and in their interaction with the nature.The Deer People is the Ihalmiut’s anothername,which indicates the very close relationship between them and the deer.TheIhalmiuts lived on venison and were clothed in deer skins;in short,their food,clothing and shelter all came from deer,and deer’s fat was their main resource ofsurvival to drive away the long dark nights and harsh winters,and their survival wasfirmly tied to the deer.However,the Ihalmiuts regard deer also as the host of this land,rather than positioning as the ruler of the world.Based on the theory of“Reverencefor Life”claimed by Albert Schweitzer,it is obvious that the Ihalmiut,despite theirheavy reliance on reindeer,respect the rules of nature by not overhunting and byutilizing the ingenuity of the animals to the fullest.Furthermore,their respect fornature is acknowledged on a more spiritual level.
Secondly,this thesis carefully analyses the severe damage caused to the life andecology of the Ihalmiut people by the white man’s invasion towards the interiorwilderness.There are numerous trading posts established by white traders in theregion.They started by selling the Deer People new weapons to replace their oldhunting implements,which
