The Game of Silence

In The Game of Silence, writing systems stand in opposition to oral traditions, and this dichotomy becomes symbolic of the differences between the white settlers and the Ojibwe community. White society systematizes language and uses it as both a record and a weapon. By locking the Ojibwe people into a written contract that uses unfamiliar language, white colonizers trick the Ojibwe people and rob them of their ancestral lands. Ultimately, the white government uses language as a trap. By contrast, the Ojibwe people rely on memory and oral storytelling to keep the legacy of their history alive, retelling “stories, songs, [and] the words to promises and treaties. Everyone memorized all that was important (20). Because “memory was Ojibwe writing” (20), it is clear that, unlike the white colonizers, the Ojibwe people trust each other to be honest and faithful to the integrity of the story.

The writing systems and oral traditions that Omakayas is learning are indicative of her role in a new life in which white people live alongside Indigenous communities—at least, until those white societies force the Indigenous communities from the land. Omakayas is of a newer generation of Ojibwe who are more accustomed to the influence of white society.