Commentary on "The Onandaga Madonna"


The Onondaga Madonna paints a vivid picture of the Canadian government's "colonial gaze" of the First Nations people (Archibald-Barber, 2010). Scott's work portrays his (along with most of the Canadian government's) incredibly biased belief behind assimilation; this belief generally was that the white man's way of life is better than the "Indian's", thus the government felt it was their right to revoke all of the First Nations people's rights and conform them to a more British-style, colonial life.
This poem has great relevance to English 222 because it portrays the conflicted views of Canadian culture around the time shortly after Confederation. At the time of the poem, the colonial view was considered the "correct" view, and every culture that deviated from the colonial view was considered "wrong" and needed to be "fixed". Canadian culture was idealized as a homogenous entity that allowed no variation away from this idealization. Thus, the government had a problem with the culture of First Nations people.
The term "Onondaga" (link to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onondaga) refers to a group of First Nations people, probably a group that Scott had knowledge of from working with them as his job to assimilate the people. The term "Madonna" refers to the Christian faith's representation of Jesus' mother: the Virgin Mary. The entity that Scott describes with the title "Onondaga Madonna" suggests the clash of the two cultures, which represent the feelings of rest of the poem: the Canadian culture versus the First Nations culture.

Aboriginal woman and child


The mood of the poem is quite demoralizing with regards to the First Nations culture. The author makes his colonial mindset about the First Nations people quite apparent. In this poem, Scott is describing an Onondaga woman who has refused to assimilate with the Madonna (Christian) culture.
Scott Describes the First Nations woman as strong when Scott describes the woman's physical appearance as "[standing] full-throated" (line 1). This image portrays a mother (Madonna) who is sturdy and strong, however, this notion is contradicted when Scott adds that she is standing with "careless pose" (line 1), which begins to reveal his true negative opinions of this woman that he is describing. Perhaps these contradictory descriptions describe Scott's conflicted views of the people as he began to get to know them more.
Like many of his fellow coworkers from the department of Indian Affairs, Scott felt their actions to the First Nations people were justified because he thought that his actions were improving the lives of many people from their "weird and waning race" (line 2).
Scott goes on to describe the mother as a "tragic savage" (line 2), which represents the predicted fate of the First Nations people as "tragic", while maintaining the negative representation of the people as "savages". Scott may describe the fate of the First Nations people as tragic as a way of justifying his cause for intervention of the people: because they will have a tragic loss if the intervention is not successful.
Scott goes on to describe that the woman's "rebel lips are dabbled with the stains/Of feuds and forays and her father's woes" (lines 7 and 8). These lines reveal Scott's opinion of the woman as a rebel, as she is resisting the assimilation of the colonized culture that Scott idealizes. The author refers to the woman's ancestor's past as "woes", implying that they have made mistake in the past, resisting the (arrogantly-considered "superior") colonized life.
Consistent with the poem's degrading theme towards First Nations people, Scott refers to the mother's baby as a "primal warrior" (line 12). Once again, this shows how the colonized people's racism, and their inability to see the First Nations people as equals, or anything close.
Overall, this poem is a gross blow to the First Nations people, which is consistent with many colonial views at the time. Perhaps when Scott describes that the child "will not rest" (line 14), he is referring to his personal experiences working closely with the First Nations people to attempt to force assimilation. Revealing this personal aspect of the poem gives depth that shows the author's passion with regards to this topic.