Race, Place, and Identity in the Nineteenth-Century Short Story - Literature and Painting in Quebec: From Imagery to Identity - page 49

by 'assise,' 'paisiblement,' and 'jeunes.' Both techniques, the visual and
the figurative, serve to link the characters to their natural setting, as does
the insistence on viewpoint in the scene where Saguima witnesses the
departure of his old tribesman: 'Saguima longtemps suit des yeux le
vieux de la forêt qui l'abandonne. Il voit le canot qui s'éloigne, et avec lui
ses espérances. Il regarde encore; quelque chose apparaît au loin, comme
un point noir, sur une vague; puis tout se confond avec l'horizon; puis
plus rien … Il est seul.' (64; For a long time Saguima's eyes follow the old
man of the forest who is abandoning him. He sees the canoe going away,
and with it his hopes. He looks again; something appears in the distance,
like a black dot, on a wave; then everything fades into the horizon; then
nothing at all … He is alone.) The visuality of the scene is underscored
not only by the various expressions that denote seeing ('suit des yeux,' 'Il
voit,' 'Il regarde'), but especially by the visual effects that betray the
viewpoint and even the expressions of the character ('quelque chose,'
'comme un point noir,' 'plus rien'). Although mediated by the narrator,
the passage signals the expert use of the technique of free indirect dis-
course, highlighted by the present tense of the character's perspective
rather than the past tense of the narrator's. If Saguima is described by the
narrator as 'alone,' it is because Louise has contracted smallpox, a curse
brought on the Amerindians by Europeans (63). Again Saguima saves
Louise's life, but at the expense of his own; as he languishes near death,
however, hope is raised in a scene reversing the departure witnessed by
Saguima, in which Louise perceives the arrival of a canoe:
Elle mesure d'un regard effrayant l'étendue de la rivière, et cherche à en
sonder la profondeur. Avancée sur le tronc d'un arbre renversé dans l'eau,
elle allait peut-être s'y précipiter, quand elle aperçut au loin un canot qui
venait de son côté. Bientôt elle put distinguer une robe noire et reconnaître
le vieux de la forêt. Quelques minutes de plus et le canot touche au rivage.
Oh! Comme le cœur de Louise tressaillit d'allégresse quand elle reconnut
le père Piquet, celui qui avait guidé ses premiers pas dans la voie du salut.
C'est lui qui vient encore sauver son enfant et donner la vie éternelle à
celui qui fut son libérateur. [68-9; With a frightened gaze she measures the
expanse of the river and tries to sound its depth. Advancing on a tree
trunk fallen into the water, she was perhaps going to jump in when she
perceived in the distance a canoe coming towards her. Soon she could dis-
tinguish a black cassock and recognize the old man of the forest. Several
minutes more and the canoe reaches the bank. Oh! How Louise's heart
quivered with elation when she recognized Père Piquet, he who had guided