One thing we might note for Gordon's writing is that he used quite a lot of French quotation and commented on it, but never supplied the translation. Having read the French quotes I determined that they added meaning to the article, so I do not really understand why he did not translate them. The title mentions two nations, and this was, perhaps, one way of emphasizing their differences. However, one questions his "oversight."
The third writing is possibly the most telling in that it suggests that Canadians adopted the romanticization of the Northern Winter as a symbol of their national character. The severity of the weather was seen as responsible for producing a robust and courageous people in contrast to the weak and simpering southern neighbors in the warmer climate of the United States. It is interesting to note that the writers of the early colonization of Canada and the people who lived there all exaggerated the extreme weather and the dangers. In spite of this stretching of the truth, it is a reality that the northern climate has shaped Canadian culture in a very profound way. Business is seasonal, populations are somewhat migratory and social lives revolve around the changing seasons. We have even named a particularly northern affliction that used to be simply "cabin fever": SAD (seasonal affective disorder) caused by the low light of Canadian winters. So the romantic history of survivors in the great white north has become our Canadian identity.
What all these writings share is the idea that history is written by people, and is never totally objective or valid. When we read (or write) historical documents, we need to look Also at the surrounding culture, the background of the writer and the social structures and politics of the time. It is true that history of wars is written by the winners, so the losers always become the evil aggressors and the winners the champions...
If we read very carefully we may notice even more questionable material. Media literacy is now taught in the schools, because it is hoped that educating our youth about "sales pitches" in every medium will make them informed consumers, and that has become very important in a world of so many confusing choices. It is hoped by this that our young people will learn to think for themselves, to research and to question the persuasive voices of spokespeople, politicians and anyone else who has an interest in molding opinions. If history is slanted, what can we expect of the daily news. A case in point is the broadcasts of Altamira, which broadcasts from a totally opposing point-of-view. Their news is not our news and their history is also not our history. All we can do about this is learn to seek the truth.
References
Ramsay Cook, "1942 and All That: Making a Garden out of Wilderness"
Alan Gordon, "Heroes, History, and Two Nationalisms: Jacques Cartier"
Ken Coates and William Morrison, "Winter and the Shaping of Northern History: Reflections from the Canadian North."
God has given unto man as his position, who can doubt that when it shall be cultivated it will be a land of promise?" I hardly need to explain why I think that sentence is so revealing of the European "nature," but I will. It forthrightly articulates the renaissance European's conviction that man was chosen by the Creator to possess and dominate the rest of creation.
The adjective "northern" came to symbolize energy, strength, self-reliance, health, and purity, and its opposite "southern,' was equated with decay and effeminacy, even libertinism, and disease.
