Written by James Boyden, The Orenda is setup in the 17^th century Canada. The book presents the complex relationship between two of the tribes of the new world and the French colonists. Before you continue reading further, let me tell you that although The Orenda is an admirable work this is not a fan review of the book. The blog is a critical review of one of the most famous writings of Joseph Boyden, The Orenda.

Joseph Boyden is a Canadian author who claims Indigenous heritage and often advocates for the First Nations of North America in his writing. The Orenda, like much of Boyden’s work, is set in central Ontario, Canada. While the book is skilfully written and compelling, it is also incredibly violent and graphically depicts the violent nature of the tribes during the period of the fur trade. Despite its strengths, the book does exhibit some bias. At times, Boyden seems to suggest that the colonization of the New World by Europeans was inevitable, and that the disappearance of the Wendat people (also known as the Huron, Wyandot, and Wyandotte) was predetermined and unavoidable. The story of Orenda revolves primarily around three themes: war, religion, and colonization. Boyden presents the idea that the eradication of Indigenous culture was unavoidable, and that the colonization of Canada was essential for its emergence and development as a nation.

In the language of the indigenous tribes, “Orenda” means the life force or the soul. Wendat and Haudenosaunee are the names of two indigenous nations and The Orenda is a story of violence between the two indigenous nations and its consequences. The book is narration of events through the perspectives of three characters, Bird, a warrior and leader of a Wendat Village; Snowfalls, a Haudenosaunee girl; and Christophe (named Crow by Bird), a Jesuit missionary. The family members of Bird were murdered by a group of Haudenosaunee community. He (Bird) swears to avenge them by killing one hundred of the Haudenosaunee members. He attacks a Haudenosaunee village to avenge his family members and captures Snow Falls as a war captive. Bird later adopts Snow Falls as her daughter, as it was a custom among the first nations to capture a member of the enemy tribe and adopt them as their own, for the killed family member. Christophe is a Jesuit missionary, who had come to live and preach the message of one-true god among the Huron. Huron was the name given to the Wendat people by the French, who thought connecting them to the one-true god was necessary in order to civilize the “sauvages”. Christophe intends to civilize the heathens by converting them, and fearing this Bird and Gosling, an Anishinaabe healer, plans to kill him, but Bird neds up saving him. With the passing of time, Snow Falls accepts Bird as his father and later marries Carries an Axe. Christophe converts many Huron to the Christian faith and dies a martyr in an attack from the Haudenosaunee people. Snow falls also gets killed. Bird and Gosling escape to an island where she gives birth to twins and leads the survivors to the Anishinaabe, her people.

The book presents Haudenosaunee as a violent, war-loving, brutal tribe. They were sworn enemy of the Wendats and were also hostile towards the French Colonists. The Wendats lived in the region stretching from Georgian Bay in the north to Lake Simcoe in the east. The Wendat traded corn, tobacco, and other food crops with other tribes and produced fishing nets, hides and fur. They were present in an important geographical location essential for trade and knowing this fact they tolled other tribes for conducting business in those areas. Due to the geographical location and leading fur production, the French joined allies with the Hurons. Huron was a name given by the French to the Wendats, meaning boar’s head from the hairstyle of the Wendat men. As the fur trade flourished, the Hurons gained riches and became powerful diplomatic traders and a dominant military force, The Iroquois wanted to become a major trader in the fur trade business and disrupt the French and Wendat relations. Considering this, the Wendat always feared attacks from the Haudenosaunee (the Haudenosaunee are commonly called as the Iroquois). They used to constantly raid the Huron villages; as it is mentioned in the book, the relationship between the two tribes is pretty violent, and many members had to lose their loved ones. The revenge motive for the murder of a family member was a strong reason for the never-ending cycles of war. Bird lost his family in am attack on his village, and he attacked Snow Falls’ village to avenge his family members, and both lost their families. The Iroquois attacked the Huron allies to disrupt the French alliance with them. The Algonquins who were responsible for scouting Christophe to Bird’s village fled away when they reached near a Haudenosaunee village. The Wendat had strong relationships with the Algonquins, who used to provide passage for the French to the Wendats by protecting them through Haudenosaunee lands. One of the other reasons the Iroquois hated and attacked the French colonists was due to the collaboration of Samuel de Champlain with Hurons and Algonquins in war with the Iroquois in order to strengthen New France’s relationships with the Huron and the Algonquin tribes. Thus, securing an enmity from savages who were warlike and intensely rude in manners would further cause New France’s fall.

The book has presented natives as savages, two-legged animals who are human in appearance only and are extremely violent and war-liking creatures. In fact, the Orenda is the most violent book I have read till now. The mission of Christophe’s life is to convert the savages to the Christian faith and save them. However, the main purpose was not saving them but converting them and easily controlling them. The Jesuits were linguists who learned aboriginal languages and lived among them and persuaded them to convert to Christianity in order to have a greater control. The Jesuit’s observation of the native people was often biased. Father, Pierre Biard, one of the Jesuit pioneers in North America, describes the nations as uncivilized and describes the native people as vengeful, ignorant, lazy, profane and treacherous. Father Biard further says that those people (native Americans) possess no arts, and are pathetic in every occupation and considers them hardly above beasts. However, his tone changes when the Jesuits are driven out of Acadia, in 1616 he describes the native Indians as ‘our savages’ who are physically handsome and well-built and can become good Christians and attain salvation. Another argument is given that the conditions of indigenous people will improve once they convert to the Christian faith and leave their pagan ways, as conversion will make them more civilized, but the opposite is observed.  In their native traditions, women had opportunities of equal participation, in some places they were even leaders but after the arrival of Christian faith the society became more patriarchal and women rights decreased. In fact, the Huron women enjoyed more autonomy and respect as compared to the contemporary white women. In Dispersed But, Not destroyed: A History of Seventeenth-Century Wendat People, Kathryn Maggie Labelle quotes Bruce Trigger, who says in the east women lost power due to their dependency on Jesuits as they lost their men in war with the Iroquois.

Boyden, in his book, the Orenda gives the idea that the disappearance of Huron was destined due to their own doings, selfishness. However, this is not accurate. The Huron existed as one of the largest nations when the French first arrived in the early 1600s and disappeared in the late 1640s. In the 1620s, Huron produced half of all the furs traded but when the epidemic hit in 1630s, both Huron and Iroquois suffered loss of many lives but in the wars that followed after, Huron lost many men as the French did not come to their help and also as a result of excess conversion. The diseases brought by colonists to Huron villages and the betrayal of colonists in the war by not fighting with them are also reasons for the disappearance of Huron. Hence, the Huron federation dispersed in 1649 as a result of diseases, wars, betrayal and excessive conversion.

In conclusion, “The Orenda” is a remarkable literary work that transports readers to a period of pre-federation Canadian era. It delves into the turbulent times of the fur trade and frequent violent clashes between the Huron/Wendat and the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois tribes. The author, Joseph Boyden, presents a reasonably accurate depiction of historical events, but his portrayal of the Haudenosaunee as a relentlessly violent and antagonistic tribe, the impact of Christian conversion on the Wendat people, and the inevitable extinction of the Huron people are not entirely accurate.