Third Section (Cultural History and Tourists)

Question 1

PART 1. “So who are your mother’s people

Answer 1

“So who are your mother’s people of the sea then?” Alana asked me.
(GAP) I explained the ancestral story as clearly as I could, “The Cape Breton Islanders were mostly families from the Highlands in Scotland who were forced to leave their homes in the 1800’s.

Mathair’s’ family were all ancestral fisherman, sailing Cape Island boats in search of lobsters and cod. Her brothers all had large families to sustain. In fact, my uncle Bryce had thirteen children to support while he worked with my ‘dadai’ on our boat , ‘Jenny Lynn’”. (GAP)

Question 2

PART 2. Alana was intrigued and followed up with a question about what

Answer 2

Alana was intrigued and followed up with a question about what the people of the sea were like and the importance of the ‘boat’.

As I told her about the boats racing out to sea like hungry dogs chasing after a snack, I could picture Uncle Bryce guiding the boat between the floating pans of ice and my ‘dadai’ in the stern.

I look back at the moments where for hours, i would observe the sea through the large window of our old house and wonder about what adventures ‘Dadai’ and uncle Bryce were having out at sea. Mathair, my sisters and i were always so busy around the house however; working on repairing clothes, preparing food or just looking for the return of the boat. (GAP)

Question 3

PART 3. Alana stood up with a yawn and said “Alright,

Answer 3

Alana stood up with a yawn and said “Alright, I know about dad’s family history, but why did you choose to leave Cape Breton for Harwich Port?”.

How do you explain to your own daughter that restlessness that you get at fifteen looking for an imaginative world where books such as ‘Ivanhoe’ inspire?

Each of my sisters felt the need for change from raising hens to growing vegetables. When the Seafood restaurant opened, it catered for the tourists who flooded the island during the summer time.

Question 4

PART 4. I met people who were not classified as “our

Answer 4

I met people who were not classified as “our people”, but they were fun, carefree and well educated. Sometimes my sisters and I would stay out late on hot summer nights and try to dodge ‘Mathair’s’ questions about whom we were sleeping with and how we would come home “Knocked up”.

‘Dadai’ understood however as we talked softly to him late at night about our ambitions beyond the island.

Question 5

PART 5. I cleared my throat and said to Alana “Then one day

Answer 5

I cleared my throat and said to Alana “One day your father and his family came to Cape Breton for a summer holiday. I was swept off my feet by your father’s smile.

I didn’t care that ‘Mathair’ believed he was not one of ‘her people’ or that she couldn’t understand I wanted a life outside of ‘the sea’ at Cape Breton”.
(GAP) “So that’s why we never see our grandmother, but what happened to your ‘Dadai’? Alana asked me.