The Acadian’s did not stand a chance against the whim of the French and English political powers of the time. Both of the readings are chronological in manner, giving the reader an insight into the birth of the Acadian right through to the attempted dismantling of the Acadian identity and then the slow and arduous task of recreating what once was. What is very apparent is the devastation that occurred for the Acadians when they were deported.
Griffith’s examines the creation of the Acadian; their arrival to Nova Scotia as settlers, not yet having developed the name Acadian[1] to their acquired identity as being one encompassing great economic success as farmers, healthy people with abundance of good food to eat, importers of quality goods, established generationally, and existing with the belief that they were a neutral entity with no allegiance to England or France specifically.[2] It was shocking to the reader how the English decided that it was time the Acadians were removed and then the actual act of taking these people away from the land that they had cultivated over generations. Not only had the Acadians lost their homes and material possessions but they were now without their people and acquired customs. One could almost compare this act to the assimilation of the Indigenous people, in a loose manner; in comparison was the lack of immunity in the Acadians to the diseases such as cholera and small pox, which resulted in mass death when the Acadians were dispersed among the other colonies.[3] The timeline by the CBC demonstrates the control of the land being a constant back and forth between France and England.[4]
One of the most complicated things unfolding is the ability to decisively articulate the lengthy article by Griffith’s into a one page journal entry. The article is very rich with information that carries the reader through the development of the Acadian people who are somewhat out-of-sight and out-of-mind from the Europeans, having a distinct society with a self sufficient economy; it is of the opinion of the reader that this in itself gave rise to the creation of the Acadian.[5] The first thing that came into the reader’s mind, after having read the article and the website pages on the Acadians, was that the plight of the Acadian is similar to Paradise Lost.
[1] Naomi Griffiths, “Acadian Identity: The Creation and Re-creation of Community,” Dalhousie Review 73, no.3 (Fall 1993): 329.
[2] Naomi Griffiths, “Acadian Identity: The Creation and Re-creation of Community,” Dalhousie Review 73, no.3 (Fall 1993): 335-336, 341.
[3] Naomi Griffiths, “Acadian Identity: The Creation and Re-creation of Community,” Dalhousie Review 73, no.3 (Fall 1993): 338.
[4] http://www.cbc.ca/acadian/timeline.html accessed (October 8, 2016).
[5] Naomi Griffiths, “Acadian Identity: The Creation and Re-creation of Community,” Dalhousie Review 73, no.3 (Fall 1993): 330, 335.