Sense of Place in Rudy Wiebe’s The Temptations of Big Bear

Abstract

The Temptations of Big Bear by Rudy Wiebe focuses on Big Bear’s struggle against the European settlers who take over the land inhabited by the Natives for thousands of years. This impressive depiction of the Western Canadian history is revitalised using vivid portrayal of Canadian prairies highlighting ‘place’ as a crucial aspect in this novel. This paper, therefore, aims to highlight the various portrayals of place in the novel The Temptations of Big Bear before progressing to examine the relationship between the place and its inhabitants depicted in the novel. In order to attain these two objectives, two concepts are applied in this study - place (physical setting) and sense of place (territorial bonding). The findings of this study reveal that the places portrayed in the novel can be classified into two main categories: landscape and dwelling place of buffalo. Then, with the concept of sense of place, the relationship between the Natives and each of these places is foregrounded. Most importantly, this study reveals that the relationship between the place and the inhabitants are bidirectional.