The Rez Sisters

The third scene in The Rez Sisters takes place in Wasy’s general store—a location where all the women gather. The confrontations that occur here illustrate how gender roles operate on the reserve. Interpersonal issues between sisters come up due to men in their lives but, in such close quarters, they turn on one another. For instance, Emily has a black eye and Veronique is upset with her for not revealing what happened, rather than mad at the person who gave her the black eye. When Emily does reveal the story behind her black eye, it connects to a motif of naming. Emily is referred to as Emily Dictionary, by the other characters and in the list of characters at the beginning of the play. Veronique makes fun of this, saying she has a “circus of a name” (40). After talking about her physically abusive ex, Emily says she earned his last name, “Dadzinanare,” in part, by learning “to fight back” against him (53). This is just one example of a motif that explores the significance of names throughout the play, as characters struggle to define themselves on their own terms.

The theme of the role of languages is also included in the general store scene. When confronted with the idea of actually having to talk with Raymond, Annie has a strong emotional reaction. She says, “I can’t speak French” (58), which would stop her from conversing with her French-speaking son-in-law. This inability to communicate, she believes, would keep her from being able to live with her daughter and son-in-law, even if she won the bingo jackpot. This causes her to collapse “on the floor and [roll] around for a bit” (58). While the sisters move in and out of English, Cree, and Ojibway throughout the play, French is a language that is unfamiliar to all of them. Similar to the portrayal of names and naming, language presents an obstacle of communication for the characters, affecting their ability to know and feel known by others.

While most of this scene takes place inside the general store, the stage directions for lighting move the audience’s focus to the exterior of the general store in the middle of the women’s fight. Zhaboonigan flees the fight and, outside the store, she encounters “Nanabush, still in his guise as the seagull” (47). It is not necessary for Marie-Adele (who is nearing death) to be present for Zhaboonigan to converse with the trickster spirit. Her disability, which has ostracized her and allowed boys to abuse her, also results in being able to perceive the spirit that moves between worlds. This develops the theme of the trickster spirit’s role in the lives of the ill as well as the dying. As the women inside hurl insults at one another and defend themselves, Zhaboonigan also attempts to make herself understood by Nanabush and the audience. The circumstances of Zhaboonigan’s sexual assault closely resemble the details of the 1971 murder of Helen Betty Osborne. Just as Zhaboonigan’s confession is overlooked by the women arguing inside the store, no suspects were charged for Osborne’s murder until 1987, a year after the premiere of The Rez Sisters. The identical details between the real murder case and Zhaboonigan’s assault, including the use of a screwdriver as an assault weapon, are often interpreted as a statement by Highway on the injustice and mishandling of Osborne’s case, and as a lament for the violence perpetrated against Indigenous women throughout history and in modern times.

The women’s shared determination to get to the bingo game and win the jackpot emphasizes their financial distress and desperation for change. Even as the women insult one another over their disappointments in love, their suffering at the hands of friends and family, and their personal failures, the sisters all share similar hopes and dreams. The Band Council’s refusal to fund their trip simultaneously emphasizes how these women feel unsupported by the formal institutions of their community and how their motivations for winning are rooted in the conflicting forces of self-interest and community improvement.