Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1998. [Vol. 5.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 25)
Studies - Szabolcs Szilágyi: Verbal Versus Non-Verbal Aspects in The Rez Sisters and Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing
come to your sister's rescue at that bar seventeen years ago, huh, Spooky Lacriox? (90-91) In these lines the traditional native view clashes with that of the colonised world in a somewhat usual way, but there are two interesting points that could be mentioned here: a) the much finer and sophisticated way of expressing the traditional views in Simon's case versus the much simpler way of thinking in Spooky's case which might reflect that the less smart one is the easier prey for the new ideas he might be; and b) the lack of capital letter at the beginning of the word Bible which might indicate Highway's own personal attachments—though it is only appearent in the written text, the treatment of colonizing religion is clearly treated with despise. The person who almost entirely lacks the skills for verbal communication is one of the most controvesrial figures of Dry Lips. Dickie Bird Halked symbolizes the desperate need of a nation hoping to express itself, yet the means he/it finds follows the wrong structure, omits grammatical rules, and ends in a kind of dead-end street which is not so surprising if one traces these inadequacies back to Dickie's past. Although everybody knows who the 17-year-old Dickie Bird's real father was and that his mother had a husband after whom he had been named, he has always been treated more or less as a bastard but it does not seem to matter as he is thought to be mentally handicapped or retarded. One of the scary messages of the play comes when his biological father accepts him as a result of a very shocking rape which he commits against Nanabush/Patsy with a crucifix. As for mental handicap: according to native belief the special mental state allows people like Dickie Bird in Dry Lips and Zhaboonigan in Rez Sisters to have a unique kind of relationship with the spiritual world which is the obvious explanation why they can see and interact with Nanabush. In Dry Lips the first Native reference is a separate and lonely sentence "Igwani eeweepoonaskeewuk. (The end of the world is at hand)" (36) which is from the Bible when Spooky tries to enlighten Dickie Bird. Although Dickie Bird cannot speak, he can write and whenever he wants to communicate, he writes words on a piece of paper —in English. Yet, when anyone tries really hard to get 90
