"Apple" is a slur commonly used to denote an Indigenous person who is "red on the outside, white on the inside." Like the term "Uncle Tom" in Black populations, this insult suggests the person is "forever locked away from both worlds, separated by the thinnest membrane." In fact, Eric Gansworth tells readers in this compelling memoir, before "apple" came into use, people would often use "Uncle Tomahawk." But words are only as powerful as people allow them to be. Writing in a striking combination of verse and prose, Eric Gansworth (If I Ever Get Out of Here; Extra Indians) intends to take back the power of "apple."
Narrating his life experiences in hauntingly lyrical language, Gansworth reveals the heartbreaking struggle of a family--11 people living in a three-bedroom house--with too little to eat and a mostly absent father whose every attempt to get ahead is undermined by structural racism. Gansworth takes his readers through a tumultuous existence filled with government abuse and abject poverty, as well as wonder and discovery. He writes about the boarding school his grandparents attended, touted by white people as the "Opportunity of a Lifetime" for Indigenous children. In reality, they had to "check their identities and anything that made them Indians at the gate, like overcoats their host considered a hindrance." The effects of the boarding schools seep down into future generations, including Gansworth's, even though the progeny never experienced the horrors themselves. Efforts to rob "Indians" of their identity make their offspring even more determined to protect it, piecing together the fragments and finding missing segments. "A primary lesson we are taught, even in our greatest sadness: we must clear our eyes, our ears, our throats to do our parts in carrying on the stories for the time we will no longer be able to pass them on." With Apple, Gansworth is doing just that for the Onondaga Nation.
The exceptional elements of this memoir abound. Gansworth's own art adds dimension to an already vivid narrative. His black-and-white illustrations feature his family as well as significant apple imagery. He also includes personal photos--the few remaining after his family home was devastated by a fire. His use of the Beatles lyrics, song titles, jacket imagery and especially their Abbey Road album (from Apple Records), aids in developing both the format and pacing of his story. With dramatic textual imagery, nuanced storytelling and evocative illustrations, Apple is a stirring depiction of Indigenous life likely to evoke empathy from and resonate with all who venture into Gansworth's world. --Jen Forbus, freelancer
Shelf Talker: An Onondaga writer and visual artist does his part to carry on the family stories through a brilliantly moving combination of verse, prose and illustration.