Split Tooth

Content Warning: This section contains discussion of sexual abuse, including childhood sexual assault, substance abuse, and suicide. 

The narrator of Split Tooth is never named. Some of the passages appear to be autobiographical or semi-autobiographical, mirroring Tanya Tagaq’s own experiences as a young Inuk girl growing up in the Arctic. Other sections are entirely fictional.

The story starts when the narrator is a child. Her peers, her teacher, and other unidentified men repeatedly sexually abuse and assault her. She is powerless to stop the abuse, so she copes with it by dissociating from her body. This changes after her experience with the Northern Lights. Spiritually fulfilled, the narrator becomes more confident, and her pregnancy gives her courage to stand up for herself.

In doing so, however, the narrator is torn between healing and violence. She cares deeply about her family and friends and tries to protect people like her younger cousin. In one of the book’s poems, the narrator calls pain a “doorway into the next realm” (91), suggesting that trauma can lead to strength in the spirit world. Though she argues that people need healing and care over pain, she does not hide her enjoyment of violence.