Wenjack

Wenjack (2016) is a work of historical fiction written by Joseph Boyden. The novella is inspired by the life and death of Chanie “Charlie” Wenjack (1954-1966), who died in October 1966 while fleeing Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School (Kenora) for his home in Ogoki Post (Northern Ontario). With the blessing and support of Chanie Wenjack’s family, the novella was internationally released on the 50th anniversary of the boy’s death. Through this work, Boyden draws attention to a dark part of Canadian history: the tragedy of residential schools.

Wenjack’s publication has been somewhat overshadowed by the ongoing controversy surrounding Boyden’s ancestry. His claims of Ojibwe and Nipmuc descent were not verified as of 2023. In fact, a preponderance of evidence suggests that Boyden fabricated his entire Indigenous identity and used it to acquire cultural acclaim.

This study guide refers to the 2016 Puffin Books publication of Wenjack.

Content Warning: The source text and this study guide depict the sexual violation, traumatization, and abuse of an Ojibwe child by a residential school, as well as experiences of cultural erasure and resultant physical and emotional distress. In addition, this guide replicates (in reference to legislation) a term for Indigenous peoples that many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people consider outdated and offensive.

Readers may also find that the contested and likely fraudulent nature of Boyden’s supposed Indigenous identity, which this guide discusses, negatively shapes their experience of the source text.

Plot Summary

Charlie Wenjack whispers to himself in Ojibwe, his native language. Residential school staff will beat him or have his mouth washed out with soap if they hear him speaking Ojibwe aloud. He pretends to have difficulty learning English to ensure that he can retain his own language.

One warm afternoon, Wenjack and two of his friends decide to escape from the school. These friends happen to be brothers, and their aunt, uncle, and cousin live 30 kilometers away. The trio’s progress is watched over by the Manitous: spirits that can occupy the bodies of forest creatures. Wenjack, whom the Manitous refer to as Chanie, is much slower than the brothers, as he has “duck feet” and is suffering from a lung infection. He must frequently stop to catch his breath and cough up bloody phlegm.

Wenjack finds a discarded train map and schedule. He tries to work out where his home would be based on this map. He puts it in his pocket. The brothers occasionally stop to allow Wenjack to catch up, leaving clues like snapped twigs or chewed bark in the undergrowth to alert him of their path. The boys sleep beneath a fir tree, huddled around a weak fire that eventually goes out. When the boys awaken, they are embarrassed to find that they held each other in their sleep throughout the freezing night; the older brother kicks the younger brother, who in turn kicks Wenjack. Despite being unsure of what the problem is, Wenjack finds a smooth mouse skull (which has been regurgitated by an owl Manitou as an offering to the boys) and decides to give it to them as an apology. The brothers no longer seem angry, though, so he leaves it in his pocket.

They reach a river, from which Wenjack drinks thirstily. When he immerses his whole head in the river, he sees a fish. Afterward, the group reaches the house in which the brothers’ uncle, aunt, and cousin live. The uncle catches a fish—the same fish that Wenjack saw in the river. In fact, this creature is occupied by a Manitou, which chose to allow itself to be caught to feed the boys. The uncle and the aunt prepare the fish and feed it, along with a small amount of potato, to their daughter and the three boys. The uncle insists that his wife eat the scrapings left in the bowl while he himself eats nothing; food is clearly scarce. Wenjack learns that the brothers’ parents are dead. Wenjack sleeps by the warm stove.

The brothers are taken in by their family, but the uncle tells his wife to send the stranger, Wenjack, on his way with some of their meager food supplies. The uncle explains to his wife that Wenjack has a brokenness within him that cannot be fixed. In search of more food, the uncle then takes his two nephews to a trapline near a hunting cabin.

Wenjack weeps alone outside of the uncle and aunt’s home. When Wenjack goes back inside, the aunt offers him moose meat wrapped in wax paper. The cousin—a young girl who Wenjack thinks is very pretty—likewise gives him a jar of matches. Wenjack gifts her the mouse skull. The aunt gives Wenjack directions to get back to the school, but Wenjack secretly decides that he will follow the uncle and the brothers to the hunting cabin instead. He walks for hours but reaches it. The uncle and brothers arrive later to find Wenjack awaiting them; the uncle tells Wenjack that they have neither the space nor the food to support him. He too gives Wenjack directions back to the school. The brothers each touch Wenjack on the arm as he leaves. Wenjack interprets this as a warning for him not to return to the school.

Wenjack reaches the train tracks. Instead of continuing in the direction of the school, he goes the other way, resolving that he will return home to his family. Unbeknownst to Wenjack, his home is over 600 kilometers away; he has no realistic hope of reaching it before the winter cold sets in. The Manitous—which have taken the form of a spider, a wood-tick, a beaver, geese, and a pack of lynx—watch over Wenjack’s progress but agree that he does not have long to live. Wenjack tries and fails to light a fire. He slips and falls onto the train tracks, whacking his head painfully.

Wenjack suffers through a freezing night of sleet and snow. The slap of a beaver tail reminds him of hunting with his father, but also of the slap of his teacher’s hand against his face when he accidentally said an Ojibwe word at school. He succeeds in making a weak fire, which soon goes out. He has nightmares of his teacher, Fish Belly, who habitually raped him. Wenjack wakes up the next morning and continues his slow progress. He falls several more times. Eventually, he can no longer get up. As he drifts off, he chants the Ojibwe words for father, nindede, and heart, ninde. Wenjack dies. The mother from the Manitous lynx pack picks up Wenjack’s spirit and holds it close. The next morning, a train engineer finds Wenjack’s body. Authorities return it to his family two weeks later.

Wenjack’s spirit, now warm and well fed, dances with the Manitous in the forest. They celebrate the fact that he is safe and happy again.