Monkey Beach

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1, Pages 1-40

Part 1, Pages 40-82

Part 1, Pages 82-138

Part 2, Pages 139-179

Part 2, Pages 179-232

Part 2, Pages 232-294

Part 3, Pages 295-336

Parts 3-4, Pages 336-374

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

Communicating with the Dead

The loss of loved ones is a sustained theme in Monkey Beach. Lisa is devastated by the deaths of Mick and Ma-ma-oo, and by the possible death of Jimmy after his disappearance. What makes Lisa’s response to these losses unique is her ability to see and hear the dead. As the novel unfolds, Lisa contacts her lost family members and a variety of other spirits.

At various points in Monkey Beach, Lisa hears spirits. Voices of the dead bookend the novel. Lisa hears them at the beginning, when she has just learned of Jimmy’s disappearance. There, they speak through crows, in Haisla, saying, “La’es—Go down to the bottom of the ocean” (1). She hears voices to the very end of novel, when they again speak in Haisla, chanting, “Aux’gwalas […] Take care of her” (374).

Lisa’s gift also manifests visually. The little red-haired man that Lisa sees is one of the most prominent examples of her experiences with the supernatural. In time, Lisa comes to see the little man as a sign that terrible events are imminent, to the point that “the pattern of the little man’s visits seems unwelcomely obvious” (27). The hideous creature she sees in the psychiatrist’s office is a similar example. His appearance strongly resembles the corpse of Ma-ma-oo after she is burned alive. Thus, she believes the creature to have been a portent of Ma-ma-oo’s death, and Lisa feels guilt for not having acted on the warning and preventing Ma-ma-oo from being harmed.

Lisa is initially perplexed by her ability to contact the dead, contributing to her teenage identity as a social outcast. Yet in time, Lisa welcomes and expects her ability. Ma-ma-oo supports Lisa and encourages her to view contact with the dead positively. Ma-ma-oo sets an example for Lisa, offering gifts to the spirit of Ba-ba-oo, and giving her advice like “[n]ever trust the spirit world too much” (153). Since Lisa looks up to Ma-ma-oo, she follows suit, making offerings to Mick’s spirit, and becoming more comfortable with her abilities.

Lisa’s belief in the dead contacting her is so strong, especially to provide warnings, that she thinks she sees the ghost of Tab when strung out in Vancouver, though Tab is not dead. Likewise, when she finally sees the ghost of Mick long after his death, she asks him directly, “[w]hy didn’t you visit me?” (367). Ultimately, Lisa accepts her gift as a part of her identity, albeit one she must learn to live with and control.

The Strength of Family Connections

Monkey Beach is a novel about family. Many characters are related to Lisa, and connections to family members like Mick, Ma-ma-oo, and Jimmy are very important to her. Lisa deals with personal challenges, including her unusual ability to contact the dead, the tragic losses of Mick and Ma-ma-oo, and her status as a social outcast. Yet throughout all of these challenges, her family provides support, love, and acceptance.

Lisa’s relationships with family members, especially Ma-ma-oo, are often affectionate. Similarly, she appreciates the nickname Mick gives her as a child, “Monster.” She is touched to later learn that Mick was given the same nickname when he was a child, because it suggests a bond between herself and the uncle she so admires. While Lisa is not as close with her parents as she is to Mick or Ma-ma-oo, she recognizes the love and support they provide her.

Lisa’s family relationships are not perfect. She has feuds with Jimmy, including the childish prank of jumping out of his closet while wearing a monkey mask because he called her a “liar” and a “freak.” Yet her relationship to Jimmy is ultimately one of love and care, as when she takes him on a fishing trip “to get him alone and away from his party friends long enough for him to sober up” during the time when he is distraught after having had to give up swimming (340). Likewise, there are signs that Lisa feels that her mother does not fully accept her unusual ability to communicate with the dead, such as suggesting Lisa’s claim to hear the crows speaking in Haisla after Jimmy disappears is “[c]learly a sign [..] that you need Prozac” (3).

In time, however, Lisa learns from Ma-ma-oo that there is a history of women in her family who have spiritual abilities. Thus, when her mother tells her to “be polite and introduce yourself to the water” on a fishing trip, Lisa glimpses a connection with a long tradition (112). The bonds of family pull at Lisa, even when she feels herself to be unmoored. After months of partying in Vancouver, she decides to come home because she thinks she sees the ghost of Tab. Likewise, her decision to join the search for Jimmy is made when she hears one of his crows. Her intent is to head to Namu, the area where Jimmy disappeared, but she ends up going to Monkey Beach, the site of a particularly memorable family camping trip. While there, the spirits of her family are all around her.

The Importance of Haisla Culture

The storyline of Monkey Beach is built around the mysterious disappearance of Jimmy, Lisa’s exceptional ability to communicate with the dead, and the memories of her youth. Yet the setting of the novel is equally important; early on, Lisa discusses the geography of British Columbia in detail. The story takes place on Haisla land, and its events impact Haisla people. Monkey Beach is not a novel about Haisla culture as such, but Haisla culture is an integral aspect of the novel.

The references to Haisla culture in Monkey Beach can be classified into two categories: Some references examine traditions and everyday life, while others allude to mythology and spiritual beliefs and practices. There are numerous references to food, including oolichan fish and grease, berries, and smoked salmon. Lisa proposes that these foods create a strong, exclusive sense of identity and belonging when she writes that you have to grow up loving oolichan, or that soapberries are treasured even if “the taste still made [her] eyes water” (271). Lisa’s family takes pleasure in gathering and fishing for these foods on camping and fishing trips in the natural areas surrounding Kitamaat, which suggests that an appreciation for the natural world is part of the Hill family’s experience of Haisla culture.

Monkey Beach references lore and mythology in connection to Haisla culture, including numerous mentions of the sasquatch or B’gwus, as well as lesser-known figures like the Stone Man and Weegit and T’sonoqua. More broadly, Lisa’s appreciation for Haisla spiritual traditions grows over the course of the novel. Because of their love of nature, Lisa and Ma-ma-oo spend time collecting medicinal plants like oxasuli, which eventually leads Ma-ma-oo to reveal that Lisa’s great-grandmother was a renowned medicine woman, and that Lisa is part of a continuous line of women in her family who possess the “gift” of being able to communicate with the dead.

The novel implies a tension between Haisla traditions and non-Haisla culture. Lisa mentions her enjoyment of pop-music like Abba and Led Zeppelin, for instance, as well as Mick’s devotion to Elvis. In Mick, this adoration of a white pop-culture icon (who rose to fame by emulating Black rhythm-and-blues artists) is a distinct contrast to his passion for Indigenous rights. Monkey Beach explains Mick’s background as a Haisla participant in the American Indian Movement (A.I.M.) protests. Lisa is influenced by Mick’s emphasis on social justice and Indigenous pride, protesting when her school makes her read “a book that said that the Indians on the northwest coast of British Columbia had killed and eaten people as religious sacrifices” (68). More broadly, Monkey Beach suggests Lisa’s embrace of Haisla culture throughout all of her struggles as a daughter, sister, and teen by bookending the novel with words and phrases in Haisla.