The Barren Grounds

One of the main themes that runs through The Barren Grounds is the importance of remembering who you are. Morgan’s initial anger stems partly from the fact that she does not know who she is, having spent most of her life in the foster system. When Katie and James gift her moccasins because they don’t want her to feel disconnected from her culture, they unwittingly touch this sore spot. Morgan doesn’t identify as Cree—not because she rejects her culture, but because she has never had the chance to experience it. She says, “I don’t even know my culture [...] Being a kid with no real home? With no real parents? Accepting the fact that there probably won’t be a three- or four-month anniversary with a cake and moccasins? That’s my culture” (52). At Morgan’s outburst, Eli disagrees, telling Morgan, “Who you are is still inside you” (52). Nevertheless, Morgan later tells Katie that, unlike Eli, she isn’t truly Indigenous: “He’s got himself figured out. […] Probably goes to ceremonies and all that. I don’t think I even want to be Indigenous. I grew up white, in all these white homes.