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<p>This paper examines Jen Ferguson’s YA novel <i>The Summer of Bitter and Sweet</i> (2022), arguing that it exposes the ongoing colonial violence against Indigenous women and girls in Canada while articulating a framework of Indigenous-led radical resurgence that critically engages with the settler society. Narrated by Lou, a Métis adolescent in contemporary Alberta, the novel foregrounds the inherited colonial trauma shaping Indigenous girlhood. This includes her biological father’s history of sexual assault and the boundary-crossing behavior of her white ex-boyfriend, Wyatt. Lou’s skepticism about Wyatt’s potential for growth encapsulates a central tension in the text: whether settlers can experience moral development, and on what terms.</p><p>Building on Roberta Seelinger Trites’s model of adolescent growth and Mandy Suhr-Sytsma’s revision of the model from an Indigenous perspective, this paper argues that Ferguson expands the scope of growth to include young settlers who subvert the status quo. Wyatt’s transformation—his apology and his willingness to become an ally—gestures toward cautious hope, yet characters like Peter England, who embodies the patriarchal settler state, lay bare the persistence of settler violence and the limits of such change. Drawing on Daniel Heath Justice’s emphasis on relationality in Indigenous literatures, this paper further contends that the novel models an alternative form of kinship-making through Lou’s friendship with peers from diverse sociocultural backgrounds. This cross-cultural “fam” supports her resistance to settler claims and reframes what it means to be in good relation.</p><p>Ultimately, by centering Lou’s leadership and agency, the novel recasts growth for white settler teens as participation in Indigenous resurgence rather than reconciliation with colonial structures. Any potential settler transformation, the novel insists, must remain contingent and accountable to Indigenous sovereignty.</p>

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Indigenous Girlhood, Radical Resurgence, and the Question of Settler Growth in Jen Ferguson’s The Summer of Bitter and Sweet

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月7日

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  • Shuya Su

摘要

This paper examines Jen Ferguson’s YA novel The Summer of Bitter and Sweet (2022), arguing that it exposes the ongoing colonial violence against Indigenous women and girls in Canada while articulating a framework of Indigenous-led radical resurgence that critically engages with the settler society. Narrated by Lou, a Métis adolescent in contemporary Alberta, the novel foregrounds the inherited colonial trauma shaping Indigenous girlhood. This includes her biological father’s history of sexual assault and the boundary-crossing behavior of her white ex-boyfriend, Wyatt. Lou’s skepticism about Wyatt’s potential for growth encapsulates a central tension in the text: whether settlers can experience moral development, and on what terms.

Building on Roberta Seelinger Trites’s model of adolescent growth and Mandy Suhr-Sytsma’s revision of the model from an Indigenous perspective, this paper argues that Ferguson expands the scope of growth to include young settlers who subvert the status quo. Wyatt’s transformation—his apology and his willingness to become an ally—gestures toward cautious hope, yet characters like Peter England, who embodies the patriarchal settler state, lay bare the persistence of settler violence and the limits of such change. Drawing on Daniel Heath Justice’s emphasis on relationality in Indigenous literatures, this paper further contends that the novel models an alternative form of kinship-making through Lou’s friendship with peers from diverse sociocultural backgrounds. This cross-cultural “fam” supports her resistance to settler claims and reframes what it means to be in good relation.

Ultimately, by centering Lou’s leadership and agency, the novel recasts growth for white settler teens as participation in Indigenous resurgence rather than reconciliation with colonial structures. Any potential settler transformation, the novel insists, must remain contingent and accountable to Indigenous sovereignty.