he problems she faced regarding social relationships. These relationships were with her male partners, family members and friends.

The author of My people, myself was one of six children who grew up on a reserve just north of the town Vernon in British C

olombia. Mary Lawrence lived with her mother and 5 siblings. Mary also lived near her Grandmother whom she loved dearly. The house in which Mary and her family lived in was old and rundown. Furthermore, the house had no electricity and running water. The family cooked using gas stoves and used candles for light. The house also had no carpeting or linoleum floors and the family used the wood stove for heat. Mary's mother was also living off social assistance and since the family had no fridge she bought canned foods.

Mary Lawrence was exposed to alcohol and abuse at a very young age as mentioned earlier. I think Mary's behaviour was shaped by her mother's behaviour. Mary's Uncle James was her first experience of an alcoholic in the family. Then her mother mirrored this behaviour a short time later and began to go on drinking binges and being absent from their home. Mary was upset at this and wondered why her mother did not care about her. That being said Mary behaved the same way when she had her children. In my mind this was definitely the result of social learning. Mary definitely learned this reckless behaviour from her mom. Although Mary writes she was hurt and confused by her mom's behaviour she still engaged in the same type of acts. I think that she just accepted her behaviour as being okay because after all her mother did the same thing when she was younger.

Mary was only eight years old when her problems really started to get bad. This is when she was ripped form her home and forced to go to a residential school with her older siblings Marge and Hugh. This was due to her moms drinking binges that would cause her mom to be away from the house for days at a time and the children being home alone would have to fend for themselves. Mary and her siblings did have their Grandmother but sometimes it would be days before she would realize that the kids were by themselves. The drinking binges became more and more frequent and the police started to pick up the mother for alcohol offences and she landed in jail in Vancouver. This is when the children were taken to Cranbrook.

Mary Lawrence's book does a good job portraying the Indian life but according to society the causes of their struggles are different. Society can view Indians very stereotypically and this was evident in the book when Mary noted that Indians were seen as nothing more than "drunken indians"

From a very young age Mary was exposed to a kind of chaos that would cause turmoil for any child. Mary's older brother Hugh was always breaking the rules of the house and Mary would witness the brush stick beatings that would ensue. Mary states that she and her sister Marge would not do anything because they were scared their mother would beat them too. Mary was also exposed to alcohol at a very young age as her Uncle James would leave the reserve on several occasions and come home "full of spirits" and quite drunk. Ironically it wasn't until Mary's house on the reserve actually burned down that they were able to get a new house. This house was equipped with running wa

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Approximate Word count = 2079
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)