Kenai\'s Acceptance - Grade: Unkno PDF

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Here is a reference of an essay that I wrote for the final assignment for Coping with Grief and Loss. For the final paper, you choose a movie that deals with grief either through death or through some other loss. Be sure to focus on all the prompts. ...

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Running head: KENAI’S ACCEPTANCE

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Kenai’s Acceptance Name Central Washington University

KENAI’S ACCEPTANCE

2 Kenai’s Acceptance

Grief Situation Kenai, the main protagonist of the Disney classic Brother Bear, is the youngest of his brothers Sitka (the oldest) and Denahi (the middle child). Despite the paternal role that Sitka plays in Kenai and Denahi’s relationship, he is the eldest brother and the one to whom Kenai and Denahi turn to when they need advice and guidance. As the youngest, Kenai makes plenty of mistakes that act as catalysts to the demise of their brother, Sitka, and the ultimate metamorphosis that Kenai goes through in order to learn the value of his spirit totem. To put it simply, after a series of mistakes that are made by Kenai, they end up facing off with a bear, proving Kenai’s point that bears are nothing but thieves and monsters. Sitka, who is far enough away from his brothers, decides to sacrifice his own life by driving a wedge through the cracks in the icy glacier that cause him and the bear to fall. After, it is discovered that the bear whose life was trying to end makes it out alive while Sitka does not. This causes further aggravation between the brothers Denahi, who is practicing his totem of wisdom, and Kenai, who is not practicing his totem of love. Denahi tells Kenai the one thing that ultimately drives Kenai to avenge his brother: I don’t blame the bear, Kenai. Grief Process This process takes a heavy toll on both brothers but for now, the emphasis will be centered on Kenai, the youngest brother, who makes a vow to avenge Sitka’s death. He abandons his spirit totem and tosses it on the fire in front of his tribe’s elder, quite literally an analogy for forsaking love, as that is what the bear represents in this movie. Kenai’s grieving process takes him on a hunting trip to track down the bear that is still alive even after Sitka sacrificed himself to kill it.

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According to Mallon (2011), Bereavement may impact negatively on self-esteem. Kenai, after losing his brother and hearing the words “I don’t blame the bear, Kenai,” may have been driven to prove himself that he was not capable of killing his own brother, as the bear played an important role. Kenai, unable to take responsibility for his brother’s demise, strives forward to place blame on the bear that ate the food Kenai left abandoned on the ground instead of tying it up high. So, while Denahi is not wrong, this is not the wise thing to tell Kenai, who is experiencing a turmoil of emotions right now while Denahi looks remote, almost distant as he disassociates from his emotions. Both of these scenarios help prove the point that adolescents might find their intense emotions too much to handle, and thus, they might take it out externally on those around them through words or, in Kenai’s situation, through action. Perhaps, deep down, Kenai feels that Denahi wishes that Kenai had died instead of Sitka, as Sitka was beloved by the both of them. Mallon (2011) covers this topic, as she mentions how some siblings might feel that other party members wished that the surviving sibling had died instead of the one who is currently six feet under. Perhaps this is also what drives Kenai to take rash actions by abandoning his spirit totem and taking on vengeance as a means of apology to his brother Sitka. Developmental Factor It is difficult to figure out a developmental factor that has impacted Kenai’s coping mechanism. The big one is what Denahi tells him after their brother’s death that causes Kenai to spiral down into hatred and rage. The other is his distaste for bears, which probably stems from them stealing fish among other things. In their tribe, it can be assumed that there is a major emphasis on strength and wisdom, rather than love, as love is appeared as weak…something that is not manly. If a woman is to receive the spirit totem of love, it can be safe to guess that

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members of the tribe and the woman herself would accept the spirit totem. However, because Kenai has always been looked down upon as the youngest brother who is immature and does not know what he is talking about, this would be the least desired totem. In the movie, Kenai imagines himself with strong spirit animals that are highly valued such as the wolf or a shark or something, anything that is not a bear. Now, the turn that this movie takes to help Kenai learn the value of his spirit totem is interesting because it involves transforming into a completely different animal. Even the tribe’s elder has never seen something like this before, but she knows that it is vital even though she may not completely understand why. In her eyes, the Universe choosing to transform Kenai into a bear must have been something that needed to be done otherwise why bother transforming him? Kenai transforms into a bear to learn the perceptions that the animals have of the humans so that he learns that while the bear may have been involved in Sitka’s death, the bear was not intending to harm Sitka in that way. Although there is nothing in the textbooks required in class that suggest anything towards transforming into the thing one hates, dreams are included which could be correlated with what Kenai experiences. Kenai has visions of meeting Sitka, who is currently deceased, on a magical mountain where he is transformed into a bear. Sitka shakes his head at Kenai who has killed the bear that killed Sitka, at least in Kenai’s eyes. This could very well fall under the belief that “Dreams of guidance, of being looked after, have ancient roots in beliefs that ancestors continued to watch over and care for the bereaved beyond the grave” (Mallon 2011). This would make sense in Native American culture, as they have a huge emphasis on being connected with Mother Nature and with the Great Spirits. Denahi and Kenai both believe that their brother Sitka watches over them through an eagle, as that is Sitka’s totem.

KENAI’S ACCEPTANCE Contextual Factors While some contextual factors have been mentioned in the Developmental Factors section, it is important to cover the culture and the religion of the Native American’s. Even if the movie may not be completely accurate the Native American culture, the culture still inspired the creation of the movie and its content. According to Native Americans, well, at least according to a website on the internet, they believe that EVERYTHING is sacred: from the largest mountain to the smallest animal. Given this statement, the fact that Kenai is trying to avenge a bear for playing a role in the death of Sitka, this goes against this belief. Symbolisms and metaphors arise when a scene plays the animated image of Kenai tossing his spirit totem into the fire and the elder of the tribe fishing it out to protect it. He is tossing away his belief of everything being important, and his spirit totem of love and in exchange, he receives the desire for vengeance. He wants nothing to do with the bear that killed his brother, even if that means forsaking everything he knows so he can go and avenge Sitka’s death. Furthermore, according to the code of ethics on the website, it says that no person should be made to feel “put down” so what Denahi did, by saying he blames Kenai for Sitka’s death, is the poison that feeds into Kenai’s already wounded heart. Brenda Mallon (2011) continues to say that many bereaved children feel that they have been visited by their deceased loved one in dreams. While in this movie what Kenai experiences is not a dream, he does believe he is visited by Sitka, as evidenced by him calling an eagle by Sitka’s name. Sitka’s spirit totem is guidance, and without his guidance, the brothers are forced to fend for themselves and learn how to use their own spirit totems to help guide them through this life they have. When Kenai meets Sitka’s spirit, Sitka is shaking his head in disapproval at what Kenai has done in regards to killing the bear. This can also go along with the belief that

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many people feel a sense of presence of their deceased love one, and as this is a Disney movie, this plays a significant role in Kenai’s experience (Mallon 2011). Kenai learns that his brother never wanted Kenai to avenge his death. Sitka never blames Kenai for his death, as Sitka knows that he chose to sacrifice himself to save his two brothers. Afterwards, Sitka watches as Kenai is transformed into a bear. After Kenai learns the lesson of love by learning to love Koda, a real bear cub and the son of the bear that Kenai has killed to avenge Sitka, Sitka greets him with an approving smile. They all reunite as brothers, even if Sitka is a spirit, and Kenai transforms back into a bear so that he can guide Koda and be with the younger bear cub as a brother to appease for what he has done to Koda’s mother. This is the stage of acceptance that Kenai has come to, as he realizes, for his religion, his brother is never truly gone as Native Americans believe oneness with the Great Spirit and Mother Earth. Risk Factors When it comes to complicated grief and the grief of Kenai and Denahi, it stands to reason that they are not experiencing complicated grief. At least, it can be safe to assume that their complicated grief is just not what society considers to be complicated grief. In all honesty, Kenai might be experiencing complicated grief but in an exaggerated form as this movie is a Disney movie and the animators are going to want to amp up the life/death stakes to keep viewers interested. Despite the fact that complicated grief is grief that is diagnosed after a period of several months (Mallon 2008) judging by this movie, Kenai goes through the stages of complicated grief within a shorter time span. Some of the key features of complicated grief that Kenai experiences include: anger and bitterness about the death, preoccupation with thoughts about the deceased and intrusive thoughts concerning the death, inability to regain former competence, uncharacteristic behavior

KENAI’S ACCEPTANCE such as increased risk-taking and self-destructive acts, focusing on the death to the exclusion of everything else. In the act of tossing his spirit totem into the fire, Kenai is basically expressing his desire to throw away everything he believes in just because he hates the animal that killed his brother, Sitka. For someone who has been in his tribe as long as he has, he should not just forsake his spirit totem just because of the animal representing it had a role to play in Sitka’s death. When Denahi tells Kenai that he blames him, Kenai goes after the bear in vengeance to appease for his mistakes regarding his brother’s death.

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Mallon, B. (2008). Dying, death, and grief: Working with adult bereavement. Los Angeles: SAGE Mallon, B. (2011). Working with bereaved children and young people. Los Angeles: SAGE. U. (Spring). Native American Beliefs. Retrieved June 2, 2018, from http://www.home.earthlink.net/~tessia/Native.html...