Fatty Legs: A True Story

Olemaun’s introduction to life at the school is humiliating and traumatizing. She is first ushered into smelly bathroom stalls and has her hair cut short along with several other new pupils. The only girl in the line-up who didn’t have her hair cut “was likely a German trapper’s daughter (31), or, in other words, not an Indigenous person of color. She gets new clothes—blouses, overall dresses, and “scratchy canvas bloomers” (32)—that she calls “impractical” compared to the warm furs she arrived in.

Olemaun meets her classmates, many whom she cannot speak with because of language barriers between different Indigenous nations. Some classmates are bullies to her, especially the Gwich’in girls, who come from west of the Inuvialuit and who historically “do not get along with [Olemaun’s] people” (32).

It is quickly apparent that a particular “beaked” (also called “hooked-nose”) nun is another instant enemy. The nun, whom Olemaun starts referring to as “the Raven,” christens her “Margaret” on the spot and tells her to use Christian names and speak English. She then starts instructing the group on “proper” hygiene. Olemaun reflects, “I didn’t need a lesson on how to wash my face. I already knew how to do that.