The Importance of Seven in The Rez Sisters
Tomson Highway’s Critically Acclaimed Play and Lucky Number Seven
Nov 27, 2008
Canadian playwright Tomson Highway takes his reader and audience into the world of seven sisters on a Canadian reservation in his1986 play The Rez Sisters. Highway’s play received rave reviews from both Canadian and American audiences and was praised for shedding light on Native American traditions and daily life. Highway combines traditional Native American spirituality with the dark realities of life on the reservation.
The play focuses on the attempts by seven women to escape their lives on the Rez by winning the Biggest Bingo in the World. Highway captures the humanistic struggle of these seven women with gentle humour and realistic character development. However, it is through his use of the number seven that Highway incorporates his Native American roots into this poignant play.
The Significance of Seven in Native American Culture
Tomson Highway, a Cree Native of Manitoba, bring the spirituality alive through the number seven. According to Maria C. Casas, the number seven holds special significance as it is supposedly the seventh generation that would rise again. Furthermore, the number seven relates to the directions of the earth, something cherished by Native Americans.
The Number Seven in the Play
As a whole, The Rez Sister’s is the first in the cycle of seven plays focusing on life on the Rez. Highway refers to his seven plays as the “Rez Septology.” Right away, one can see the importance of the number seven.
Highway continues this significance in his cast of characters. There are seven sisters in The Rez Sisters, all related by either birth or marriage.
For Marie Adele, the number seven appears in her 14 children (2 x 7). For Philomena, the number seven reminds her of the child she gave up 28 years ago (4 x7). One of the sisters is 49 years old (7x7) while the disabled Zhanboonigan and Philomena both calm themselves down by counting to 14 (2 x7).
The play follows the seven sisters as they make a journey to Toronto to try their luck at the Biggest Bingo in the World. They all have big dreams and plans of furthering their lives when they win the jackpot. Unfortunately, their lucky number - B14 (2 x 7) is not called.
But What About the Number Three?
In English-language cultures, the most important number in oral narratives seems to be the number three. There are three doors to choose from, three wishes that are granted, three guesses to questions, three chances in nursery rhymes, three bears in Goldilocks, three strikes in baseball. Finally, there is the Holy Trinity and the Holy Family, both consisting of threes.
Naturally, Highway takes this into consideration as well. He structures his play into nine (3 x 3) with three acts and three scenes. The most intriguing use of the number three is with Bingo Betty, the ‘priestess’ of the Bingo Game who arrives to Bingo in a group of three and purchases 27 (3 x 9) Bingo Cards. This excess amazes the Rez sisters but the number three wins out in the end.
In the use of numbers, Highway is able to incorporate Native American tradition with the English traditions that Natives have succumbed to. In a sense, the numbers seven and three can be seen as a metaphor for the lost traditions and assimilation into the English speaking society. In another more light-hearted point of view, however, the numbers simply remind the readers and the audience that life is all about chance. You simply cannot always rely on Lucky Number Seven.
Works Consulted:
Highway, Tomson. The Rez Sisters. Ontario: Fifth House Books, 1992.
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