The Hockey Sweater

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The cover of The Hockey Sweater.

"The Hockey Sweater" ("Le chandail de hockey" in the original French) is a short story published in 1979 by Quebec author Roch Carrier.

Though a relatively recent story, it has become one of the best-known works of literature in Canada. It was made into a National Film Board of Canada (NFB) animated short in 1980, known as The Sweater, or Le Chandail. The short is often shown, in both French and English, to elementary school students, making it very well known amongst Canadian youth.

The story is widely considered an allegory for the linguistic and cultural tensions between anglophone and francophone Canadians, and an essential classic of Canadian literature. An excerpt from the story is now also commemorated in both official languages of Canada on the back of the Canadian five-dollar bill.

[edit] Plot

"The Hockey Sweater" is based on the real experience of Carrier growing up in an isolated part of Quebec in the 1940s. He, like all boys his age, was a big fan of the Montreal Canadiens and their star player, Maurice "The Rocket" Richard.

When Carrier's Montreal Canadiens hockey sweater wears out, his mother writes to Eaton's to order a new one. Unfortunately, the company sends a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater, the Canadiens' bitter rivals. A loyal fan of Les Habitants, Carrier protests having to wear the new sweater. But his mother refuses to let her son wear the old worn out sweater and, apparently unaware of the business's traditional policy they advertised, "Goods satisfactory, or money refunded", insists that if they were to return the sweater it may offend Mr. Eaton, himself a Leafs fan. As a result, young Carrier is forced to wear the Leafs sweater to his hockey game, feeling humiliated before the other players on the ice, each proudly wearing Canadiens sweaters.

[edit] Trivia

Roch Carrier as a young boy (wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs Jersey)

When critic Leonard Maltin saw the NFB production of The Sweater, he credited it with revealing and explaining to him the overwhelming importance of hockey in Canadian culture. It remains one of his favourite animated productions.

[edit] References

• Roch Carrier, translated by Sheila Fischman, illustrated by Sheldon Cohen (1984). The Hockey Sweater. Tundra Books. ISBN 0-88776-169-0 (hardcover). 
• Roch Carrier, translated by Sheila Fischman, illustrated by Sheldon Cohen (1985). The Hockey Sweater. Tundra Books. ISBN 0-88776-174-7 (paperback). 
• Roch Carrier (1987). Le Chandail de hockey. Livres Toundra. ISBN 0-88776-171-2 (hardcover). 

[edit] External links

• The Sweater at the Internet Movie Database
• The Sweater at the NFB
• Watch The Sweater at the NFB (for free)