3.3 “Making Mistakes” in My Close Reading of Pages 1-13 in GGRW

For this assignment, I was appointed the first thirteen pages of King’s novel, where Coyote, Dog/GOD, “I Says”, and the Lone Ranger (with guidance from *her* affiliates) attempt to agree on a viable introduction to the story. Upon my first impression, I would have classified this section as the “beginning” of the novel; however, as I began to discover the cyclical reality within the story, I changed my mind. This wasn’t the first or only time that I was compelled to reflect and alter prior conclusions in my reading of Green Grass Running Water.

                                  “Everybody makes mistakes,” said the Lone Ranger (14)

*(While my section only outlined pages 1-13, I soon considered it necessary to include pages 14 and 15 in my reading, which, I assume, are included in the 1993 edition of the introductory section.)

The section begins with Coyote’s dream. “Silly Dream” is loud, and has an appetite for control. When it finds out Coyote is “someone important,” it thinks about being a dog, until “it gets everything mixed up. It gets everything backward” (King 2). The dog with no manners shouts louder and louder, until he becomes that GOD.

There, says that GOD. That’s better (ibid).

While “that GOD” is left in anxious wonder about “where all the water [came] from,” King propels us into a new universe, where we are acquainted with Lionel Red Dog and Aunt Norma. As Lionel struggles to stay awake behind the wheel, Norma contemplates the blue and green carpet swatches on the dashboard, for it’ is “best not to make [a mistake] with carpet.”

Just as we begin to get comfortable, we are pulled from the back seat of Lionel’s car and are introduced to the four escapees from Fort Marion. They appear to be preparing  for a  journey. Robinson Crusoe lends Hawkeye his red shirt with the palm trees, and the Lone Ranger begins to tell a story.

Once upon a time…(11)

A long time ago in a faraway land…(12)

Many moons comechucka…hahahahahahahahahahaha (13)

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth…(14)

“Gha!” said the Lone Ranger. “Higayv:ligé:i.” (15)

“That’s better,” said Hawkeye (ibid).

Dog/GOD as a “Contrary”-Theme of Backwardness 

The Dog, according to Jane Flick, is considered a “lesser” form of Coyote- “and a god is a backwards kind of dog” (16). The fact that this dog is inferior to Coyote to begin with, even before he secures himself as a “contrary”, makes him a laughable character, not to be taken too seriously. The “silly” dog, in this way, becomes “that GOD” only through his obnoxious shouting and exaggerated self opinion. His title, his booming voice, and his self-pronounced “almightyness” are all, in this way, meaningless. With this, I couldn’t help but compare Dog/GOD to figures like Hitler, who (plagued with little man syndrome) attempted to inflate their reputations to match the size of their egos. This uncontrolled hunger for power, as we know, can become dangerous.

That GOD we soon learn, is THE Judeo-Christain God from the Old Testament (Ibid). By opening the novel with this scene, King sets suggests that his purpose is to undermine “canonical beginnings.” (Goldman 30).

Lionel Red Dog: With all of these connections to “backwardness,” it is impossible to ignore the significance of Lionel’s last name. As one of the “lost” characters in the novel, his aunt might agree that he, like Coyote’s Dream, is “backwards” in his thoughts about the world; he is going wrong direction. In response to his joke about the Lease Road, Norma says, “Lionel, if you weren’t my sister’s boy, and if I didn’t see you born with my own eyes, I would sometimes think you were white. You sound just like those politicians in Edmonton, always telling us what we can’t do” (King 7). It is significant that it is on the unpaved Lease road at the end of the novel that Lionel Red Dog changes directions. He finds his way “home.”

Beginnings

Volume 1:East Red – The Volume Heading on page 3 ( 6 in the 2007 edition) is presented in Cherokee Syllabary. Flick explains that the East Represents a New Generation, “just beginning to grow.’ If we consider Lionel, Charlie, and Alberta to represent the “New Generation,” we discover connections between their stories of growth and the representations of development within the Medicine Wheel.

Colonial/Fairytale Beginnings After assuring the others that it’s her turn to tell the story, Lone Ranger (First Woman) goes through four trial and error “beginnings” until she gets it right: “Once Upon a Time…” (11), “A long time ago in a faraway land…” (12) Both of these introductions suggest settler-invader “fairytale” influence; aka tidy linearity. They, of course, will not do.

Getting it Right

After trying (and failing) with a parody of Native story-telling, “Many moons comechucka…,”(13) and the opening of Genesis: In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth (14), Lone Ranger is left with one final option.

“Gha!” said the Lone Ranger. “Higayv:ligé:i.” (15)

For the first time, Lone Ranger speaks in Cherokee.  These words represent the “ceremonial opening of storytelling in a Cherokee divining ceremony” (Helen Hoy as quoted by Flick 16). The words encourage the audience to “Listen Up” (Goldman 31).

The Divining Ceremony involves the movement of pine-needles as they float on water. This ritual is used to read the future, and “playfully subverts the fixity of history in its official (meaning written) form by focusing on the possibilities yet to come” (Jennifer Andrews as quoted by Goldman 31). The idea of “fixed” directions and paths within history is successfully avoided.

Reflections

Here I am at 1000 words, and I feel as though I’ve barely scratched the surface. In fact, the more I researched, the more questions I had…and I’m still left with a lot of questions….

Mistakes-  There’s something significant here. While “everybody makes mistakes,” we are told that it’s “best not to make them” with carpet, or with stories (8;14). What is King getting at? I assume it’s connected with the themes of “starting over,” which speak to the circular structure of the narrative, but I couldn’t find any evidence to support this.

Red- From the colour of the Palm Tree shirt to Lionel’s last name, the colour red seems to suggest meaning in these first pages. After reading Erika’s notes on the Medicine Wheel I thought I had cleverly cracked the puzzle. Red corresponds with East on the wheel (as emphasized by the Cherokee Syllabary on page 6). Ok, but how are these pieces connected? I’m convinced theres something deeper here.

Chester, Blanca. “Green Grass, Running Water: Theorizing the World of the Novel” Canadian Literature 161/62, 1999. Web http://canlit.ca/pdfs/articles/canlit161-162-Green(Chester).pdf

Flick, Jane. “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water” in Green Grass Running Water, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2007 ed. Print.

Goldman, Marlene. “Mapping and Dreaming: Native Resistance in Green Grass Running Water” Canadian Literature 161/62, 1999. Web http://canlit.ca/pdfs/articles/canlit161-162-Mapping(Goldman).pdf

King, Thomas. Green Grass, Running Water. HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2007 ed. Print.