For assignment 3.3, I will explain connections and meanings of the characters with the general context of the entire novel.

To begin, “Green Grass, Running Water” was written by Thomas King in an effort to portray the struggle of Native Americans to understand their identity. An unknown narrator interacts with the reader takes them on a journey where mystical and realistic elements of both tradition and modernity, native American culture and white culture, overlap in harmony.

The characters that I have chosen below are ones that I personally feel that I connect to the most. Their connections and meanings to the entire novel are of particular interest to me. Some of these characters even make a brief appearance in my assigned section of the novel, page 18-23.

To begin, we have Dr.Joseph Hovaugh. His character appealed to me because of his strong opinions and stubborn authority, and in particular how his character might signify the stubborn authority of the Caucasian settlers. The doctor is the head of a mental hospital and believes that no one has the right to ever challenge his point of view. He always needs to be in control, and is often very stoic and bitter. When reading GGRW, Dr. Joseph has four natives escape from his mental hospital. In this case, the mental hospital refers to the strict oppressive techniques applied in order to civilize the native Americans, while the doctor himself is a reflection of the ‘Godlike’ superiority complex of the Caucasians. By holding the native Americans within their ‘mental hospital’, the colonists and Caucasian individuals had the power to control and cure the disease of the savages.

Next on the list, we have Bursum Bill. He is another character with a prejudiced and strong opinion regarding the native americans that live in his area, and believes that they are subordinate and less worthy than him. This character refers to the Bursum Bill that affected many Puablo Indians during the 1920’s. The Bursum Bill was an attempt to settle and land disputes between white settlers and the native americans inhabiting the area. The Bill was designed to let settlers purchase native land in order to resolve the land disagreements. Causing more tension between the two groups, the Pueblo Indians grouped together and fought against the bill. They triumphed and beat the expectations of many government officials, proving that they had their right to fight and they would not be held down. This story is an interest to me because of the connection to the Bursum Bill in King’s story. Owner of an electronic store, he decided to create an intricate and difficult promotional campaign. Consistently demonstrating his lack of respect, he denounces the natives and states that they aren’t ‘true’. In the end, his favorite TV show changes it’s ending to show the natives triumphing, therefore reflecting the triumph of the Pueblo Indians in their fight against the Bursum Bill.

Lastly, there is Alberta Frank. She is a single woman who desperately wants to experience motherhood, however she is unable to choose between her two loves. She wants to have kids, but is unable to commit to marriage. Her story is of interest to me due to her significance in north american history. Frank, Alberta is the location of one of the greatest landslides caused by negligible mining. Just like the mountainside could not handle the pressures from excessive mining, Alberta might not be able to handle the stress and the ticking of her biological clock. She might have a complete meltdown!  Her story particularly speaks to me because of the association to sustainability and conservation.

The significance and deeper meanings of the characters in context to the novel are great. Dr. Joseph and Bursum both conceptualize the idea of treating natives as subordinates. In the end, Dr. Josephs ‘mental’ (savage) patients escape, while Bursums TV shows a different triumphant outcome. Alberta displays a more ecological message that alludes to treating mother nature (as well as herself) more carefully.

Works Cited:

King, Thomas. Green Grass Running Water. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., 1993. Print.

Frank Slide. Wikepedia: Frank Slide, Turtle Mountain. 2014. Web. 21. Mar. 2014.

“Bursum Bill” Liz Collins Classroom Website.  2014. Web. 22. Mar. 2014.

 

The Role of the Coyote.

“Green Grass Running Water” by Thomas King attempts to create a balance between depicting the real struggles of Aboriginals today and their cultural heritage and storytelling. Similar to a Sundance ceremony where various speakers and voices tell and pass along their stories, “Green Grass Running Water” uses many supporting characters that each have their own story and struggle as Blackfoot’s in Canada. An outside narrative manages all the different perspectives and stories, and brings them together in the end just like the main announcer in a traditional Sundance ceremony.  The theme of interconnectedness becomes more prominent throughout the book, as the stories of each of the individuals become more intertwined. In this way, I had the chance to understand each character and their issues separately before realizing they are all part of the bigger picture – a community and as a society.

In King’s story, the presence of the Coyote is quite prominent and important. The Coyote’s identity influences the narrative in a significant way. We are reminded that the Coyote in “Green Grass Running Water” is a trickster with a dual function:  as a healer, but also as a hero that resists colonial representations. In fact, the Coyote helps to bridge King’s story between two worlds, the mythological world and the reality world. King stresses the fact that if humans and different cultures continue to separate themselves based on beliefs and ethnic characteristics, then there will always be outside sources who will try to re-unite them, just like the Coyote does. The Coyote, who tries to ‘fix’ the gap, is seen misunderstanding many of the customs of the different cultures. In this way, the character of the Coyote is seen as a trickster because he challenges the view of western myths. By retelling the myths and making silly jokes around them, the myths are seen in a different point of view. By keeping this in mind, I’ve come to the realization that challenging the myths and making jokes around them is a way that the Coyote attempts to fix the world. For instance, when Bill Bursum was trying to play a movie in his TV shop, it didn’t work. Rather, a different version started to play. In this version, the Aboriginals are the winners. This new depiction changes the entire story, and represents how myths can in fact change. By changing the myth, we have a chance to fix the derogatory and destructive stereotypes that are affecting everyday society with racism, sexism, and violence towards each other.

References:

“The Context of Oral Tradition and Contemporary Native Storytelling” Powershow.  http://www.powershow.com/view1/2440b2-ZDc1Z/The_Context_Oral_Tradition_and_Contemporary_Native_powerpoint_ppt_presentation2014. Web. 20. Mar. 2014.

“Colonial Representation of Native Americans, Savages” Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42410/42410-h/images/illus-115.jpg. Web 20 March 2014.

 

 

For this blog assignment, I have chosen to collect my thoughts and opinions regarding the Indian Act of 1876, and whether or not my findings support Colemans argument about his project on white civility. To start the blog, I will state my current opinion – which is that based on my current knowledge on the Indian Act and what it stood for, I believe that this governing activity does absolutely support Coleman’s findings. Coleman argues that throughout time, Canadian policies and governing bodies have consistently created a white, Christian society that has mimicked a form of British civility. This can be seen throughout the various policies that have been implemented throughout Canada’s history, where many cultures and people of different beliefs and values were excluded or told to assimilate. In this sense, state legislation and policies have worked towards creating nationalism within the country that mimicked British colonial civility, leading to an accepted ‘English-Canadian’ whiteness.

The Indian Act in particular, was established in 1876 with the goal of assimilating the Aboriginal population of Canada into westernized culture. Different aboriginal groups were represented by the Minister of Indian Affairs, who would designate how much land each band could use. The land technically belonged to the Crown, who would create Reserves in order to call the land as being ‘set aside’ for the use of a Band of Indians. Furthermore, officials and government personnel under the Crown deemed many aboriginal customs and cultures as unsuitable and ‘uncivilized’. In order to bypass that, many traditions such as the Potlatch and the Sundance were deemed to be illegal. Legislations such as these, where bands are unable to practice their culture and heritage further shows evidence of Colemans theory, that clearly the different views of the natives did not fall into the settlers view of British civility. In general, the theme of the Indian Act was to promote civilization and assimilation within the Indians. The notion of each Native as being required to register for a Native status was viewed as a necessary, temporary stepping point in order to reach full assimilation into the already defined civil views of the nation. This nationalist movement aimed to remain as close to Britain as possible. Many techniques and strategies were used in order to promote integration, such as opening the Residential School System. This system became mandatory for all Native children to attend, where they would be taught the ways of civility by being forced to reject their own language, beliefs, and customs. The children were told that their culture was dirty and wrong, and that they needed to change into the westernized view of the world. A well-known slogan for the Residential Schools was to ‘Kill Indian, Save the Man“.

Besides the Indian Act, anything but the white English settler was seen as perverse and unsuitable for the land. Immigrants, Aboriginals, and anyone that was not from British civil origin were expected to assimilate into the white ideal of British civility. Anything but was seen as less worthy.

Citings:

“Residential Schooling”. Multimedia Resources. “http://www.swlauriersb.qc.ca/Schools/ltm/multimedia/2013_e-portfolios/ALANA%20website/My%20Web%20Sites/residentialschool1.jpg”. Web. March 21. 2014

“Residential Programs and Indian Act”. Umista. “http://www.umista.org/collections/Web. March 21. 2014