8. Everyone is on the move in this novel, road trips abound and in order to hit the road what do we need? — a road map. At the same time, Lionel, Charlie and Alberta are each seeking direction in life. As Goldman says, “mapping is a central metaphor” (24) of this novel. Maps chart territory and provide directions, they also create borders and boundaries and they help us to find our way. There is more than one way to map, and just as this novel plays with conflicting story traditions, I think King is also playing with conflicting ways to chart territory. What do you think lies at the centre of King’s mapping metaphor? Marline Goldman, “Mapping and Dreaming; Native Resistance in Green Grass Running Water.” Canadian Literature 161-162 (1999). Web. April 04/2013.

“Green Grass Running Water” is a novel I much enjoyed reading, weaving the perspectives of many individuals into a single literature. Throughout the novel, it explores a common theme of land and borders, through the characters of Charlie, Lionel, Alberta, Eli, Dr. Hovuagh and Bobo. In the case of Charlie, he finds himself unable to travel due to having his vehicle stolen. His map becomes stopped and he is stagnant on his trip to seeing Lionel and Alberta. Alberta tries to map her own life in her own way. She wishes to start a family without a husband, something that can be seen as uncommon. Lionel, on the other hand, hasn’t found a path he’d like to take and he struggles with knowing what he’s really meant to do. These characters seem to foil Dr. Hovaugh well, in that he plans his life, almost to a T. Dr. Hovaugh maps everything, as seen by the heaps of maps, brochures and travel guides that surround him. However, Dr. Hovaugh seems to plan his mapping in a more Western style, listing out the directions and borders of land. Lastly is Eli, one of the few characters who truly knows his way around a map. Eli is different from Charlie who needs a map, Alberta who is making her own map, Lionel who is trying to find a map and Dr. Hobaugh who religiously abides by maps. In fact, Eli doesn’t need a map, which can be seen as a metaphor for no longer seeing the boundaries that has been placed on society. Eli takes paths that are far from the main road as seen by the instance where he takes Lionel to the Sun Dance. In this blog post, I wish to explore the metaphor of King’s mapping in his book, and uncover the possible truths or messages that King wishes to express through the characters described above.

Firstly, we must consider the question of maps, metaphors, Western and First Nations. The most obvious answer is the style and mode of thinking, exploring and dividing land between Western and First Nations philosophy. In Western philosophy, regarding structure and power (something previously discussed in conjunction to dichotomy) we see that Western prefers a system of distinct structures that outline and have concrete boundaries. Meanwhile, First Nations culture is often seen being more fluent with their systems. For instance the story of Charm versus the story of Genesis is a clear depiction of the firm boundaries of Western culture versus the open-ended style of First Nations culture. In the case of mapping, the characters have different approaches to mapping due to the traditions that they have, whether it is influenced by Western culture, First Nations culture or a mixture of both. It becomes clear that Western culture depicts the strict borders that are set on maps, and the home road taken by Eli is more of a representation of First Nations traditions towards mapping.

The second, less obvious analysis involves the approaches to story-telling where mapping is simply a parallel to the different views that are seen during story-telling. In a story of Western culture, it is strict, set in 3 parts. There is a beginning, a conflict (middle), and climax and conclusion. We see this in many televisions shows where programs are often structured in a way that we are able to easily follow along, and feel comfortable watching. The 3-act structure is representative of the linear style of mapping that is codified in Western culture. Meanwhile, the First Nations mapping doesn’t have a distinct path that it must follow to get from beginning to end. In fact, many stories from First Nations culture don’t put a heavy focus on an “end point”. Instead, it focuses on the head, the heart and the spirit (or emotion) of the journey. This reminds me of a movie that I had watched long ago called “Arrival” where the protagonist finds herself in a story, midway. The movie has an end, but in actuality, it is getting to the beginning. It reminded me that stories are not only to get to a point, but rather to get a point across. By changing the common 3-act structure and linear style that codified Western structure, Arrival allowed me to take time to enjoy the emotions and meanings behind the story itself, instead of waiting for an expected ending. Similarly, I found that the mapping metaphor in King’s book is also trying to express the same lesson. Western culture, far too often, places more emphasis on the boundaries and firm roads, that we forget what stands behind them.

Works Cited

Feinman, Amanda. “On Arrival, Circular Storytelling, and Not Arriving Anywhere.” BLARB // Los Angeles Review of Books, https://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/reviews/arrival-circular-storytelling-arriving-anywhere/, Accessed March 7, 2020.

“The Map is Not the Territory”. Farnam Street, https://fs.blog/2015/11/map-and-territory/, Accessed March 7, 2020.

Government of Alberta. “Walking Together.” The Oral Tradition, http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/aswt/oral_tradition/documents/oral_tradition.pdf, Accessed March 7, 2020.