Hi everyone!
For this assignment I chose question 2, which I will provide for ease of context:
As I understand it, the role of Coyote is left entirely up to the interpretation of the reader. As Coyote’s gender was not specified in the novel, I will respectfully refer to them with gender neutral pronouns.
In Native American culture, Coyote is often referred to as a trickster, which is in itself a term that can be interpreted multiple ways. Encyclopedia Britannica also refers to Coyote as a demiurge (independent creative force) which is the closest term I’ve found to describe how I perceive them in Green Grass Running Water. Especially since Coyote has godlike abilities, allowing them to create from their own dreams. At the beginning, Coyote was alone and had to create a world to exist in. They wield enough power that their own dreams become independent of them, gaining a will of their own.
As an independent creative force, Coyote is difficult to put into a box of description. It will either be simple and of few words, or rambling endlessly into the void. Which is what I worry this blog post is becoming as I struggle to describe how I perceive them. All in all, creatures of godlike proportions are beyond anything I know, other than the human delusion of owning the planet. Playing god with it in any way we can through industrial greed. Coyote’s godlike powers are different, and contain an innocence of necessity that we as a species do not seem to have.
Works Cited:
King, Thomas. “Green Grass Running Water” HarperColins Publishers, 1993.
Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 3.2.” English 372 99C Canadian Studies, blogs.ubc.ca/engl372-99c-2019wc/unit-3/lesson-3-2/.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Demiurge.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 15 Apr. 2013, www.britannica.com/topic/Demiurge
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Coyote.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 5 Aug. 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Coyote-mythology.