{"id":100,"date":"2016-03-21T19:18:28","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T02:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/brendanha\/?p=100"},"modified":"2016-03-30T20:21:29","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T03:21:29","slug":"assignment-35-the-sounds-of-allusions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/brendanha\/2016\/03\/21\/assignment-35-the-sounds-of-allusions\/","title":{"rendered":"ASSIGNMENT 3:5 \u2014 THE SOUNDS OF ALLUSIONS"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Find three examples of names that need to be spoken aloud in order to catch the allusion. Discuss the examples as well as the reading technique that requires you to read aloud in order to make connections. Why does King want us to read aloud?<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. Joseph Hovaugh<\/strong> \u2014 The doctor is introduced to us on page sixteen, his full name laid bare and unassumingly against the eggshell white of the page. At first, I skimmed past it, treating the man\u2019s two names as separate, the jet of air we \u2018express\u2019 when pronouncing the strident \u2018ph\u2019 in our mindspace cutting cleanly between \u201cJoseph\u201d and \u201cHovaugh.\u201d However, something seemed suspicious with the entrance of Mary and the reference to Dr. John on the next page. Biblical references and names filled these pages, but still, I did not realize the allusion of the doctor\u2019s name. Only when I read the exchange between Dr. John Eliot and Dr. Joseph Hovaugh did the allusion become clear to me. In dialogue they say:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cYellowstone,\u201d said Dr. Hovaugh.
\n\u201cJoe . . . Joe, we\u2019ve talked about this.\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s in the book,\u201d said Dr. Hovaugh\u2026 (King 46)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Finding myself subconsciously mouthing their conversation and the subsequent dialogue tags, I discovered that the doctor\u2019s name sounded similar to \u201cJehovah,\u201d the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The repetition of \u201cJoe\u201d juxtaposed against the doctor\u2019s surname clarified the sound. Through my hushed utterances that soon scaled to firm declarations I found the connection. The character\u2019s first name may also come from the name of the biblical Mary\u2019s husband, but seems to be a red herring written within the bounds of the religious motif (although Dr. Joseph Hovaugh does interact with Mary first in the novel). And indeed, the doctor speaks to Mary about the garden, referring to the Edenic paradise of Genesis, and with an air of authority muses upon \u201c[getting] a pair of peacocks\u201d (King 17). The pairing of animals was never mentioned in the biblical creation story, but was a prominent feature of the great flood narrative. This borrowing from various places of the bible alongside the duality of references in the doctor\u2019s first name indicates a thoughtful teasing and reimagining of the Christian mythos for the purposes of creating a new narrative.<\/p>\n

Louie, Ray, and Al<\/strong> \u2014 Latisha takes orders from three men from Manitoba in the final section of the novel. Similar to the previous allusion I\u2019ve found, when these characters are introduced, the names are divided. The introductions, peppered with both narrative and dialogical description, separate the names, but when Latisha brings them together and strings them cleanly by saying \u201cLouie, Ray, Al\u201d (King 334), the pun is summoned to life. Their names are a reference to Louis Riel<\/a>, M\u00e9tis leader and a controversial figure in Canadian history. The famous\u2014or infamous\u2014rebel<\/a> of the Red River Colony (and here, King continues the allusion geographically, as this colony is situated in what is now called Manitoba and the men are from the same province) seems to come alive within Louie\u2019s response to the prohibition on fishing on Parliament Lake. In a mocking tone, he prods fun at the court order, saying \u201cboy, you guys really take your fishing serious out here\u201d (336). Louis Riel\u2019s distaste of the Canadian government seems to revive itself within the sarcastic jeer of this customer.<\/p>\n

Polly Hantos<\/strong> \u2014 I\u2019ve discussed Pocahontas in my previous blog entries and naturally, when I came across this name I made the connection to the daughter of Chief Powhatan with ease. Reciting the name affirmed the allusion, but it was the context that truly brought this allusion to life. Her name is catalogued with others such as \u201cSally Jo Weyha\u201d (Sacagawea) to illustrate a \u201ctight community of Mexicans, Italians, Greeks, along with a few Indians, some Asians and whites, all waiting in the shadows of the major studios, working as extras, fighting for bit parts in Westerns, playing Indians again and again and again\u201d (King 182). Pocahontas in particular is infamous for being a romanticized figure, conjured into a Disney fantasy in the social consciousness of the white settler. In other words, she\u2019s written as an ideal stereotype of the Indigenous people, and ultimately becomes a shallow depiction of the Indigenous culture. This is reflected in Polly Hontas\u2019 inability to break into bigger parts, forever playing Indians\u2014we do not even know if Polly Hontas is Indigenous or not and the misnamed role of \u2018Indians\u2019 highlights a tension between white settler perspectives and Indigenous identity\u2014in Westerns which are infamous for their stereotypical depictions of the Indigenous. Furthermore, the passage ends with the repetition of \u201cagain,\u201d perhaps referring to the vicious and relentless cycle of stereotyping that passes down from generation to generation, like a curse controlled by the \u201cmajor studios\u201d or the dominant force<\/i> of the industry\u2014of society.<\/p>\n

King wants us to read aloud to collapse that troublesome distinction of written culture versus oral culture, to destroy the boundaries of written and spoken word. The novel makes great use of dialogue, colored with the voices of a myriad of characters that converse across the many pages of King’s tome. With so much dialogue, I can notice an interesting phenomenon while I read. \u00a0I am constantly perceiving these stories has written but simultaneously, I am constantly engaging with the language as something spoken<\/em>. King’s courting of the language’s sound requires then, for us to participate with the orality of his text. To ignore such an element would mean a failure to access complete comprehension of King’s narrative. The referential discourse of\u00a0Green Grass Running Water<\/em> would lose its ties to the extratextual realm without that bridge of orality<\/a>, and their meanings would lack completion, fullness, and ultimately effectiveness. Some may argue this potentiality for failure is a weakness on King’s part, but I disagree wholly. It shows a weakness on\u00a0our<\/em> part: our laziness and inability to bring those two realms of narration together.<\/p>\n

Works Cited:<\/p>\n

King, Thomas. Green Grass Running Water<\/em>. Toronto: Harper Collins, 2007. Print.<\/p>\n

“Louis Riel.” Louis Riel<\/i>. Historica Canada, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.<\/p>\n

“Oral Traditions.” Oral Traditions<\/i>. First Nations Studies Program, 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2016. <http:\/\/indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca\/home\/culture\/oral-traditions.html>.<\/p>\n

“The Riel Rebellion: Background.” The Riel Rebellion: Background<\/i>. Goldi Productions Ltd, 2007. Web. 21 Mar. 2016. <http:\/\/firstpeoplesofcanada.com\/fp_metis\/fp_metis_background.html>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. Find three examples of names that need to be spoken aloud in order to catch the allusion. Discuss the examples as well as the reading technique that requires you to read aloud in order to make connections. Why does King want us to read aloud? Dr. Joseph Hovaugh \u2014 The doctor is introduced to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25088,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1309],"tags":[963393],"class_list":["post-100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-assignment","tag-ggrw"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/brendanha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/brendanha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/brendanha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/brendanha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25088"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/brendanha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/brendanha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/brendanha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100\/revisions\/105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/brendanha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/brendanha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/brendanha\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}