I will be investigating extra-textual connections in the assigned section pp. 222-229 in Green Grass Running Water. It corresponds to pp. 265-274 in the 2007 edition that I have, beginning with television store owner Bill Bursum thinking to himself and being teased by Coyote. It continues through an encounter between Thought Woman and “A. A. Gabriel” and ends with an exchange between the four elders and Coyote where Coyote starts a rainstorm with a dance.
Bill Bursum’s thoughts do not include any significant direct references, although it does mention Eli Stands Alone’s cabin being in “the wrong place” (p. 267) and Bursum’s plan to pick out “the best piece of property on the lake” (p. 266) even before said lake existed. The lake was to be created by the dam, which is a symbol of technological progress. Bursum’s attitude toward the lake and the cabin are symbolic of the colonial attitude toward progress as a good and inevitable force, sure to sweep away everyone such as the Natives who fail to conform to it.
Thought Woman’s segment is much thicker with allusion. Thought Woman washes up on shore and meets A. A. Gabriel – the Arch(A)ngel Gabriel. Running through this segment is the conflation of Christian religion with state authority. Gabriel introduces himself with a card that says “Canadian Security and Intelligence Service.” The other side says “Heavenly Host.”
The card proceeds to sing “Hosanna da,” which could be interpreted as a slight garbling of “Hosa-anna” as it is usually sung. Coyote comments on this and the narrator corrects him with the card’s real song: “Hosanna da, our home on Natives’ land.” (p. 270) Again, a song of religious (Christian) importance is intentionally blurred with a song of national (Canadian) importance.
Despite the many allusions to his divinity, Gabriel has the appearance and tone of a government official, possibly a bureaucrat or customs or immigration officer. He records Thought Woman’s name as Mary; as Flick’s reading notes remind us, “Church and government officials re-named First Nations individuals with familiar, especially Christian names.” Hence the name has a dual role as an allusion to colonial history and in the next passage where Gabriel appears to try to induct her into the actual role of the Virgin Mary.
Gabriel attempts to photograph her stepping on the head of a snake, in reference to many representations and statues where she is depicted doing exactly this. The snake is supposed to represent the Devil, and hence this act is symbolic of her freedom from sin because of Immaculate Conception. (Historically, it may also be connected to a translation error.)
One very interesting detail of this passage is that, of the four observing the scene, only Gabriel sees the snake. The others all see Old Coyote instead. This may suggest the existence of two distinct perceptive worlds. In Gabriel’s, the snake represents sin and nature simultaneously, and hence the sin of nature; meanwhile in the Native worldview presented by King, Old Coyote represents the inscrutability and indifference of nature. Gabriel arrives on the narrative scene with a highly unusual and seemingly absurd perspective which he then tries to impose on others.
Finally, Gabriel tries to impregnate her, presumably so she can give birth to Jesus. The scene is suggestive of sexual coercion. When Thought Woman refuses to be involved and says no, Gabriel says: “You really mean yes, right?” (p. 271). I think this alludes to the sexual commodification of Native women which continues to afflict Canadian society. Gabriel attempts to rob Thought Woman – first of her name, then of her nationality (she is treated like an outsider, interrogated on her connection to the American Indian Movement, and implicated in smuggling), then of her spiritual role, and finally of her sexual agency. Thought Woman reacts to all of these affronts with indifference.
Flick, Jane. “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water.” Canadian Literature 161/162 (1999). Web. June 24, 2015.
King, Thomas. Green Grass Running Water. Toronto: Harper Collins, 1993. Print.
Tan, Julian. “Statue of Mary Stepping on a Snake.” Questions and Answers. CatholicJules.Net. September 2, 2010. Web. July 9, 2015.
Do you think that perhaps the reason Old Coyote and the Snake are related could be a symbol of the Settlers oppression of Aboriginal Religion and culture? Or perhaps the European viewpoint on the Aboriginal communities and sources of evil and the antithesis to good?
Hi James,
Yes, I think so. The comparison emphasizes two very different approaches to nature, and giving Old Coyote a cameo in the Christian myth is an arresting way of showing that. The snake under the heel suggests conquest, which as King maintains elsewhere is the main contrast between European and North American worldviews.
Great explanations, Mattias. I think your passage does a good job of expressing the Christian obsession to be in control of everything, and like you said, absurdizes it. I like your interpretation of nature’s contrasting “let it be” attitude. Very different from Christian rigidity.
I actually grew up with Catholic schooling, and while I appreciated the emphasis on compassion and good deeds school taught us, it wasn’t until much later that I realized my perspective had been fixed in very tight frameworks. I didn’t even know such frameworks could exist, but it’s very humbling to realize that your POV is only one of millions. A key thing that moved me was the existence of many creation stories, flood stories, and messiah stories in other cultures and religions both similar and unlike the Christian one. It shows that cultures have an urge to explain things in some sort of authoritative order, and also an urge to be unique in their identity through these stories. Ironically, cultures are more similar than they think they are: we’re all human and we all crave similar things and explanations at the end of the day.
So I think once in awhile we need to unlearn our frameworks and look at other frameworks. No one should be under pressure to abandon their framework entirely, but an appreciation that other frameworks exist in equal legitimacy to yours should be adopted, in my opinion.
Hi Charmaine,
Thanks! I’ve been surprised to see how many people in this class have gone through some sort of struggle with dogma in their religious beliefs. I too became aware of my worldview’s rigidity by learning just how many other ways one could see the world.
I love this idea of weaving different perspectives into a single narrative, which I think is in part what King accomplished in this novel. Humour is known for bringing arrogant people down, but it also has great power for bringing us together. I wrote a novel that was partly based on the idea of comparing realities, different modes of being and seeing.
It’s always a pleasure to read your comments 🙂
~Mattias
Hi Mattias,
What are your thoughts on Gabriel being a member of CSIS specifically? I understood his role to represent the way religious authority makes its way through government systems in order (you say as much in this blog, I think) but I had the same impression as you that he was a bureaucrat or a customs officer. He doesn’t seem to fit the role of a secret service agent/spy at all, and CSIS was only about ten years old when the novel came out, so I’m not sure if it could be a reference to some historical event. But it is such a specific reference that I keep coming back to it. Do you have any thoughts on the matter?
Thanks for your great analysis!
Max
Hi Max,
I looked into that a bit in my research, but it still seems to be a mystery. The only thing that comes to mind is the prestige of Gabriel belonging to CSIS instead of customs or immigration – he is an arch-angel, after all.
As the reading notes point out, the question “Are you or have you ever been a member of the American Indian Movement” stands in for “Communist Party” in a phrase that was really asked during the Red Scare.
There could be a subtle pun on “Red,” of course. The CSIS was only formed in 1984 – too late to participate in most of the communist witch hunts of the Cold War. Still, there is a bit of meaning in conflating the external threat of the Soviet Union with the internal threat of Aboriginal agitation, reinforcing the theme of Aboriginal people being strangers in their own land.
I’m afraid I don’t know if there’s anything more direct. There’s also Coyote’s supposed Social Insurance Number: 637-015-561. I couldn’t find any significance for that either, even though he claimed it was “very important.” Perhaps another one of his tricks?
~Mattias