In her article, “Green Grass, Running Water: Theorizing the World of the Novel,” Blanca Chester observes that “the conversation that King sets up between oral creation story, biblical story, literary story, and historical story resembles the dialogues that Robinson sets up in his storytelling performances (47). She writes:
Robinson’s literary influence on King was, as King himself says, “inspirational.” When one reads King’s earlier novel, Medicine River, and compares it with Green Grass, Running Water, Robinson’s impact is obvious. Changes in the style of the dialogue, including the way King’s narrator seems to address readers and characters directly (using the first person), in the way traditional characters and stories from Native cultures (particularly Coyote) are adapted, and especially in the way that each of the distinct narrative strands in the novel contains and interconnects with every other, reflect Robinson’s storied impact. (46)
For this blog assignment I would like you to make some comparisons between Harry Robinson’s writing style in “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King Of England” and King’s style in Green Grass, Running Water. What similarities can you find between the two story-telling voices? Coyote and God are present in both texts, how do they compare in character and voice across the stories?
For my blog this week, I decided to read parts of both Harry Robinson’s “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King of England” Thomas King’s “Green Grass, Running Water,” out loud to compare the voices present in each of these texts. Reading both aloud emphasized the voices of each story for me.
Below is one passage I focused on in King’s story. I read it aloud a few times to myself and then to my fiancé.
“When that River starts flowing again, it flows real fast. It flows around those rocks, and it flows past those trees. Look out, says those Rocks, here comes Thought Woman. And those Rocks climb out of the River and sit on the bank. Wake up, wake up, says those Trees. You are floating away. But Thought Woman’s ears are under water, and she doesn’t hear those Rocks and she doesn’t hear those Trees. Oh well, says those Rocks. Too bad. They say that, too. And those Rocks dive into the River and swim around until they find a nice spot to sit. La, la, la, la says that River, and it keeps going faster and faster. And pretty soon it is going very fast. It goes so fast, it goes right off the edge of the world. Oops, says that River. But it is too late. Thought Woman floats right out of the river and into the sky” (King 232).
I was drawn to this passage because it reminded me of the style in “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King of England,” in the sense that it is descriptive of the setting, but also because of the sentence structure. I found reading it silently that I was skipping over things or making short sentences into longer ones. Reading it aloud, I was able to focus on the story itself and realized that its mixture of long and short sentences gives it a voice. I love how everything in this story is given an identity and a voice because I feel like this emphasizes the relationship between the natural world and the human. The River and the Rocks are portrayed as meaningful through their being capitalized in the story and through their voices. Something else that I noticed while reading this story was how Thought Woman leaves the River because the River tricks her into getting in and she was under water and did not hear the warning from the Trees and the Rocks. This event reminded me of how once a story is told it cannot be taken back. It reminded me of this because I would not associate a River with wanting to do harm, but after reading this story I realized that things are not always as they appear to be. The River, although a part of the natural world, was able to trick Thought Woman and prevented her from hearing the warnings from the Rocks and the Trees. I think that also Coyote’s reaction to this story in the novel when he says “Oh, no … Not again,” impacted my thoughts about this situation. I feel like this story, along with the rest, show that there is great hardship in reconciling Native American culture and traditions with those of the modern world. Hearing the words “Not again” said aloud brought me a feeling of frustration almost. I felt like saying why do things like this have to keep happening? Why didn’t Thought Woman come up from under water and listen to the Trees and the Rocks?
Similarly to “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King of England,” the voice in “Green Grass, Running Water” is a teaching one. Through my reading of both stories I felt the same feeling like I was learning something sacred. I think that the mixture of sentence structure brings a realistic voice to the stories as well. From my experience of telling stories and listening to stories of others’, I find that there are often breaks, changes, emphasis on certain parts, repeated description, and distinct voices of characters. I think this occurs in both Robinson’s story and King’s book of stories. I think that both storytellers are able to portray a truth and significance about history that cannot be portrayed in a textbook.
Coyote and God are present in both stories and I think that one difference between them is that Coyote and God are shown as having a strong relationship in Robinson’s story, but some of the stories in King’s book emphasize how Coyote is impatient. I found that King’s book emphasizes how Coyote is learning and was drawn to this passage about Thought Woman and Coyote.
“‘But there is only one Thought Woman,’ says Coyote. ‘That’s right,’ I says. ‘And there is only one Coyote,’ says Coyote. ‘No,’ I says. ‘This world is full of Coyotes.’ ‘Well,’ says Coyote, ‘that’s frightening.’ ‘Yes it is,’ I says. ‘Yes it is'” (King 272).
This passage presents Coyote as a student, whereas I found that Robinson’s story presented Coyote as a teacher. What I understand from this is that Coyote, and all beings of the world, are both students and teachers as if we learn from others and ourselves then we can teach others and ourselves.
Thinking about this idea of learning and teaching, I wanted to read more stories and hear more voices. I found this book online called “Tea and Bannock Stories: First Nations Community of Poetic Voices.” It is a compilation of poems that emphasize and celebrate the relationship between People and Land. I found it to be an intriguing experience to read a variety of poems that show this relationship in different ways through their words, themes, format, and images.
Keeping with the importance of learning and teaching, I came across a video called “Indigenous leader teaching the teachers.” I think this video highlights how learning and teaching go hand in hand and it was interesting to learn more about the land, but also about the process in using features of the land as medicine. The relationship between People and Land is clearly shown in this video through the teaching stories of Indigenous cultural ambassador Dean Kelly.
Works Cited:
King, Thomas. Green Grass Running Water. Toronto: Harper Collins, 1993. Print.
Robinson, Harry. Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Ed. Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2005. Print.
Ross, Annie, Brandon Bob, Eve Chuang, Steve Davis, and Robert Pictou, comps. “Tea and Bannock Stories: First Nations Community of Poetic Voices.” (2007): 1-160. 2007, https://www.sfu.ca/lovemotherearth/02poetry/tea_and_bannock.pdf. Accessed 28 Oct 2016.
UNSW. “Indigenous Leader Teaching the Teachers.” YouTube. YouTube, 06 Sept. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmwOYhok3Gc. Accessed 28 Oct 2016.
BryonyRoseHeathwood
October 31, 2016 — 5:13 pm
Hi Chloe,
Before you mentioned the capitalization used for The River and Rocks, in my mind I was questing why this had been done. You then continued on to explain that by giving these non-human characters capitals it gave them meaning and I like this. I like the fact that King has given life to what we may not usually consider worth listening to or looking further into and I think this is a theme here for this course and in our society. Indigenous people continue to be ignored and seen as irrelevant so in fact, we too need to do what King has accomplished and realize that these people deserve to be heard. They deserve to have themselves capitalized. The fact that we even need to say that they deserve these things and it is not just something that occurs automatically frustrates me and I would think that you would agree too as you even said “why do things like this have to keep happening?”. I agree, why?!!!
Chloë Parkin
November 1, 2016 — 3:38 pm
Hi Bryony-Rose!
Thank you for your comment! I also questioned why there was capitalization of what I had previously considered as just objects (the Rocks, the River, and the Trees). I think I questioned it because I was not used to reading stories that approach nature this way until I started reading the literature in this course. I completely agree with you that King gives life to what we usually do not listen to and I think you make a great point that this ties in with our course’s theme of the ignorance and injustices taking place against Indigenous people and their culture. It frustrates me as well that we have to say they deserve to be listened to and I also think it should just be something known and done by everyone.
Thank you for your thoughts Bryony-Rose!
– Chloë
HannahWagner
November 2, 2016 — 12:36 am
Hey Chloë,
What a great post! I really enjoyed reading it.
I especially enjoyed your exploration of Coyote as both teacher and student. I completely agree that teaching and learning are interdependent concepts, and that we should try to practice both in order to flourish.
Similar to Bryony-Rose, I also really liked your explanation of King’s use of Capitalization for “objects.”
I have always been a person who appreciates the wisdom of a tree, the insights of a bird, or the security of a rock… but like you I was not used to seeing these “objects” validated in literature, especially not based solely on their intrinsic value. I think something I am really loving about this course is the ability to read stories that actually acknowledge the value of the earth and all its beings, even the one we normally don’t consider (Trees, Rocks etc.). We definitely don’t find that much in mainstream eurocentric literature!
Quite a while ago, in an anthropology class I was studying how language affects our relationship with our environment, and the beings and “objects” around us. One of the example we studied was looking at how when riding a horse, in english we would say “I am making the horse run,” but in a Native language they would say “the horse runs for me.” These two statements demonstrate such a difference in respect for the horse as an individual. And though there is only a subtle difference in wording, it is reflective of a major difference in perspective. We were then discussing the impact that the language you learn first can have in shaping your perspective, and the way to think and relate to other beings and “objects.”
Do you think that the hierarchy, injustice, and ignorance of our society is inherent because of the language we speak?
Chloë Parkin
November 6, 2016 — 12:36 pm
Hi Hannah!
Thank you for your comment!
I hadn’t thought about how language affects our relationship with our environment and I can completely see this in your examples. I think language then definitely plays a large role in the relationship between nature and us and I think that perhaps if this was a topic talked about more then it would become more evident that this is actually happening. I think language isn’t something everyone would automatically assume has an influence over their relationship with their environment, but I think it is something that should be explored more. I think our society’s ignorance is more than the influence of the language we speak, but If we think of this part of it as inherent then I hope that this is something we can realize through acknowledging it, talking about it, and learning about it, like how you did in your anthropology class, and perhaps then we can take steps to change it.
Thanks again for your kind comment and your interesting experience Hannah!
– Chloë
Jenny Lu
November 4, 2016 — 10:15 am
Hi Chloe! I really enjoyed reading your insights as I answered this question as well. You actually quoted an excerpt that I was interested in when I read Green Grass Running Water, where the narrator says that “this world is full of Coyotes” (272). When I read it I was wondering what the possible meanings were, and your thoughts on how overall this portrays the roles of students and teachers in the world makes some sense. Coyote’s comment on how it’s “frightening” put me off a bit, because I interpreted Coyote as this time traveler in Green Grass Running Water. Perhaps it is a comment on how Coyote is aware of his ambiguous/confusing powers as well as this ‘path’ of misunderstanding that students and teachers may have in their learning/teaching interactions? Maybe it refers to humans as well, or the modern world? One could also argue conceptually that Coyote is more grounded and relatable than someone like God. I also think this metaphor emphasizes this contrast between Coyote (multiple forms) and God (one being, although Christianity does say “God is love”). While God may represent more of a rigorous love and form, stories of Coyote are about his “mistakes” and ‘trickster’ intentions. I also found intriguing this overlap, where Coyote “seems to call upon a storm” (273), and in comparison this has no explanation to his action but rather a consequence. I didn’t mean to criticize any religion, but I find aspects of spirituality and such concepts and influences rather intriguing.
Best,
Jenny
Chloë Parkin
November 6, 2016 — 12:43 pm
Hi Jenny!
Thank you for your comment and for sharing your ideas and questions. I enjoyed reading all of them and I particularly was drawn to your idea about Coyote as being more grounded and relatable. In no way do I think this is criticizing religion and I completely agree that this is a great possibility. I think that Coyote, in his mistakes and wavering intentions, is relatable to those listening to stories about him and that this can definitely fit in with our modern world as well.
Thank you for your thought-provoking comments, questions and ideas Jenny!
– Chloë
MadelaineWalker
November 5, 2016 — 9:22 pm
Hey Chloe! I read your comment on my blog and wanted to read your thoughts from your own blog post. It’s interesting that we both talk about the impact reading aloud has had on our experience of the texts. I also enjoyed your reading of King’s Coyote as a student, as opposed to Robinson’s Coyote as a teacher. I think that both versions are completely valid, and just serve to emphasize the multiplicity of Coyote as a deity. I find that I actually learn best when I’m teaching someone else, so whenever I need to study I usually call my mom or my brother and lecture them about themes and motifs in various kinds of literature, depending on what I’m studying for. I like how you tied these different portrayals of Coyote to how people connect with themselves and one another, through teaching and learning from others’ and our own experiences. Perhaps Coyote has been a metaphor for humanity all along *cue spooky music*
Thanks for your post!
Madelaine
Chloë Parkin
November 6, 2016 — 12:51 pm
Hi Madelaine!
Thank you for your comment and I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I think that is so interesting that you find teaching helps you learn and I have had similar experiences with this. In my summer job I work as the director of a kids summer camp. I always go into camp thinking I know exactly how the day is going to run, but I always get little insights that I did not think I would get from teaching the kids certain things such as arts and crafts activities, swimming, and games. I find that teaching the kids and hearing their feedback and insights actually helps me learn more about myself and about how I can do a better job teaching.
Thank you for sharing your ideas and experiences Madelaine!
– Chloë