3:7 – Story, Interconnection and Understanding

Write a blog that hyper-links your research on the characters in GGRW according to the pages assigned to you. Be sure to make use of Jane Flick’s reference guide on you reading list.

For this week’s assignment I will be analyzing and hyper-linking characters in Green Grass, Running Water from pages 224-234. I have decided to choose this section close to the middle of the book because I think the main themes of the novel become evident here. I have enjoyed Green Grass, Running Water because of its emphasis on connections and cycles. In this section Thomas King connects stories of and about men and women, the past and the present, and the relationship between cultures. He also emphasizes the importance of stories, as they can be taught and learned from. I enjoyed how the novel is layered with many stories, but also a narrative that brings everything back to the present. As I mentioned in my last couple blog posts, I felt like Coyote was the learner and I felt like I was learning along with him. In this section I have decided to focus on, we observe a conversation between Moby-Jane and Changing Woman about where the best place to go would be for fun, and Coyote interrupts with confusion. Moby-Jane and Changing Woman are happy for awhile just swimming around, but eventually Moby-Jane needs to leave. Then as Moby-Jane leaves the soldiers arrive and drag Changing Woman away because she is an Indian even though they are confused at why she tells them to call her Ishmael. Changing Woman still sees the best of the situation and says her surroundings are interesting, but she wishes she was back swimming with Moby-Jane. Then the story moves back to the narrative where Coyote is asking questions about the story and makes a remark about loving happy endings. After this remark, we have the narrator (and teacher in my opinion) asking Coyote to listen to the story of Thought Woman and the River.

Changing Woman:

Flick gives the definition of Changing Woman as “a holy person of miraculous birth”(Hinnells 229). She also talks about the relationship of Changing Woman and Moby-Jane as that of a lesbian couple. Changing Woman is also described as being a primary character of Navajo mythology and religion as she grows old and young with the seasons of the earth. She is emphasized as representing earthly power and the power women have in creating and sustaining life on earth. There are other Holy Women who represent the four directions: Earth Woman (East), Mountain Woman (South), Water Woman (West), and Corn Woman (North).

Moby-Jane:

I was interested to find out more about Moby-Jane because Jane Flick does not go into detail about her in her notes. In “Border Crossings: Thomas King’s Cultural Inversions,” I read about how Moby-Jane and Changing Woman’s relationship is often observed as highlighting the shift of power from male to female (67 Davidson et al). This story of Moby-Jane and Changing Woman is described as homoerotic and powerful (67 Davidson et al).

Ishmael:

Jane Flick explains that Ishmael was a character in Moby Dick who has the famous line: “Call me Ishmael.” I found this interesting because in this section I have decided to focus on in GGRW, Changing Woman says this exact line to the soldiers. Ishmael is also a biblical name that is made up of two elements coming from the verb shama, which means to hear and El, which represents the God of Israel or the genus God. The name itself means “He Will Hear God” or “God Hears.” When I read about this I found it intriguing because in GGRW, King having Changing Woman asking the soldiers to call her Ishmael to me represents how it doesn’t matter what they do to her because God will know.

Lone Ranger:

According to Jane Flick’s Reading Notes for Thomas Kings Green Grass, Running Water, the Lone Ranger was a “masked man with faithful Indian companion, Tonto.” He was the hero of western novels, television series, and movies such as The Lone Ranger (1938). I found it interesting that he was considered a “Do Gooder” and this is described as being able to “clean up a town.” In the novel Lone Ranger is one of the Four Old Indians and is a reference to a popular Western figure that has an Indigenous sidekick Tonto.

Hawkeye:

I learned from Jane Flick’s Notes that Hawkeye was the most famous hero in American literature and that he always wears a leather jerkin. Hawkeye was also featured in major films in Hollywood.

Coyote:

Throughout our course I have learned much more about Coyote, but Jane Flick mentions that he is a trickster in tales, but important in tradition. She says as one of the First People he was “capable of being brave or cowardly, conservative or innovative, wise or stupid.” I think this description of Coyote is important because, especially in this section of the novel, it would be easy to consider Coyote stupid as he interrupts often and is confused by much of what is going on. However, when I was reading through this part of the novel, Coyote felt relatable to me because I feel like King uses him to represent how stories have the power of teaching and solving confusion.

Robinson Crusoe:

Jane Flick talks about Robinson Crusoe as “aided by his Man Friday, the ‘savage’ he rescues from cannibals, and then Christianizes.” Crusoe and Friday have a relationship where he is the master and Friday is his slave. Crusoe is one of the Four Old Indians who has an Indigenous sidekick and is a reference to the popular Western figure.

Thought Woman:

Flick explains Thought Woman is a mythic figure that has created the world by thinking it. I found this interesting because I think King uses Thought Woman to show Coyote, and readers, that appearance is not everything. The River betrays Thought Woman, and Coyote becomes distressed that a negative event has once again occurred, which shows the hardship in accepting cultures that are different in tradition, belief, and experience.

I have also decided to include a Ted Talk by Matika Wilbur in my post this week. I have included it because in her talk, Matika emphasizes that the image of Native American culture needs to change. I think this Ted Talk is extremely important because it highlights the importance of storytelling and through stories Wilbur tells it becomes evident that history books do not show the truth. In this Ted Talk, connections are also emphasized through stories. Wilbur tells her own stories, stories of others, and her experiences listening and learning from the stories she has been told. She also ends off her talk by explaining that she is a learner and that she will continue to strive to learn more about Native American culture. From my reading of GGRW, I think that Thomas King also emphasizes the importance of stories in the interconnections and truth they reveal as well as the relationship between teaching and learning that should be emphasized in understanding culture.

Works Cited

Davidson, Arnold E., Priscilla L. Walton, and Jennifer Andrews. “Border Crossings: Thomas King’s Cultural Inversions.” Google Books. University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2003, 2003, https://books.google.ca/books?id=YH4t4JLbAtsC&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=Moby-Jane%2Bin%2Bnative%2Bculture&source=bl&ots=T1UDo5gtKu&sig=9cdQJTnpDZDDOh8dCBJLF9uJfrU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjk7ZC9lLnQAhVI2WMKHVPpBDAQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=Moby-Jane%20in%20native%20culture&f=false. Accessed 19 Nov 2016.

Flick, Jane. “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water.” Canadian Literature 161/162 (1999).18 July 2016. Accessed 19 Nov 2016.

“Jerkin (garment).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerkin_(garment). Accessed 20 Nov 2016.

King, Thomas. Green Grass, Running Water. New York: Bantam Books, 1994. Print.

“Navajo Indian Legend- Changing Woman.” Navajo Indian Legend- Changing Woman, http://nativeamerican-art.com/navajo-legend.html. Accessed 19 Nov 2016.

Publications, Arie Uittenbogaard for Abarim. “The Amazing Name Ishmael: Meaning and Etymology.” Abarim Publications, http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Ishmael.html#.WDKQYhIrJE4. Accessed 19 Nov 2016.

TEDxTalks. “Changing the Way We See Native Americans | Matika Wilbur | TEDxTeachersCollege.” YouTube. YouTube, 23 July 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIzYzz3rEZU. Accessed 20 Nov 2016.

Welker, Glenn. “Coyote Stories/Poems.” Coyote Stories/Poems, https://www.indigenouspeople.net/coyote.html. Accessed 20 Nov 2016.