Oh Canada ENGL 372

Thomas King’s novel Green Grass Running Water starts with “nothing, just the water”(1).

Green Grass Running Water has a multitude of narratives that are told simultaniously but occurre at different points in time. Stories like those of First Woman and Coyote occur at the beginning of the world long before the stories of characters such as Alberta and Charlie. Why is it that King felt the need to start at the commencement of the world in order to convey the stories of modern day characters?

One contributing reason may be “to make [the] audience wait, to keep everyone in suspense” (7). Thomas King believed that suspense was one of the tools needed to tell a great story. The addition of the creation stories adds suspense to the stories of the modern-day characters by prolonging and complicating their plots.

However, there are two far more significant reasons for King’s choice to include creation stories at the commencement and throughout his novel. The importance of creations stories in Indigenous culture and the context that they provide to the modern struggles of his characters.

Creation stories tell the story of the commencement of the world and how Indigenous people first settled/ created North America. Creation stories explain why the world is the way we find it in King’s novel i.e. we are living on the land that First Woman built on Grandmother Turtles back. This is significant both because it explains the creation of the world but also because First Woman was Indigenous. First Woman’s story shows the Indigenous people’s long standing connection with and claim to the land. Creation stories connect our present with the past and show the influence of the past on current events. Story tellers can change their stories to provide the right context for the narrative. In King’s case the creation story provides context to the events in his modern day characters life. By continuing to intertwine the creation story and its characters with the modern day plot, King emphasizes that the lessons and meaning in the creation story continue to be important and salient in modern times.

The importance of King providing context to Indigenous stories is particularly evident for two of his characters, Latisha and Eli.

One of Latish’s customers treats her the same way that Noah treats the Changing Woman. In King’s novel, Latisha’s customer “reached out to try to pat Latisha’s butt” (131) and Noah “chases Changing Woman around the canoe” (146) trying to procreate. Both Woman are treated poorly and disrespectfully. Changing Woman’s story is a reminder that Indigenous culture and the Christian religon viewed Woman very differently. Indigenous woman enjoyed more rights and respect before colonization and the imposition of European ideals. King’s inclusion of Changing Woman’s story provides context for Latisha’s situation and reminds the reader that she is subject to this treatment, in part, due to colonization. It is also a reminder of how long Indigenous woman have been mistreated.

When First Woman helps put together the earth and builds her garden it is unfairly taken from her by God. Eli is in a very similar situation when the government wants to take his mother’s cottage in order to utilize their dam. The cottage was hand build by his mother just as the world was hand built by First Woman and the animals. King’s inclusion of the story of the First Woman highlights the injustice of Eli’s situation by reenforcing his claim to the land.

Thomas King starts his book Green Grass Running Water at the beginning of creation because that is where the story of his Indigenous character truly starts. Both the Indigenous people’s connection with their history and claims to their lands and the context of their continual oppression, marginalization and unfair treatment start at the beginning of the world. In order to properly understand the plight of King’s characters we must understand not only their story but the history that lead up to and influences their story. King helps us understand the long history of disrespect that Latisha and other Indigenous woman have had to contend with. He also emphasizes the right that Eli has to live free from constant attempts to seize his land. Further, King shows the long history of Indigenous people being displaced when their land was stolen from them just like Eli is being displaced. Starting at the beginning provides a depth of understanding of his characters that is invaluable. As Jesse Went mentions in his article, knowing more stories and context of Indigenous culture will make it “harder to hate, easier to love. Maybe we would be equals”

Work Cited

King, Thomas. “Green Grass Running Water” HarperColins Publishers, 1993.

King, Thomas. “The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative”. House of Anansi, 2003.

“Oral Traditions” Indigenous Foundations, https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/oral_traditions/. Accessed 9 Mar. 2020.

Wente, Jesse. “Canada Needs to Give Indigenous Stories the Platform They Deserve.” The Globe and Mail, 16 Feb. 2016, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/canada-needs-to-give-indigenous-stories-the-platform-they-deserve/article34046186/. Accessed 9 Mar. 2020.