King uses dichotomies help to re-train the mind that has been educated on euro-centric education. By contrasting “The Earth Diver” with a story so familiar to western civilization as the Genesis story from the bible, King is able to manipulate the two stories to highlight both their similarities and differences. This also makes the reader/listener consider why exactly one is right and one is wrong? We have two extremely different cultures at odds in how authority is perceived. In euro-centric/settler understanding documentation is synonymous with the law, this is perhaps one of the reasons why the bible has had such infallible influence over the law and is interpreted as an authority.

When breaking down the basic facts presented in the two stories there are more similarities that initially perceived. These stories both take place in lush environments, both stories have animals, and both stories have motifs of birth. We know Charm gives birth to twins, what if the twins were Adam and Eve? What if this story is another example of settler colonialism invasion and imposing ideas of morality and a natural hierarchy onto a story about creation literally born from love and collaboration? In one story the creator is a mother, in the other, a father. Charm is a positioned in her story as a creator, collaborator and giver, while God is a disciplinarian, provider, and dictator. Both stories also signal something other than earth is in existence. Where did Charm fall from? We know God is Heaven, who created Heaven? In a delightful twist of irony, God creates the world using his words, not dissimilar from the Indigenous tradition of oral story telling. In highlighting the opposites, King also raises questions of familiarity.

The conflict of having to assess one of the stories as “correct” or true is positioned in a belief of belief systems themselves. As an atheist I find I am able to hear and read these stories without being influenced by moral or spiritual code. Having grown up in western civilization, I am of course very familiar with the story of Genesis while this was my first time hearing the story of Charm. However, despite knowing the story of Genesis and seeing its many edifications in art and culture I find myself in this comparison more drawn to the themes in “The Earth Diver” certainly in part because of its lack of authority and its collaborative nature. Settler understanding of land and ownership of land is consistently at odds with Indigenous understanding of land. For anyone following the news the example of the Wet’suwet’en camp raids are a prime example of this exact dichotomy. The Canadian government is attempting to remove Indigenous people from land they never ceded.

This blog post represents my personal feelings regarding organized religion and in no way do I intend to disrespect any other belief system. #landback

Works Cited:

Nikiforuk, Andrew. “Wet’suwet’en Raids: Canada Chooses Colonialism Again.” The Tyee, The Tyee, 6 Feb. 2020, thetyee.ca/Opinion/2020/02/06/Wetsuweten-Raids-Canada-Chooses-Colonialism-Again/.