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?

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I

The most striking similarity I found in Harry Robinson and Thomas King’s texts (in particular the dialogues between the narrator and Coyote) was how both reflect the oral tradition through their writing styles. They do this by using colloquialisms and informal, short sentences as they would if they were speaking out loud. The result is very conversational.

I also noticed that they both break down the ‘fourth wall’. Robinson does this in his story by addressing the reader directly, often asking them questions. (The most obvious example is when he asks us, “Do you know what the angel was? Do you know?” (LBS, 66). King is more subtle. There’s a moment when King’s narrator brings up the story about the Old Woman and Coyote says that he remembers it all. “I wasn’t talking to you,” the narrator replies. “Who else is here?” Coyote asks (GGRW, 391). By drawing our attention to the fact that the narrators are aware of us – their audience – I feel like this transforms the solitary act of reading into something more communal. We aren’t simply reading dead words on a page. There is a sense of involvement here – by acknowledging our presence, we are drawn into the story. Our presence becomes vital to the story, at least in that part. This definitely adds to the oral storytelling tradition they are trying to re-create.

Both King and Robinson also write their stories in the present tense, which creates a sense of continuation. It’s as if it’s happening now, and has always been happening. There’s no division between the past and present. This is best seen in the way King begins his story: “So. In the beginning, there was nothing (1).”

Both these writing styles result in written texts that reflect the fluidity of oral stories. They don’t present themselves as a sole voice of authority. In fact, they sometimes go out of their way to highlight this. For instance, in his story Robinson reveals his lack of knowledge about the date when the Black and White law was created. He says, “Could be around 1850…I couldn’t be sure, I’d like to find that out some of these days” (LBS, 79). King also does a similar thing often. For instance, when his narrator tells the story about First Woman and Ahdamn, he says, “I don’t know where he (Ahdamn) comes from. Things like that happen, you know” (GGRW, 40). This allows their stories to be ‘open’, in a sense. There is room here for the readers to add things in these spaces, fill it up with their own ideas or interpretation.

   II

It’s also interesting to compare King and Robinson’s representations of Coyote in their stories.

In Robinson’s story, Coyote is portrayed as an agent of god, who is subject to his authority. This is seen when the Angel says, “God says at one time you work for him/ You walked all over the place / But he put you here on the water….” (66) Coyote is “hired” by god to fix the world. He’s on a heroic mission to better his people’s lives and he’s comes across as being responsible and focused.

Coyote in King’s story seems more like the trickster figure I’d imagined. He’s a wild card. He’s unpredictable, mischievous and often does things just for the heck of it. Yet it’s through his disruptions and destruction that people learn valuable lessons. His relationship with god is different as well. The ironic god/dog King introduces in the first few pages is actually an (unintended) creation of Coyote.

Ultimately however, I think one of the things both these representations of Coyote do is show us that creators have limited powers. Robinson’s Coyote is able to inspire the Black and White law but is unable to actually create it on his own. He has immense powers (this is evident with the illusions of an army he creates for the King) but we are told this power is bequeathed to him for this particular mission. In King’s story, this is much more obvious, as Coyote is presented a fallible character, one who often makes mistakes. He may have powers (dancing and singing to create earthquakes for instance) but he often can’t seem to control the extent of it. Nor does he have any control over his unintended creation, the god/dog, the ‘dream’ that got loose. Perhaps this could also seen as a commentary on the power of stories?

WORKS CITED

King, Thomas. Green Grass Running Water. Toronto: Harper Collins, 1993. Print.

Robinson, Harry. “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King Of England.” Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Ed. Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2005. 64-85.

“The Trickster.” Crystalinks. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.