Magdalena How's Student Blog ENGL 372 99C

Hyperlinking Green Grass, Running Water The Challenge: Discover as many allusions as you can to historical references (people and events), literary references (characters and authors), mythical references (symbols and metaphors). For this week’s assignment, I’ll be looking at a section of Part Two of Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King. I’m using the Kindle Edition, so my pages are a little different; I’m focusing on Locations 1718-1851, beginning with “Portland Looking Bear had been a movie star” and ending with “Under the book was a twenty-dollar tip.” As Dr….read more

5. Narratives assume, in Blanca Chester’s words, “a common matrix of cultural knowledge.” The Four Old Indians are perhaps the best examples of characters that belong to a matrix of cultural knowledge, which excludes many non-First Nations. What were your first questions about and impressions of these characters? How have you come to understand their place in the novel. It is undeniable that the characters in Green Grass, Running Water are exceptionally layered and complex. Of these characters, arguably the most layered are the “Four Old Indians.” We first see…read more

There are so many ways to read a story. This week, I was able to read Harry Robinson’s story “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King of England” four different ways: first, silently to myself; second, aloud to myself; third, listening as it was read to me; and fourth, reading it aloud to someone else. The first time I read this story (silently and to myself), I found myself rather confused. The unfamiliar syntax was tricky to parse, the shape of the story tough to follow. I naturally started to…read more

What is it that makes it so difficult for us to fully understand first contact stories? In this week’s lesson, Erika offers two reasons why we find this so challenging. First, she posits that “the social process of the telling is disconnected from the story and this creates obvious problems for ascribing meaningfulness” (Paterson).  This makes a great deal of sense. The way in which a story is told has a profound impact on how it is understood; even if the words remain the same, intonation and intention can completely…read more

Reading through everyone’s blogs on the subject of home, it is immediately apparent how complex the idea of “home” can be! There was not a single post that seemed to say “this is exactly what home is and always has been for me, full stop.” Instead, there exists for everyone a combination of factors, both physical and intangible, that combine to form “home.” As I read, I attempted to distill the values represented by the various stories, keeping a list as I went along. Once I was finished reading (which…read more

When I was three years old and living in Toronto, my parents sat me down and told me that soon I would be a big sister. One of my earliest memories is of rolling out a long banner and painting, with a great deal of help from my friend’s mother, the words “Welcome Home.” The banner took place of pride on my porch when my brother was first transported from the hospital to our house. I remember sitting in my Grandma’s arms, craning my neck to see my new baby…read more