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.
I have decided to analyze pages 130-135, 330-337 from Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water. I particularly put my focus over George Morningstar and Latisha, his Native wife. I believe this Western-Native couple relationship is very much demonstrate the actual Western-Native relation, and their attitudes towards the land of Canada.
George Morningstar
Since I have very little knowledge on the history of the United States, I could not original figure of this character, until that day when my colleagues saw me reading Green Grass, Running River. Then he began to told me the famous Big Littlehorn Battle, which then inspired me to relate this character to George Armstrong Custer.
George Armstrong Custer, the Lieutenant General of the United States, is the original figure for the character of George Morningstar. I believe the reason that King named him with the last name “Morningstar” is due to his famous nickname– “Son of the Morning Star”, though he too revealed his true identity later in the story: “I’m General Custer…” (GGRW 384). An additional note would be that there is a film decorated to General Custer also named as “Son of the Morning Star“.
King also included his signature outfit, his fringed leather jacket, which ensure me that George Custer would be the figure I am looking for. However, other than these minor details that unveils his true identity, I found that the story of George Morningstar very much alludes to the life of General Custer.
Both characters married a Native woman, and had an important woman in their lives which is named Elizabeth. She was the wife of the former, and the daughter of the latter. The two Georges also have written letter to their wives while they were away for army, and for his interests respectively. General Custer’s letter to his wives was later compiled into the book named as The Custer Story: The Letters of General George A. Custer and His Wife Elizabeth.
Sun Dance is a very important event as the Sitting Bull, one of the Native leaders has attended before the Battle of the Little Bighorn, which directly led to the death of General Custer as he underestimated the Native force. Similarly, George Morningstar has too underestimated the impact he would bring by disobeying the rule of no photography during the Sun Dance.
Works Cited
Geroge Custer. Historynet.com, 2006. www.historynet.com/george-custer. Accessed on 31 Jul 2016.
Son of the Morning Star. IMDb.com, 1991. imdb.com/title/tt0102962/. Accessed on 31 Jul 2016.
The Custer Story: The Letters of General George A. Custer and His Wife Elizabeth. University of Nesbraska Press. nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Custer-Story,672680.aspx. Accessed on 31 Jul 2016.