Write a blog that hyper-links your research on the characters in GGRW; PAGES 214-223, 2007 Edition
This section of Green Grass Running Water, looks at various characters within the same (or similar) setting of watching a Western film. In the film, we see the contrasting “soldiers vs. Indians,” we see the contrasting perceptions of the characters, and we see almost all the main characters connected reflecting and watching this scene. This is a main theme of King’s GGRW, the concept that all the stories are interlinked, that they are all going through the same scene, and they all have thoughts on it. What I found interesting about these pages is that each character watches more or less the same clip in the film, but each character sees something different. I enjoyed reading the perspectives and rereading the scene from each person’s view, it gave the story of “Indians vs. Soldiers” more depth.
ALBERTA TURNED BACK TO THE MOVIE
In this section, Alberta watches the portrayal of two ‘kinds’ of people, the soldiers and the Indians in the Western movie. She decides to turn the movie off because “teaching Western history was trial enough without having to watch what the movie makers had made out of it” (214). This shows her stance on the ways in which the Indians were colonized and portrayed (and still portrayed) by Western thinking – the Indians are wild, yelling and screaming. She concludes by comparing the film two her struggle between Lionel and Charlie. Lionel, on the Bay Horse, and Charlie on the Pinto; Alberta references Charlie’s admiration for law, and ‘western’ or ‘white’ ideals for he is a mixed horse of white and brown – Indian of the plaines.
CHRISTIAN TOOK OFF THE OTHER SOCK
Latisha watches the cavalry charge at the Indians in a threatening sense. Her son Christian asks if it is over, and Latisha turns off the film after finishing the threatening scene. Here we see the perspective of the Christian boy, waiting for the Indians to go, for all he knows is that the Indian is not good for the Christian faith.
LIONEL SETTLED INTO THE CHAIR
Lionel is conflicted, he is at odds with his job, his relationship with Alberta, and his life. What Lionel doesn’t see, because he has closed his eyes, is the four Indians waving their lances, and an Indian dancing his horse in the shallow of the river. Why did King want us to see what was happening on the screen but not Lionel? I think that the four Indians would have given him guidance, or perhaps given him a path – I find it interesting that King chooses Lionel to close his eyes on this scene.
CHARLIE LIFTED THE REMOTE CONTROL
Charlie watches as the Indians move back and forth along the riverbank, and watches the chief dazzle the camera and play up the role. He watches the chief rally his men, and is shocked to notice that the actor is his father. His father dressed as a Hollywood Indian, wears the rubber nose and makeup to portray the stereotype to ‘westeners.’ Charlie is noe connected symbolically to the film but also literally – bringing the themes of the Hollywood portrayal of Indians into focus.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Eli is reading a book, and reaches when Iron Eyes, with his stylized Indian name, attacked the soldiers. He tosses the book and goes to sleep – perhaps because its the same story he has heard over and over. And he knows the ending, he knows that Iron Eyes and the Indians do not prevail in the end.
BURSUM TOOK OFF HIS COAT
Bursum watches as John Wayne pulls his pistol and shouts “Hooray! We got ’em now, boys.” With his characters reference to hostility towards Indians, Bursum, like John Wayne, finds excitement with the men galloping with their weapons towards victory. Hooray, Hooray – the soldiers are winning. As seen in Flick’s Reading Notes, Bursum’s character is reference to the “infamous Bursum Bill of 1921, which aimed to divest Pueblos of a large portion of their lands and to give land title and water rights to non-Indians.”
BABO PUT THE PLATE ON THE TABLE
Babo watches just as the attack is about to commence. She notices the four Indians standing off to the side laughing and smiling as the Indians cross the river to face the soldiers “cowering behind some logs” (221). We see Babo’s perspective of the film clip, the Indians as fearless in comparison to the hiding soldiers. But what she finds interesting is that the four Indians to the side are Hawkeye, Ishmael, Robinson Crusoe, and the Lone Ranger – the men that had been in the asylum and who had escaped. “Isn’t that the trick” Babo is reference to the black slave in Melville’s Story “Benito Cereno,” perhaps the leader of the Indian slaves in Kings depiction?
DR. HOVAUGH SAT IN THE WINGBACK CHAIR
Dr. Hovaugh watches the clip, “moved by the plight of the Indians, caught between the past and western expansion just as the soldiers were caught between the Indians and the sheer rock wall” (222). He notes Hollywoods portrayal of the Indian, and watches the Indians charge across the river at the soldiers. Noticing at the last second, that there are four Indians cheering them on – the four that had escaped.
THE LONE RANGER AND ISHMAEL
The four Indians watch the Western, the one that they believed that they fixed. But it turns out that they did not fix the entire story, and that the Indians were in trouble again – the four understand that they must fix this one again.
Works cited:
“All Indian Pueblo Council and the Bursum Bill.” History.org. New Mexico History.org, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2016.
“Bay (horse).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Sept. 2016. Web. 18 Nov. 2016.
Flick Jane. “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water.” Canadian Literature 161/162 (1999). Web. November 18, 2016.
“Hollywood Indian.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Oct. 2016. Web. 18 Nov. 2016.
“Iron Eyes Cody.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Nov. 2016. Web. 18 Nov. 2016.
“Pinto Horse.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2 July 2016. Web. 18 Nov. 2016.