For assignment 3:5, I chose question 2.  For convenience, I have copied it below.

Coyote Pedagogy is a term sometimes used to describe King’s writing strategies (Margery Fee and Jane Flick). Discuss your understanding of the role of Coyote in the novel.

Before I dive into this question, I want to inform my readers of what “pedagogy means”, as I was unfamiliar before doing research.  Pedagogy refers to “The art, occupation, or practise of teaching.  Also: the theory or principles of education; a method of teaching based on such a theory.” (Oxford English Dictionary). I could not have guessed this, but it makes sense because further along in this story, the coyote becomes a teacher, or a teller. As mentioned by our very intelligent professor, Erika Patteron, the coyote is a strong symbol utilized by King.  Margaery Fee and Jane Flick “describe King’s writing style in “Coyote Pedagogy” as a purposeful transition between different historical, cultural, and literary perspectives.” (Key Themes) We will soon talk about why. 

I want to talk about what Coyote means to me. I come from a very small town on Vancouver Island, and because it is indeed an island, the SPCA has declared that there are no coyotes that exist on it.  There are also no coyotes living on any of the Gulf Islands, as far as we know. Because of this, they were never a threat but more of what felt like a myth or a mysterious character that everybody talked about but nobody ever saw.  We would hear about the coyotes howling at the moon in scary movies or our favourite childhood book, but we would never hear them in our backyards. The BC SPCA talks about coyotes as being similar to dogs in the way that they are “smart, social, and playful, but they have a bad reputation for killing pets and small animals.” (BC SPCA). In this way they can be somewhat deceiving. My personal experience with and understanding of Coyotes came to life in King’s novel, “Green Grass Running Water”. 

In “Green Grass Running Water”, King speaks of Coyote as an animal initially, but as it turns out, Coyote alludes to something else. As mentioned by our instructor, Erika Patterson, the Coyote is a trickster, also known as the Transformer in traditional First Nations story-telling. A trickster is a “special, often very witty and humorous character that demonstrates the opposite characteristics to those that are valued in human beings.” (BC First Nations Studies Textbook). In this novel, both the Coyote and the narrator go back and forth between a mythical world and the reality of the Blackfoot Indian Reservation. King’s novel begins by describing a time where there was nothing except for water and Coyote. Immediately, we are introduced to Coyote as a protagonist. Coyote’s constant urge to begin the next story about the creation of the world, establishes a youthful, foolish character. Neither Coyote’s role or “Green Grass Running Water” are conclusive on their own to your average reader. This method of writing and character development intentionally represents what it is like to be a Native writer and to encounter unknown and controversial territory.  King deliberately wishes to leave room for interpretation and to portray Coyote as a symbolic character that ultimately plays for both teams, or sees both sides. 

The Coyote was an interesting character for me to understand and analyze but I enjoyed it greatly.  Thank you for reading my blog!

Sources

Grass, S. (2011, June 20). Trickster – A Definition from the BC First Nations Studies. Retrieved March 9, 2020, from http://twinkleshappyplace.blogspot.com/2011/06/trickster-definition-from-bc-first.html

How to protect pets & children from coyotes in B.C. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2020, from https://spca.bc.ca/ways-to-help/take-action/urban-wildlife/coyotes/?utm_referrer=https://www.google.com/

pedagogy, n. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2020, from https://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/139520