Pass The Thought… Eh?

For my section of Green Grass, Running Water, the section itself focuses on Charlie Looking Bear primarily. In my section, the novel, explores the character of Charlie Looking Bear and Eli Stand Alone. To begin with, I would like to focus on the Blackfoot native, Charlie Looking Bear, who is a lawyer for the company called Duplessis International Associates. Charlie Looking Bear, in my opinion is dealing with an identity crisis, as though being a successful lawyer; it comes at the cost of his heritage. The only reason that Duplessis International Associates use him is because he is of First Nation origin, and hope to use his background to approach the judge with more humility. His opponent, in the case in which the Duplessis International Associates employs Charlie Looking Bear, to build a dam, is Eli Stands Alone. An English professor at the University of Toronto, Eli wants to stop the dam from being built, as it would destroy him homeland. With my section, Charlie Looking Bear and Eli Stand Alone have a confrontation at the coffee shop. This confrontation represents the classic the ever powerful corporate juggernaut versus the little man. While it was difficult to find allusions, the one I would like to primarily focus on is the allusion of Eli Stand Alone and Charlie Looking Bear. These characters left their reserve to follow their dreams, and to me, both are an allusion to the yin and yang.

They are almost one circle to each other, as they stem from the same area and followed a relatively same path in life. Though, now completely different people now, as they’ve grown up in life, but still completely each other lives. Both the light and dark, battle against each other, but never overpower one or another; instead they work each other balancing each other out. On one hand, Charlie Looking Bear represents the dark side of the yin and yang as he wants to build a dam, and suddenly become part of the of a large over ruling power that once helped decimate his own people.  On the other hand, Eli Stands Alone represents, the good, or the light, as he tries to educate people, and tries to inspire people, instead of crushing other people like Charlie Looking Bear. While they are constructed the same way, they are not the same person, and ultimately have opposite agency with each other, similar to the symbol of the yin and yang.

Another allusion I had to my section was the last names of Eli Stands Alone and Charlie Looking Bear. I thought that they’re last names were allusions to their character. Stands Alone, made me feel of the First Nation groups and they’re difficulties with gaining awareness about the social issues facing them. For the first nation groups and Canada, they truly stand alone, for little people outside of first nation groups, could possibly experience the issues that face the First Nations groups. Looking Bear is a rather interesting, last name, as bear is powerful and ferocious animal, which is seen in Charlie’s personality, as he drives the Porsche and acts like a predator. However, the looking aspect of his last name, gives to a more sheepish/idle connotation to his last name. Charlie is a pawn to Duplessis International Associates, as they use him to help gain the favour of the court’s ruling. Though, Charlie Looking Bear, acts as ferocious, alpha male, type predator, Charlie, is idle and could be considered a pawn.

Works Cited

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

Flick, Jane. “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass Running Water.” Canadian Literature 161-162. (1999). Web. April 04/2013.

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?

To begin with, I was a bit confused with the whole narrative of the story, but as I read Blanca Chester’s article “Green Grass Running Water: Theorizing the World of the Novel,” the narrative became clearer. The narrator indirectly narrates to the story to the reader, as the narrator tells the story to primarily the coyote. As the unknown narrator begins to explain the escape of four Native American elders from a mental institution who are named Lone Ranger, Ishmael, Robinson Crusoe, and Hawkeye, these four characters are connected to a female of first nation origin. As Chester’s point out,  “King connects Robinson’s Okanagan Coyote with stories from the Blackfoot of Alberta, and the traditions of Thought Woman (Pueblo), First Woman (Navajo), Old Woman (Blackfoot, Dunne-za), and Changing Woman (Navajo)” (45). My first impression of these characters was to show the gender bending that the trickster’s ability is able to do. An occurrence in other texts we have read so far this semester. Another interpretation of the Indian men in the novel, or women was to show the cycle of life. As mentioned before, each of the four Indian men connects to a female of first nation origin. Each women represented a time period of life, as they represented a woman from birth, to childhood, to adult and then to elder. As Chester states “the conversation between these narratives in Green Grass, Running Water is framed with no real beginning, no middle, and no end—it is a continuous cycle that is always beginning again, as the world itself is constantly being re-created, through story” (46). These characters show the oral tradition and common matrix of cultural knowledge that first nation groups tell. As Chester states “King draws from oral tradition to incorporate aspects of Native storytelling into a highly contextualized and literate novel. A substantial source of King’s reworking of oral storytelling performance within the context of “high” literature, I suggest, originates in the stories of Harry Robinson” (47).  The place of the four Indian men in the story were to show the significance of the oral tradition and first nation tradition of storytelling.

Works Cited

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

Chester Blanca. “Green Grass Running Water: Theorizing the World of the Novel.” Canadian Literature 161-162. (1999). Web. April 04/2013.