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.

In Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water, the word “pedagogy” almost seems laughable in applying it to Coyote. Professor Paterson makes an association between Coyote and Wile E. Coyote, and it’s easy to see how the silly little dog comes across that way. He’s reprimanded over and over by the four Indians and the narrator. He’s invisible, he’s silly, he’s childish, but without him the cycle would not continue.

I. Coyote as the Reader

In many occasions, Coyote’s presence seemed to take on the role of the reader: a third-party onlooker who is able to actively participate in the discussion presented by the orator. In fact, in the majority of the novel he is little more than a listener himself. When the narrator (the “I says”) tells the story, he interacts with questions. In fact, every time he speaks. he is speaking in present tense. Other characters will have the tag, “said” but he will have “say,” which perhaps allude to his role as an outsider to the story in spite of his involvement.

Like any good reader, he gets more and more involved as the story goes on. First it was just him and the narrator in what is possibly a space beyond the realm beyond the book’s settings. Later, he joins the four Indians, who seem to on an equally puzzling yet more earthly plane of existence, in order to try to participate in the story. At first it was just the storytelling aspect, then, though he remained invisible to the inhabitants of Blossom and the reservation, he becomes a key part of the events.

In this sense, Coyote is a bit like a very enthusiastic fan. Like a devoted reader who perhaps wanted to amp up their favourite romance or change the course of their favourite adventure trilogies, Coyote goes from reader to narrator, from a passive onlooker to an active shaper of events. His phases of involvement show his investment, and his eventual desire to change the world. Perhaps not unlike the Indians, Coyote’s definition of world points only to the world within King’s narrative.

II. Coyote as Instigator & Enforcer

The way in which Coyote tries to change the world is crucial to King’s cyclical discussion of the medicine wheel. Because he takes on changing roles as both an active and passive participant, he is a bit like a child who can’t sit still, who is not content with just listening, and acts on the impulse of his understanding of how the story should go.

He’s the kid who looks at you quizically and says, “Wait a minute,” when you try to tell him that Cinderella never marries the prince because she decides to start a business with her Fairy Godmother and live the life of an independent woman.

Coyote, as an invested, if not somewhat erratic, listener, seems to listen with certain ideas about how the story should go. In particular, he seems to believe that the story ought to correspond with the medicine wheel. He prompts the story to be told again and again, and in doing so invokes the different stages of the wheel through the narratives of First Woman, Changing Woman, Thought Woman, and Old Woman. Ultimately, he brings the cycle to an end with death, the back to the beginning with birth.

All the while, he seems to play the role of a whimsical child, doing whatever he wants, regardless of what the narrator and the old Indians tell him. 

III. Coyote as Educator

At the end of the day, Coyote is responsible for answering, or bringing up, a lot of important questions all throughout the narratives. It may come off as silly, or even sarcastic at times, but he plays an important role in bringing up a lot of these issues.

On page 392-393, Coyote is watching an exchange between Nasty Bumppo (Or Hawkeye, who was such a hero) and Old Woman.

this is my personal favourite Coyote moment:

Indians have a keen sense of smell, says Nasty Bumppo. That’s an Indian gift.

“I have a keen sense of smell,” says Coyote. “I must be an Indian.”

“You’re a Coyote,” I says.

“:No, no,” says Coyote. “I have an Indian gift.”

Whites are compassionate, says Nasty Bumppo. That’s a white gift.

“What a minute,” says Coyote. “I’m compassionate, too. I must be a White.”

“You’re still a Coyote,” I says.

“Boy,” says Coyote, “this is confusing.”

Indians can run fast. Indians can endure pain…These are all Indian gifts, says Nasty Bumppo…Whites are patient. Whites are spiritual. Whites are cognitive…These are all white gifts, says Nasty Bumppo.

So, says Old Woman. Whites are superior, and Indians are inferior…

“Oops,” says Coyote. “We have a problem.”

“Only if you’re an Indian,” I says.

“You’re right,” says Coyote. “I’m probably a Coyote.”

Because Coyote is neither white nor Indian, his education becomes ours. Still, he’s a trickster through and through, and is often reprimanded for it. Even so, I think it’s important to note that his role throughout the book is not to be a better Coyote, but to be a better listener. You can’t change the little scruffy dog that likes to sing and dance, but through him we can learn to be a better listener, a more active participant in the narratives around us, and perhaps even a little more whimsical, a little more critical. Maybe a little impulsive too!

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Works Cited:

King, Thomas. Green Grass, Running Water. Toronto: HarperPerennial Canada, 1999. Print.

Marandart. Have Lots of Fun. Digital image. Redbubble. Web.

Morgan Creek Productions. “Last of the Mohicans Trailer.” 1992. Online video clip. IMDB. Accessed on 09 March 2015. <http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi999228185/>