For my analysis, I was assigned pages 32-54 of Thomas King’s novel Green Grass Running Water. I will begin by speaking about the historical and literary references present in these passages, as well as my own personal response to this section.

The first character that I encounter is Alberta Frank. She is a seemingly strong and independent woman. She lives in Calgary, a city in Alberta. King could be showing that the places we live help to identify us by having his main female character have the same name as her home province. Jane Flick’s annotations say that “usually Alberta herself is frank” (144), a play on her last name. She is really quite frank, saying “having both Lionel and Charlie relieved her of the anxiety of a single relationship in which events were supposed to rumble along progressively, through well-defined stages. First dates, long talks, simple passion, necking, petting, sex, serious conversations, commitment, the brief stops along the line to marriage and beyond” (King 44-45). The next clear reference is of the character Dr. John Eliot, who Flick believes could be “missionary John Eliot (1604-1690) the “Apostle to the Indians” in Massachusetts; he opposed enslaving Indian captives.” (148). James E. Kiefer explains the great lengths John Eliot went to help the Indigenous people maintain their own culture and language, even preparing “Indians to be missionaries to their own people”. He is speaking to Dr. Hovaugh, who is very clearly meant to represent Jehovah (can be detected when you say his name, Joe Hovaugh, aloud). King creates a scene where “[t]he sun was coming in through the window at Dr. Hovaugh’s back, and John had to squint to make out the shadow of the man behind the desk” (46). It would look like the sun is shining down on Joe Hovaugh, a sign of glory and praise that is often used in stained-glass art in a Catholic or Anglican church.

Joe Hovaugh is also obsessed with the book, showing how there have been predictions that are fulfilled: “They’re all in the book. Occurrences, probabilities, directions, deviations. You can look them up yourself” (King 47). Jesus continuously shows how prophecy has been fulfilled in him while he was on earth in all four gospels. One example is as follows:
“When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. ‘The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!’ ” (NLT Luke 4:16-21).

The Lone Ranger and Babo both said “What else would you like to know?” (King 49, 50) within three words of each other. By having the last line of one section be the first line in the next section, King is connecting not only the sections and scenes, but also the characters which spoke the line.

There are moments of this section that I couldn’t help but laugh at. For example, Joe Hovaugh says “For Christ’s sake” (King 47). The irony had me in stitches. Also when the Lone Ranger realized that he was “being omniscient again” (King 49), and then proceeded to ask: “What else would you like to know?” (King 49). King doesn’t give us what else the brothers wanted to know, but I can imagine a sly smirk on the Lone Ranger’s face as he asks this, just egging his brothers on.

I think the moment that was the most striking for myself from the given passage was when Sergeant Cereno was talking with Babo and she wants to tell him the story of creation, but she can’t. She can’t remember where to start, and he says “[s]tart at the beginning” (54), as if that’s the most obvious place to start. But throughout the novel, King shows us how convoluted stories can be. He intertwines them, leaving us hanging, but excited to see what will happen with the next set of characters we encounter. He allows us to get frustrated with his writing style, but it is a style that does not allow us to put the book down. Because we only get snippets, we want to continue reading until we reach the end of the story, which seems to never happen.

Works Cited:

Flick, Jane. “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass Running Water.” Canadian Literature 161-162. (1999): 140-172. Web. 16 March 2015.

Handel, Alfred. I am the Good Shepherd. 1946. Stained glass. St John the Baptist Anglican Church, Ashfield. Photo: Toby Hudson. Wikimedia. Web. 16 March 2015.

Kiefer, James E. “John Eliot, Missionary To the American Indians.” Justus Anglican. Society of Archbishop Justus. n.d. Web. 16 March 2015

King, Thomas. Green Grass Running Water. Toronto: HarperPerennial, 2007. Print.

The Way: New Living Translation. Ed. Mark Oestreicher. Chicago: Tyndale House Publishing, 2012. Print.

What are the major differences or similarities between the ethos of the creation story you are familiar with and the story King tells in The Truth About Stories ?

In a previous blog post, I mentioned that I grew up in a Christian home so the obvious creation story to compare King’s story would be the Judeo-Christian creation story involving God, 7 days and Adam and Eve. Instead, I will look at Hesiod’s poem, Theogony which is a cosmogony story, meaning it’s interested in the creation or origin of the universe, unlike cosmology or theology, which focuses on the true history or study of the universe/God. The poem was written around 700 B.C. The story teller begins by saying that Chaos was present, and from Chaos came Gaia (Earth), Tartarus (Abyss) and Eros (Love). Gaia birthed Uranus (Sky), Ourea (Mountain Ranges) and Pontus (Ocean/Sea), while Chaos birthed Erebus (place between Gaia and Hades) and Nyx (Night). Many other personifications were born, as well as the gods being created or born and then mating with each other to make other creations and gods. In this story there is castration, war, dominance and a hierarchy is created.

Some of the clear similarities between the Theogony and King’s creation story with the woman is the natural element. The both include and abundance of nature; Gaia and the water. Both stories have births. The both also have one wiser telling another information. In King’s story, he has the Rabbit and Fish tell Charm that she was pregnant, which she is. In Hesiod’s story, he has Gaia and Uranus tell their child Cronus that one of his children will overthrow him, which Zeus does. Both stories also give reasons why things are the way they are: why curiosity can be dangerous; why fathers and sons fight; why women are distractions or dangerous.

There are many differences in these stories. Hesiod never touches on the creation on man, but does say that they are there (when telling Prometheus’s story) and does say that woman was created by Hephaistos and Athena – the first woman is Pandora – as a punishment for receiving fire. He also includes more about where nature came from. In King’s story, nature is there and formed by the Twins. The water and the animals are all simply there, and we are not told how they got there. It is implied that humans came after the animals. The Greek story contains more punishments and death, unlike the Native story of exploration and problem-solving. King’s story also demands balance: Twins, one left-handed and one right-handed. Hesiod’s story values power and dominance.

Have you encountered other versions of the Greek creation myth?

Works Cited:

alyssea84uk. “Mythic Warriors – Prometheus and Pandora’s Box.” Youtube. Youtube, 31 May 2013. Web. 12 Mar 2015.

Hesiod. “Theogony”. Classical Mythology: Images and Insights (6th ed.). ed. Stephen L. Harris, and Gloria Platzner. 6th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2012. 88- 105. Print.

Question: In this lesson I say that it should be clear that the discourse on nationalism is also about ethnicity and ideologies of “race.” If you trace the historical overview of nationalism in Canada in the CanLit guide, you will find many examples of state legislation and policies that excluded and discriminated against certain peoples based on ideas about racial inferiority and capacities to assimilate. – and in turn, state legislation and policies that worked to try to rectify early policies of exclusion and racial discrimination. As the guide points out, the nation is an imagined community, whereas the state is a “governed group of people.” For this blog assignment, I would like you to research and summarize one of the state or governing activities, such as The Royal Proclamation 1763, the Indian Act 1876, Immigration Act 1910, or the Multiculturalism Act 1989 – you choose the legislation or policy or commission you find most interesting. Write a blog about your findings and in your conclusion comment on whether or not your findings support Coleman’s argument about the project of white civility.

First, it is important to know what Daniel Coleman argues re: project of white civility. He asserts that the idea of whiteness in Canada has been heavily influenced by Britishness. Erika Paterson explains this best, saying “This British whiteness is, Coleman says, a “fictive ethnicity,” that “still occupies the position of normalcy and privilege in Canada” (7). “Fictive ethnicity” describes, “how nations of diverse peoples are represented, both in the past and future, as if they are a “natural community” (7)”.

I will be examining a recent piece of legislature: The Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1988. Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau was the leader who promised a policy respecting multiple cultures in Canada. It took over 10 years to become an act, and therefore a part of our Canadian law. The Act itself asserted two major principles:

1. All citizens are equal and have the freedom to their own cultural heritage by preserving it, enhancing it, and sharing it with other.
2. Multiculturalism promotes participation of citizens and their communities in all aspects of Canadian society.

It also solidified that English and French are the official languages of Canada, as per the Official Languages Act, but was clear that this “neither abrogates nor derogates from any rights or privileges acquired or enjoyed with respect to any other language” (preamble); in fact, it is meant to “preserve and enhance the use of languages other than English and French, while strengthening the status and use of the official languages of Canada” (preamble). It also maintains equality in the work force: “ensure that Canadians of all origins have an equal opportunity to obtain employment and advancement in those institutions” (3.2.a).

There are a few lines that seem to indicate that there was once a time when Canada was not as accepting. I found the most telling to be the following: “collect statistical data in order to enable the development of policies, programs and practices that are sensitive and responsive to the multicultural reality of Canada” (3.2.d). The use of “multicultural reality” allows us to imagine a time when people were blind to the reality that there are people in our beautiful country that celebrate other holidays, enjoy different foods, have different mannerisms etc. Or perhaps even a time when people recognized that there are people who do things in a different manner, but didn’t appreciate that. Even in Vancouver, I feel this tension. There are people that love celebrations like Holi, and others that don’t see the value in the celebration. Some people of different ethnicities and cultures participate in other’s celebrations. I myself have been to Lunar New Year, but I was born here in Port Coquitlam and am French-Canadian, Ukrainian and Scottish. I go and participate, allowing myself to be a part of the fictive ethnicity Coleman talks about. I do not conform simply to the stereotypical Canadian culture (I like neither hockey nor maple syrup), but I also do not identify with my Scottish, French-Canadian and Ukrainian heritage, as I am adopted. I have to create my culture from what I have been exposed to, creating a fictive culture.

Works Cited:

Canadian Multiculturalism Act. Consolidated Acts, c.4. Canada. Department of Justice. 1988. Department of Justice. Web. 9 Mar 2015.

Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 3.1.”  ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres – 99C Jan 2015. UBC Blogs. Web. 9 Feb 2015.

Sidhu, Amol.”Holi @ UBC.” Online Video Clip. Youtube. Youtube, 31 Mar 2013. Web. 9 Mar 2015.