Introduction

For this assignment I decided to take a look at pages 136-148 of Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King. These pages contain three stories that I find significantly engaging: the dialogue between Eli and Sifton about Eli forfeiting his property, the story of the tourist taking pictures of the Sun Dance when Eli was a child, and the introductory interactions between Noah and Changing Woman. All three stories portray Indigenous-settler relations, and not only starkly portray them as challenging but highlights how inconsiderate and hostile settlers can be. These relations are portrayed tensely as well as humorously in these pages, and I believe they all illustrate some important lessons about how to better handle finding mutual understanding of those who are different from each other.

Indigenous-Settler Relations

I find the relationship between Eli and Sifton to be a fantastic microcosm of Indigenous-Settler relations, specifically in the larger context of land disputes and trying to push through settler infrastructure. When Sifton says “I could have had the big project in Quebec” (King 136) he’s referring to The James Bay Project. As Jane Flink points out in Reading Notes, The James Bay Project was “a monumental hydroelectric-power development” that significantly disrupted the Cree and Inuit people’s way of life. The project was initially rejected by these Indigenous groups, but eventually the Cree and Inuit came to an agreement with the developers and the project has since been built. Sifton is lamenting the fact that he did not get to work on the James Bay Project because those Indigenous groups made a deal and the project was built, whereas Eli is halting development on his property because he refuses to compromise.

Jane Flink explains that the character Sifton is named after Sir Clifford Sifton, a Canadian lawyer and Minister of Interior around the turn of the 20th century (while researching “Sifton” further, ironically I also found a real estate company called “Sifton Properties”). Historical Sifton was responsible for a great increase of immigration into Canada while he was in office at the sake of Indigenous dispersal. Although this Sifton acted in bad ethical taste, he believed those with a “pioneer” mindset would be good to strengthen the young nation of “Canada” and encouraged those sorts of people to settle (Waddell). Historical and King’s Sifton are both vanguards, as they represent the mentality of progress and capital gain for the sake of their sense of a strong community and nation, and both represent the drive to meet their ends at the diffusion of First Nations. Sifton also tells Eli that he reminds him of Bartleby the Scrivener (King 142), the main character from a short story by the same name – a story of “passive resistance” (Desmarais).

The Sun Dance confrontation from Eli’s flashback was a tense scene that made me uncomfortable; reading a story like this is always upsetting as it highlights how ridiculous privileged people can be when confronted with barriers. A Sun Dance is an important ceremony practiced primarily by Plains Indians that has survived even after it was banned by colonial law (Dance Facts). The conflict between the tourist and Eli’s clan in GGRW is another microcosm of the broader relations of Indigenous people and settlers. The resistance of the clan in demanding the tourist hand over the film with the photographs of the ceremony is a metaphor for Indigenous resistance of the despotism of colonialism. By refusing to let the tourist go before meeting their demands, Eli’s family is standing up for their way of life despite the tourist not understanding the harm he was causing. Eli’s family also explained to the tourist that he was in the wrong, calmly compromised, and finally had the film handed over (even if the tourist tricked them). Eli’s family tried to make peace with the tourist by having him understand why his actions were wrong in an attempt to build mutual respect, something that often feels like a losing battle even to this day on a national level.

Clash of Indigenous and Biblical Creation Stories

Near the end of the chapter, Sifton says to Eli that once they open the floodgates, Eli’s “house is going to turn into an ark” (King 142). This is clear foreshadowing for the next chapter where Changing Woman meets Noah from the Bible. Changing Woman, as Flink points out, is a Navajo deity. In the novel, King alludes to her being gay (196), something that would never be suggested in the Bible. In GGRW Noah is portrayed to be a predator and misogynist (“Thou Shalt Have Big Breasts” is a play on the Ten Commandments), blatantly sexualizing Changing Woman and chasing her so he can sexually assault her. As bold as this retelling of Noah may be (although not the first; Jane Flink catches the reference on page 148 to Timothy Findley’s novel called Not Wanted On The Voyage in which Noah is again portrayed as a negligent and abusive man), it brings to light the underlying misogyny found within the Christian church. On the contrary, in many Indigenous communities women are highly regarded and treated as equals to men. The stark difference in characterization of these two spiritual figures helps highlight how far apart the two ideologies can be, and why when they meet the collision is so disruptive.

More conflict of fundamental story characteristics is Noah’s “strict rules” and what they are trying to control. Flink mentions that one of these rules is that animals do not speak, unlike how they do in Indigenous stories. Even Coyote and the narrator are aware that there are many rules imposed by these Biblical characters (King 147), which is a play on how strict Christian stories are compared to the fluidity and changeability of Indigenous stories. This harkens back to King in The Truth About Stories when he tells an Indigenous creation story in an engaging and oral tone, followed by a cold retelling of the Genesis story with minimal fun and intrigue.

A humorous allusion on page 146 is when the narrator tells Coyote that beatiality is “against the rules,” and Coyote gets defensive (King). Flink reminds us that this is reference to the numerous stories that Coyote sleeps with humans, but this also reminded me of all the time Zeus turned into animals to sleep with or seduce objects of his desire. Honestly – the gods are crazy.

Summary

I believe these twelve pages of Green Grass, Running Water encapsulate the dichotomy of Indigenous and settler stories and illustrate what happens when they collide without mutual respect. The episodes present are why we need to slow down as a society and take the time to listen to others and hear their stories; if we approach someone different with our own sets of biases and prejudices against them, we are never going to find common ground.

Works Cited

“Aboriginal Women.” The Justice System and Aboriginal People, http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volumel/chapter13.html. Accessed 18 March 2020.

Blumberg, Antonia. “Christian Women On Twitter Unload About Misogyny In The Church.” Huffpost, 20 April 2017, https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/christian-women-on-twitter-unload-about-misogyny-in-the-church_n_58f8f71ce4b018a9ce592e05?ri18n=true. Accessed 18 March 2020.

Desmarais, Jane. “Preferring not to: The Paradox of Passive Resistance in Herman Melville’s ‘Bartleby’.” Journal of the Short Story in English, vol. 36, Spring 2001, pp. 25-39, https://journals.openedition.org/jsse/575. Accessed 18 March 2020.

Flick, Jane. “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water.” Green Grass, Running Water. Toronto: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999. Print.

“The James Bay Project.” Cree Nation of Waskaganish, https://waskaganish.ca/the-james-bay-project/. Accessed 18 March 2020.

King, Thomas. Green Grass, Running Water. Toronto: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. Print.

King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories. House of Anansi Press Inc., 2003. Print.

“Noah’s Ark.” Answers In Genesis, 2020, https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/. Accessed 18 March 2020.

Rutherford-Morrison, Lara. “8 Weirdest Things The Went Down In Greek Mythology.” Bustle, 5 July 2015, https://www.bustle.com/articles/94692-8-weirdest-sex-things-that-went-down-in-greek-mythology. Accessed 18 March 2020.

“The Story of Changing Woman.” YouTube, uploaded by KJZZ Phoenix, 13 September 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bSpMC-dS2s. Accessed 18 March 2020.

“Sun Dance – Ceremony of the American Indians.” Dance Facts, 2020, http://www.dancefacts.net/dance-list/sun-dance/. Accessed 18 March 2020.

“Ten Commandments List.” Bibleinfo, https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/topics/ten-commandments-list. Accessed 18 March 2020.

Waddell, Deborah. “Clifford Sifton and Canada’s Immigration Policy.” British Immigrants in Montreal, 2018, https://www.british-immigrants-in-montreal.com/clifford_sifton_policy.html. Accessed 18 March 2020.

5) For this blog assignment I would like you to make some comparisons between Harry Robson’s writing style in “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King Of England” and King’s style in Green Grass, Running Water. What similarities can you find between the two story-telling voices? Coyote and God are present in both texts, how do they compare in character and voice across the stories?

Like Blanca Chester states, it is clear that Harry Robinson’s voice as recorded in Living By Stories inspired Thomas King while he wrote his novel Green Grass, Running Water. Both King and Robinson’s stories about Coyote and God forces you to slow down and read carefully. You are made to appreciate the format of the writing, and reading it quickly takes away the rich orality present on the page. As Georgia put in this blog post, “[i]t was impossible to skim the phrases; rather, I had to voice every word within my head. It felt wrong to read the story rather than hear it. The style, the spacing, the colloquialisms and individual quirks of speech made it seem far more of an oral tale than a written one” (Masaki). I completely agree with this observation, and feel it was the same in the Coyote sections of King’s novel. I find reading it carefully helps me really absorb the words on the page, and because the stories are written this way it is the next best to hearing them orally recited. In the Coyote stories the writing comes across as less academic, more casual, and very conversational. The grammar is poor, specifically in moments of first person writing (“I says” [King 38], “I seen him twice” [Robinson 81]), and both stories are filled with incomplete sentences. This all aids in the conversational aspects, and does not deter from the quality of the story. In fact, I believe this oral authenticity only strengthens the stories’ poignancey, while at the same time exhibiting them as thoughtful pieces of Indigenous storytelling.

God and Coyote are both present in each story, and they function in similar as well as differing ways. Like when I first read Robinson, the blending of an Indigenous story with biblical elements is entertaining and took me off guard again when reading King. In both stories, God is an omnipresent entity guiding specific plot moments while Coyote is a mythological character taking centerstage. God is a force that pushes along characters such as Coyote or First Woman, and Coyote acts as a neutral party, portraying a passive protagonist who is guided along by other forces (be that the unnamed narrator in King’s novel or God in Robinson’s story). Although there are similarities, the characters of God and Coyote differ in each storyteller’s story. In Robinson’s story, God appears more like the Christian God; he is absent (sends an angel to speak with Coyote), stoic, and unequivocal in his message. The angel delivers Coyote God’s message to write Indian laws with the King of England, and then leaves Coyote to complete this mission. In King’s novel, God is far more human. He’s unsure of his surroundings (“Where did all this water come from?”, “What happened to my void?” [King 38]), and when First Woman and Ahdamn have a picnic in the garden with the food they stole from God, God starts throwing a tantrum and threatens First Woman and Ahdamn, claiming they are “going to be very sorry” because “[t]here are rules, you know” (King 69). I believe Robinson’s God is more Christian because they appear as they would in biblical stories, whereas while much about King’s character of God is also biblically accurate, they are portrayed as a caricature of the classic.

Works Cited

Chamberlin, J. Edward. If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? Random House of Canada Limited, 2004.

King, Thomas. Green Grass, Running Water. Toronto, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., 1993.

Leiper, Alice. “The Passive Protagonist,” Ally’s Desk (blog), 15 April 2013, https://aliceleiper.com/2013/04/15/the-passive-protagonist/. Accessed 28 February 2020.

Masaki, Georgia. “Assignment 2.6: Harry Robinson’s Interfusional Literature,” Oh Canada (blog), https://blogs.ubc.ca/georgiamasaki/2020/02/19/assignment-2-6-harry-robinsons-interfusional-literature/?fbclid=IwAR29yv9Us3pBqkWZVdvR1WeJO7kscrNwANgFeiy0FcuIxux22A0YUeZMui0. Accessed 28 February 2020.

Robinson, Harry. Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Compiled and edited by Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talon Books, 2005. Print.

On my initial read of the story about Coyote, his twin brother, and the written document I was immediately reminded of the concept of a MacGuffin, a trope found commonly in film. A MacGuffin is an object that seems important at the beginning of a story, but by the end serves virtually no purpose. Like a MacGuffin, this piece of paper puts the story in motion and sets up the main conflict. As I was reading Wendy Wickwire’s compressed version of the story in Living By Stories, I (like assumably most readers) was curious as to what was written on the document. When the contents of this paper are not revealed by the end of the story it feels as if the paper was meaningless, just a representation of power rather than the definition of it. I feel as if this can be taken as an allegory for the weakness of the written word, how it acts as something that (white) people are willing to covet and manipulate to garner dominance. The influence of this document took me back to Chamberlin discussing the power stories hold as long as people believe in them: “Stories are like currency or lines of credit… Currency, like a story or a song, is worthless unless we believe in it – give it a line of credit, as it were” (Chamberlin 198, emphasis added). Like the paper in this Coyote creation story, it is worthless – it’s just paper. But the whites believe in its power, and through this belief lies their vindication for occupation and violence.

By withholding the paper from the Indigenous people, the colonizers are intentionally withholding power to create an imbalance between the two groups of people. To me, the story is expressing how oral storytelling is more authentic and inviting, while written storytelling is coveted and exclusive; there seems to be a vein of resentment towards the written word for most of the story. It isn’t until Coyote and the king of the other land work together that the written word is used for the good of Coyote’s descendants. The king shares the knowledge of the written word with Coyote, and a chance at unity between the two peoples is founded (I think it’s important to note that it was a “speech to the king” (Wickwire 10, emphasis added), not a written letter, that led to common ground). The story further highlights the hope to make peace between the two groups of people. It’s honouring the differences with a set of “Black and White” laws (Wickwire 10) while delivering a cohesive message to both groups; their cultures are different, opposite even, while simultaneously complimentary. By sharing this literature, the stories of both peoples can be honoured, and both groups can be unified as their forefathers were at the beginning of Time.

Works Cited

Chamberlin, Edward. If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories? Finding Common Ground. AA. Knopf. Toronto. 2003. Print.

de Ryk, Carolina. “Press freedom challenges, more arrests expected in day two of RCMP enforcement of court injunction against Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs,” CBC: Daybreak North, 6 February 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/programs/daybreaknorth/press-freedom-challenges-more-arrests-expected-in-day-two-of-rcmp-enforcement-of-court-injunction-against-wet-suwet-en-hereditary-chiefs-1.5456047. Accessed 7 February 2020.

“Hitchcock Presents: The MacGuffin.” YouTube, uploaded by The Take, 22 September 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4h1Gpq_wWk. Accessed 7 February 2020.

Robinson, Harry. Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Compiled and edited by Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talon Books, 2005. Print.

In my reading of stories of home, I was contented to find the six stories I read to share a common thread: home is defined by the feeling of safety. Whether it was a family member that brought comfort, or the familiar aspects of a hometown, home is a state of feeling comfortable.

I read the blogs of Maya, Emilia, Jade, Nargiza, Sarah, and Georgia. Here are some similarities I found:

– In all six stories, safety and comfort was the overarching signifier of all concepts of home
– Most authors suggest elements of a physical place can be home, but in each story a physical place is not the most important aspect of home
– All six authors related home to a sense of a loving family
– Specifically Nargiza and Georgia note quality time with family gives them a strong sense of home
– Emilia, Jade, Sarah, and Georgia acknowledge home is defined by symbols, as well as sensation triggers
– Both Emilia and Jade reference the importance of family heritage and immigration as a way to identify home

I related to Sarah’s story about searching for and discovering home. Sarah wrote a story about not knowing what home was to them as they moved from place to place. They’ve had opportunities and were objectively successful where they lived, but still did not feel “home.” Unlike Sarah, home to me is wherever I can live authentically; Sarah sees their mother (and father) as the definition of home. Sarah’s story also brought up a great question: “So what happens when that person or home leaves this earth?” This is essential to consider when thinking about the importance we put on family and specific places; as Sarah writes, once those things are gone are we “homeless”? Further, I was affected by Emilia’s symbols of home that they have found in Italy. Not only do they have familial roots in Italy which creates a strong sense of home and belonging, but different triggers like the hills and taste of tomatoes reminded them of their home in British Columbia.

I was interested to see that no other blogger perceived home as I did. My relationship with my family does not appear to be as strong as expressed in these six stories, so perhaps that is why. Maybe I’ve had to develop a more abstract sense of home because of my relationship with my family as well that I’ve never lived in one place for more than two years. After reading some of these stories, I felt wistful for some aspects of home (specifically the more permanent ones like the family home). Overall it was pleasing to read some fellow classmates’ fond feelings of home as well as gain insight into select individual’s stories of connection to their concepts of “home.”

Works Cited

Afful, Sarah. “Dressed by my Mother.” Sarahafful, 28 January 2020, https://blogs.ubc.ca/afful/2020/01/28/dressed-by-my-mother/. Accessed 3 February 2020.

Alimova, Nargiza. “Assignment 2:2.” Engl 372: Oh Canada, 28 January 2020, https://blogs.ubc.ca/nargizaalimova/2020/01/28/assignment-2-2/. Accessed 3 February 2020.

Brandoli, Emilia. “Assignment 2:2: Home.” English 372: Oh Canada, 29 January 2020, https://blogs.ubc.ca/emiliabrandoli/2020/01/29/assignment-22-home/. Accessed 3 February 2020.

Greer, Jade. “Assignment 2:2- Stories, People, and Nature: What Home Means to Me.” Canadian Literary Genres, 2 February 2020, https://blogs.ubc.ca/jadegreer/2020/01/29/assignment-2-2/. Accessed 3 February 2020.

Masaki, Georgia. “Assignment 2.1: Home.” Oh Canada, 27 January 2020, https://blogs.ubc.ca/georgiamasaki/2020/01/27/assignment-2-1-home/. Accessed 3 February 2020.

Sumel, Maya. “Assignment 2:2.” Ooh Canada!, 29 January 2020, https://blogs.ubc.ca/mayasumel/2020/01/29/assignment-22/. Accessed 3 February 2020.

Many years ago I lived in Australia. Before I made the move I was living in Victoria, British Columbia and was in a slump; I was uninspired and looking for purpose. After some scrolling through Instagram, I decided to call Australia my new home because there was a tattoo artist there that I wanted to get some work from, and that was enough. I landed in Melbourne, found a room in a hostel, and booked the tattoo appointment. I got the new tattoo on American Thanksgiving, and when I went back to the hostel after the appointment I found all of the American guests had organized a proper Thanksgiving feast for everyone to enjoy. While the food was phenomenal and the company even better, I did not feel a sense of home. I wondered if anyone else felt like this celebration eased their own homesickness, or perhaps it made them miss home even more because this dinner wasn’t exactly what they were used to. Mind you, at this point of my story I myself was not homesick – on the contrary, I felt more free and independent than I had in a long time. But this would start to change.

While I was living in the hostel in Melbourne, I quickly learned how weak my Canadian currency was compared to the cost of living in Australia. Not only did I need to start making money, but I needed to find accommodation that was more comfortable; although the hostel I was staying in was good quality, it did not serve as a home. So, I applied for a working holiday visa and found a place to live that was more peaceful compared to the chaotic youth hostel, and landed a job at a coffee shop across town.

A couple months went by, and I was starting to feel aimless and no more at home here than I did when I first arrived and was staying at the hostel. I had a beautiful apartment, my job was decent, and I was having a lot of fun in Melbourne – so why was I unhappy? After some more time in the city, I decided to quit my job and visit Hobart, Tasmania. I had never had any desire to go to Tasmania, and when I arrived I had no goals. Regardless, I found a bed in a hostel, and explored the city. A few days after checking into this new pseudo-home, I found a friendly hostel patron, and we decided to hike kunanyi / Mt. Wellington. I have completed numerous breathtaking hikes in my life, and this was one of the best. Australia is a beautiful country, and to see such an uninhabited, lush portion of it from 1271m was a profound experience. Yet home was not here either. In fact, I felt an even greater sense of emptiness than before the hike. The search for home continued.

Some more time went by, and after exploring more of Hobart, I was getting tired. Not physically, but mentally. I recall it clearly: one beautiful, cloudless, sunny afternoon I was laying on my bed in the hostel, staring out into the sky, and feeling hopeless. Actually, hopeless isn’t quite right. I was feeling nothing. Numb. A depression that I had never felt before. It was severe, and it needed to go away. I remembered feeling more – feeling something – in Melbourne, so I decided to go back. A couple days later I was back in the same hostel that I left for my apartment, and to little surprise, this hostel did not feel anymore more like home than it did when I stayed there the first time.

What to do. I was at an impasse. I could no longer stay in hostels without an income, and I was not willing to try to find a new job in Melbourne. After some consideration, it hit me: Japan was pretty darn close to me. At least a lot closer than it was from the Pacific Northwest. Since I was young I’ve wanted to visit Japan; it had been top of my list for more than half my life. So without much consideration, I decided to take what money I had left and spend it on a nine day trip to Tokyo. And these nine days were divine. I had no schedule, no goals – but it felt good; I did what I wanted each day, and got as much out of the city and its people as I could. I ate and drank well, engaged in memorable human connections, and saw beautiful sites. And as my trip was coming to a close, I still did not find home in the sense that I had expected to. It was after this trip that I realized home isn’t necessarily where I have a job, or an apartment, or a routine – home is where I am living my truth. My mom has always told me to “follow my bliss,” and that is exactly what I was doing, and exactly what gave me peace. For me, home is not a place, or a person, rather it is a state of mind where I can exist as my genuine self. It was this feeling of freedom that I embodied when I moved to Melbourne for the tattoo. The unadulterated sense of ambition and truth. This is the “place” I belong. This is home.

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Works Cited

Alyse. “6 Days In Tokyo Itinerary: Complete Guide For First-Timers.” The Invisible Tourist, 8 January 2020, https://www.theinvisibletourist.com/6-days-in-tokyo-itinerary-first-time/. Accessed 27 January 2020.

“Cost of Living Comparison Between Australia and Canada.” Numbeo, https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_countries_result.jsp?country1=Australia&country2=Canada. Accessed 27 January 2020.

Crossley-Baxter, Lily. “The Golden Guide to Shinjuku’s Golden Gai.” Tokyo Cheapo, 25 September 2019, https://tokyocheapo.com/food-and-drink/quick-guide-golden-gai/. Accessed 27 January 2020.

Galloway, Isabel. “Our Guide To Exploring Kunanyi / Mt Wellington.” Hobart & Beyond, 17 July 2019, https://hobartandbeyond.com.au/news-posts/our-guide-to-exploring-kunanyi-mt-wellington/. Accessed 27 January 2020.

There was once a town full of happy villagers who were overseen by a gracious and kind council of nobles. At the time of this story, all but one council member were newly appointed, and these new members were joyously anointed with the power to ensure the happiness of the people in their land – young and old, big and small. Each member, that is, except the established member who always sat in silence amongst their fellow council members. Because of the powers held by the councillors, the people of this land lived comfortable lives, knowing no long lasting hardship, nor ever having to work a tough day in their lives. If something were amiss in a villager’s life, they would arrange a time to visit the council. This villager would tell their story of bad luck, poor health, or inconvenience, ranging anywhere from a stale relationship to a stubborn cough that they cannot seem to shake. As if by some magic, all councillors but the quiet one were passionate to mend all ailments that were presented to them, thus the villagers were able to live on in their simple, happy lives.

One day, after a long queue of petitioners, a final villager made their way into the council room to present their misgivings. This villager was small in stature, and appeared impossibly old. They looked yellowed with sickness, had arms of sinew and a posture hunched; they looked as if they had lived a long life filled with hard work and no rest. When this villager spoke their voice was so weak that the councillors could scarcely hear them from their high thrones, and the council needed to stoop down to position their ears closer to the sickly speaker’s mouth. When the council could properly hear the villager, this is what they heard: “Dignified nobles, my family has been slowly wearing away for seemingly no reason at all. We are always ill and in pain, our limbs are lame, sleepless in the evening, and our minds betray us. Our crops fail, and whenever we do consume any morsel of nutrients, it does not sustain us, and our mouths are dry even after drinking the purest of water. Around us, our friends and neighbours have their maladies mended while ours grow worse and worse each time someone else’s improves. I ask of you today to rid us of this concerning coincidence and allow us to live as blissful as every other citizen in our land.”

Although taken aback by the severity of the villager’s family’s situation, like every other villager’s call for aid each noble but one reacted sympathetically, and to the villager’s relief were enthusiastic to help. But just before aid was casted, in an unexpected turn the quiet council member at the end of thrones spoke up, looked at the villager and said this: “I am sorry villager, but what you describe is the result of a curse upon your family. This curse grants us the power to wash away the aches of any other villager in this town; your family is damned to suffer so everyone else can thrive. This is how the balance is maintained, and the removal of the curse or your family will destroy the way of this town as we know it.”

The other councillors looked shocked and concerned at hearing this revelation, apparently having never understood how the magic they use had worked. With a furrowed brow the councillor to the immediate right of the quiet one exclaimed: “Is a different way of living so bad compared to the suffering of this family?”

The quiet councillor spoke in response: “This is the only way that happiness can exist in our land. The anguish of few allows for the bliss the many.”

The second councillor to speak turned away, looking distressed.

After a few moments of silence, the quiet councillor spoke again to the cursed villager: “Go now. Your suffering brings joy to so many. Live the rest of your life in peace at the knowledge of this.” And with a heavy heart the decrepit villager took their leave.

From that moment onwards, the rest of the councillors were no longer enthusiastic to grant the wishes of the villagers now knowing the fate of the villager and their family, now knowing how the family will suffer more and more for each ounce of happiness granted to others. If only the councillors could continue in blissful ignorance could they be happy again, but as soon as they realized the awful truth of their position they could never go back living as they once did, forever cursed with the gift of insight.

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Any form of presentation makes me uncomfortable, so reciting my story started off tricky. It took me a third try to (mostly) tell it correctly when I told it to my partner, but by the time I got to telling it to my mom I had it down. The more comfortable I got with telling the story, the more confident I became in making it more animated and lively; I ended up organically pausing dramatically as well as added physical gestures and different voices. Telling the story out loud ended up being more rewarding and fun than I thought, and both my partner and mother enjoyed the story (which was a bonus).

My retelling of Leslie Silko’s origin of evil as recalled by Thomas King was partially inspired by the short story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” by Ursula K. Le Guin, as well as the upsetting truths that permeate just below the surface of our society that are essential to make it function. From child labour that allows us to wear much of our clothing to the poor treatment of animals that are used in the average Canadian’s diet, there is so much exploitation of living organisms in our world that allows us to operate as we do, and I consider this as close to the concept of evil as I understand it.

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Works Cited

Chamberlin, J. Edward. If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? Random House of Canada Limited, 2004.

Harari, Yuval Noah. “Industrial farming is one of the worst crimes in history.” The Guardian, 25 February 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/25/industrial-farming-one-worst-crimes-history-ethical-question. Accessed 22 January 2020.

Le Guin, Ursula Kroeber. “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas.” The Wind’s Twelve Quarters, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d317/ba42f5716881c691d652672f66de87b4d677.pdf. PDF.

Moulds, Josephine. “Child labour in the fashion supply chain: Where, why and what can be done.” The Guardian, https://labs.theguardian.com/unicef-child-labour/. Accessed 22 January 2020.

“Riddles and charms brings words and the world together” (Chamberlin 239). In If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? J. Edward Chamberlin argues that riddles and charms help us understand the world while blurring the lines between imagination and reality. By making little sense, riddles make sense of the world; they challenge people to forfeit logic and think beyond their beliefs. Charms allow us to believe in the “unreal,” and challenge us to accept both fantasy and objectivity as inseparable. Riddles and charms are the essence of ceremony because they challenge us to let our guard down to what is rational and relatable, and without these aspects story could not function.

At the end of the novel, Chamberlin quotes Confucius’ rectification of names. Confucius argues that without honouring the proper names given to each thing, society will collapse; Chamberlin adds: “We teach correct names […] and we try to show how everything follows from that” (224). Chamberlin bridges the gap by explaining how all cultures must honour the correctness of names to maintain all societal facets from art to science to religion. Without honouring names ceremony does not work, and without ceremony there is no understanding. Once proper names are established, riddles and charms can go into effect and ceremony can occur.

Beyond sanctifying given names, one of the most significant aspects of words that Chamberlin argues is their essential aspect towards the foundation of a functional society. Words propel ceremony, connect people to their own culture, and create common ground across humanity. Without words people would not be able to tell their stories, therefore we would not be able to relate to one another. By using words members of society can convey histories, legends, and traditions that transform one’s personal truth into a generally understandable truth, and by Chamberlin’s standards this works to remove the gap between Them and Us. People use words to tell their stories, and by telling their stories they are preserving their history; words hold the power to maintain and defend not only aspects of culture, but entire societies. Without this ability to tell stories, we would never be able to find the common ground. Words make people feel closer to the world they are apart of because they connect them to their culture, from the stories told through generations to the treaties signed to protect rightful land. Words “bring comfort and build community” (182).

The first moment in J. Edward Chamberlin’s book that struck me was when he challenged the dichotomy of “written cultures” and “oral cultures.” Starting on page 19, Chamberlin begins explaining how Them versus Us can be seen when denoting certain cultures as “written” (more literate ones) and “oral” (more primitive ones), and how the denotation leads to an egotism by othering the “less advanced” culture. Chamberlin quashes this perception by highlighting how not only do “written cultures” have a multitude of oral traditions, but “oral cultures” have non-alphabetic forms of writing such as woven blankets, coloured strings, and masks (19-20). Chamberlin shows that writing can come in many forms, and not all of it ends up on paper. The removal of the line dividing orality and literacy is contrary to the work of Walter Ong. Ong defines what makes a culture “oral” or “literate” while, unlike Chamberlin, in many instances challenges us to see any overlap and how the two cultures differ.

Works Cited

Chamberlin, J. Edward. If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? Random House of Canada Limited, 2004.

“Dr Chiu Wai-wai: Mencius and the rectification of names.” Youtube, uploaded by SDCF Sinological Development Charitable Foundation, 19 Aug 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB0FyscNNLI&t=8s.

Ong, Walter J. Orality and Literacy. Routledge, 1982, https://monoskop.org/images/d/db/Ong_Walter_J_Orality_and_Literacy_2nd_ed.pdf. PDF.