Q: Identify and discuss two of King’s “acts of narrative decolonization.”

Thomas King in the novel Green Grass, Running Water participates in acts of narrative decolonization through his complex portrayal of Indigenous characters who are impacted by colonialism. Two ways these portrayals are acts of decolonization is the way they invite us to rethink what it means to be Indigenous beyond stereotypical Western representations and ultimately reclaim typically pathologized narratives. Some chapters are more fantastical stories, for they portray talking animals and land thousands of years ago, while other chapters reflect more realistic contemporary characters. The impact of this variation is that King wants us to recognize how myths have real effects on Indigenous peoples’ lives today. He takes this a step further by interweaving Indigenous stories and traditions with European American origin stories and myths. In the King’s statement of his short film, “I’m Not the Indian You Had in Mind,” he shares that the film “offers an insight of how First Nations people today are changing old ideas and empowering themselves in the greater community”. I think this statement can also be applied to Green Grass, Running Water, as the novel works with traditional stories and contemporary Indigenous lives to resist stereotypical portrayals of Indigenous peoples and reclaim their role in the world today. 

In a story starting on page 94 of the novel, King exemplifies the way creation stories and national myths are interwoven into casual conversation. There is a conversation between Sergeant Cereno and Dr. Hovaugh where Cereno is asking Dr. Havaugh to “describe Indians” (King 94). According to Jane Flick’s “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water,” Sergeant Cereno is a reference to a character in Herman Melville’s story about a Spanish slave ship “Benito Cereno” (145). The significance of this reference is that “Benito Cereno” is known for its unreliable narrator. Unreliable narration is a key part of many of the stories in Green Grass, Running Water because it reminds us to question the truth of the stories the characters are telling. Dr. Hovaugh, on the other hand, is a play on the name Jehova, a Hebrew name of God (Flick 144). Jehova, according to this site is a name that has sometimes been omitted from the Bible and teachings because the original pronunciation is unknown. I understand the naming of Dr. Hovaugh as a play on the authority of God. Dr. Hovaugh says that “Doctors don’t like to guess,” suggesting the factual nature of what doctors say and perhaps referencing that God also does not like to guess. Just with the names of the characters, before even getting to the story, King wants us to think about unreliable narrators and the authority of God. 

Cereno wants Dr. Hovnaugh not to relay facts about Indians but “impressions” and “observations”, for example, he asks “was one of the Indians more or less their leader? How did they like to dress? What did they like to eat? Who were there friends? Did anyone come to visit them…?” (King 94). Dr. Hovnaugh answers with a story and says “in the beginning all this was land. Empty land” (King 95). The addition of the line “empty land” refers to a colonial myth, (Terra Nullius), that North America was empty and thus free to be colonized. Dr. Hovnaugh continues that his “great-grandfather came out here from the Old World. He was what you might call an evangelist” (King 95). His Great-Grandfather “bought this land from the Indians” a  “local tribe” that is extinct now “I believe” (King 96). Dr. Hovnaugh’s story is a glorified colonization myth that we still often believe today. It is significant that Hovnaugh uses the word “bought” rather than “stole” and that he says the tribe is probably extinct now. King is calling out how these falsehoods erase Indigenous identity in the past, present, and future. 

Just in a three-page story of this novel King participates in an act of narrative decolonization through his references to an unreliable narrator, God, and false European/North American myths. I’m curious how you interpreted King’s references to “Benito Cereno” and Jehova. 

Works Cited

“Canada Was Never Terra Nullius – Public International Law Blog.” Craig Forcese, June 2014, craigforcese.squarespace.com/public-international-law-blog/2014/6/30/canada-was-never-terra-nullius.html.

Darren. “Benito Cereno (1855).” Long Pauses, Jan. 2002, www.longpauses.com/benito-cereno/.

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

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

King, Thomas. “I’m not the Indian You had in Mind.” Video. Producer Laura J. Milliken. National Screen Institute. 2007. Web. April 04/2013. http://www.nsi-canada.ca/2012/03/im-not-the-indian-you-had-in-mind/

“The Divine Name​—Its Use and Its Meaning.” Jehova’s Witness, www.jw.org/en/library/books/bible-teach/jehovah-meaning-of-gods-name/.