Write a blog that hyper-links your research on the characters in GGRW using at least 10 pages of the text of your choice.
For my blog, I will be hyperlinking page 312 – 324 of Thomas King’s Green Grass Running Water. In this section approaching the end of the novel, the old Indians’ work to “fix the world” is revealed in their new ending to a John Wayne Western movie, being shown in the electronics store owned by Bursum which Lionel works at. Also in this section of pages, Dr. Hovaugh and Babo continue their search in Blossom for the missing old Indians. The section wraps up with Coyote being told Thought Woman’s story. I chose this section for two reasons, first, it showcases many of the different characters interacting, allowing for some interesting analysis, and, second, because of how the western movie ends. I was really surprised when I read that the Indians were “fixing the world” by changing an old movie and thought it was a very interesting turn in the novel.
Babo and her boredom with her trip companion
While Dr. Hovaugh is missing his home hospital, Babo is feeling tired after a bad sleep and wishing she could relax and wait for the Indians to show up: “Now it was becoming tiring and Dr. Hovaugh was becoming boring.” (King 313). In this chapter, Dr. Hovaugh questions whether Babo’s ancestors were slaves and she explains that they were not, but some were enslaved and that her great-great-grandfather was a barber on ships (314). Babo Jones is, according to Jane Flick’s reading notes, likely a reference to the black slave who is the barber and the leader of the slave revolt on board the San Dominick in Melville’s story (18).
After eating breakfast with Dr. Hovaugh, Babo suggests they go “and see the sights.”, which Dr. Hovaugh quickly brushes off, demonstrating how they have different priorities on this trip (King 314). Dr. Hovaugh is on this trip to find the Indians and return to the hospital, whereas Babo is on the trip as a companion to Dr. Hovaugh and wants to do some sightseeing.
Dr. Hovaugh and his lost car
In this chapter, Dr. Hovaugh is continuing with his obsessive search for the four ancient Indians. Dr. Hovaugh finds that, after eating breakfast, his car has disappeared. “There was nothing there except Dr. Hovaugh and a puddle.” writes King (315).
Dr. Joseph Hovaugh is a play on the name Jehovah (Flick 16). “The name Jehovah is an English translation of the Hebrew name for God—the four letters יהוה (YHWH), known as the Tetragrammaton.” Jehovah is God’s unique name as revealed in the bible, it comes from the Hebrew verb “to become” and suggests that the name means “He Causes to Become.” Jehovah is thought to have the role of creator and fulfiller of purpose. This relates to Dr. Hovaugh’s role as the authority figure running the asylum and Dr. Hovaugh’s obsession with the garden at the hospital (Flick 16).
Dr. Hovaugh’s car is not the only car to disappear into a puddle throughout the novel. The Nissan, the Pinto, and the Karmann-Ghia are all cars that disappear and their names relate to the three ships of Columbus on the voyage to North America – the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria (Flick 19). The Karmann-Ghia, the most upscale car which goes missing, is Dr. Hovaugh’s car, a perfect car for a “theological figure on a trip” (Flick 19). The missing car reappears at the end of the novel as it goes over the dam, an allusion to the false belief that old-world mariners thought that their ships would fall off the edge of the world (Flick 19; King 407). King does not explain exactly where Dr. Hovaugh’s car went, but it is possible he is creating an ironic story about the taking of property – relating to how Columbus arrived in North America and colonizers took the Indigenous people’s lands.
1966 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Convertible, Dream Car Sellers
The Four Old Indians change the world
The Four Old Indians, individually, Lone Ranger, Ishmael, Robinson Crusoe, and Hawkeye are all references to pop-culture western characters who have an Indigenous sidekick (Tonto, Queequeg, Friday, and Chingachgook, respectively). Lone Ranger is the “hero of western books.” (Flick 13). Hawkeye is a frontier hero in American literature and holds a significant cultural presence in America (Flick 14). Robison Crusoe is the hero of the tale of a shipwrecked mariner who survives through a desert island experience (Flick 14). Ishmael, a biblical name, is a character in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, who stays afloat after Moby Dick destroys the boat by floating on Queequeg’s coffin (Flick 15).
Throughout the novel, the Four Old Indians have escaped the asylum to work towards their goal of “fixing the world.” In this chapter, in the electronics store, we see their efforts come to life. As all of the characters are watching a popular John Wayne western (John Wane is a famous actor best known as the “Indian-hating screen cowboy”), they anticipate the ending they expect, but things go a bit differently (Flick 20).
“And then Portland and the rest of the Indians began to shoot back, and soldiers began falling over. Sometimes two or three soldiers would drop at once, clutching their chests or their heads or their stomachs.
John Wayne looked down and stared stupidly at the arrow in his thigh, shaking his head in amazement and disbelief as two bullets ripped through his chest and out the back of his jacket.
(King 321-22)
King, in having the four old Indians change the end of the movie, is reversing the culturally relevant image of John Wayne destroying Indians (Smith 516). Scholars, such as Cheyfitz, believe that King does so to emphasize that the reimagination of popular narrative is necessary in conjunction with political resistance (such as Eli Stands Alone’s resistance to the building of the dam) to result in a change in Indigenous and settler relations.
Charlie and Lionel in the electronics store
In the store, with Bursum, the four old Indians, and Coyote are Charlie and Lionel. Charlie and Lionel are both characters in the modern-day reserve story. Both men are involved romantically with Alberta. Charlie Looking Bear lives in Edmonton and works as a lawyer while Lionel lives in Blossom, on the reserve, working at Bursum’s electronics store. Charlie and Lionel are frequently positioned as opposites in the novel, perhaps alluding to some of the stereotypes held about Indigenous peoples, and those who live on or off reserves (“Culture, Stereotype, and Identity”).
Thought Woman’s story
Thought Woman is “a figure from Navajo mythology who creates the world by thinking it into being.”(Flick 35). In this chapter, Thought Woman is floating around, while there are soldiers waiting on shore to capture her. After floating around, she ends up on a beach in Florida and is arrested by the soldiers. Thought Woman introduces herself as Robison Crusoe and, after being identified as an Indian, is quickly taken to Fort Marion (King 324). The connection between Robison Crusoe and Thought Woman is likely related to the shipwreck experience and the connection to the water imagery of Thought Woman floating. Fort Marion has two functions in the novel: it is used, in the past, as the prison for the Woman who fell from the sky and her manifestations as the four traveling Indians and in the present, as is the site of Dr. Hovaugh’s mental institution.
Coyote
While one could write much more about Coyote’s role in the novel, for the sake of brevity, I will explain coyote as both the familiar trickster figure who interacts with the narrator to take the reader through King’s story and as one of the First People’s (“a race of mythic prototypes who lived before humans existed.”) (Flick 15).
Summary
Perhaps what was most interesting to me, in all of these interconnected plot-lines and character stories is the amount of creativity and “fun” that King has with the reader during his novel. He takes pop-culture references, real places, and real histories and intertwines them with his own stories into a complex, intriguing, and impressive story. His ability to do this so effectively is likely related to his oral-storytelling style that does not abide by Western literary conventions.
Works Cited
“1966 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Convertible.” Dream Car Sellers. n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2020. https://www.dreamcarsellers.com/1966-volkswagen-karmann-ghia-convertible-c-300.htm
Cheyfitz, Eric. The Columbia Guide to American Indian Literatures of the United States Since 1945. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. Web. 14 Mar. 2020.
“Culture, Stereotype, and Identity.” Facing History and Ourselves. N.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2020. https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/chapter-1/culture-stereotypes-and-identity
Flick, Jane. “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water.” Green Grass Running Water. Toronto: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999. 140-72. Print.
King, Thomas. Green Grass Running Water. Toronto: HaperCollins Publishers, 1993. Print.
May, Robert. “Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King.” Canadian Literature: A Micropedia. 2017. Web. 14 Mar. 2020. http://post.queensu.ca/~mayr/canadian/green1.html
Smith, Carlton. “Coyote, Contingency, and Community: Thomas King’s “Green Grass, Running Water” and Postmodern Trickster.” American Indian Quarterly. 21. 3 (1997): 515-534. JSTOR. Web. 14 Mar. 2020. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1185521
“Who is Jehovah?” Jehovah’s Witnesses. n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2020. https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/who-is-jehovah/
SidneyScharf
March 20, 2020 — 9:36 pm
I really like when you were discussing about the rewriting of the John Wayne western movie. I also agree with you that King doing this is an act of destroying the culturally popular and glamorized image of John Wayne. I think this also demonstrates the importance of reviewing these fictional historical stories and writing new fictional historical stories from from other peoples perspectives. John Wayne’s western movies and other western movies often represent Indigenous people in negative ways and white settlers in positive ways, what kind of effect do you think these movies have on our society? And is there a way to effectively undo the damage that these kind of stories have done?
Katarina Smith
March 21, 2020 — 11:03 am
Hi Sidney,
Thanks for your question. I was really surprised in reading King that so many of the Indigenous characters were portrayed as enjoying and watching the Western’s – it’s not what I would have expected, because of the harmful portrayals that you’ve summarized.
Movies often perpetuate racial stereotypes about many different races (https://www.dw.com/en/hollywood-movies-stereotypes-prejudice-data-analysis/a-47561660) and I think that helps contribute to the problem – we believe what we see on TV, especially if we don’t have any information to counteract our belief. For example, imagine you’ve never met a black man, and you watch many movies where he is portrayed as violent and angry – without meaning to, you start to believe that to be the case. Basically, these movies contribute to our unconscious bias (the biases we hold without even realizing them). I think there are two ways to begin to undo the damage: have media portray races differently, and show a different side, and have individuals become aware of their own biases and question them.
Thanks!
Katarina