Stories We Tell

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 the beginning, there was nothing. Just the water.

“No, no, says that GOD. That’s not the way it starts at all. It starts with a void. It starts with a garden.” Thomas King Green Grass Running Water, 40.

The creation story that I am most familiar with is the one from the Genesis. The one where God created the world in 6 days. The one where God said “Let there be light” – and light appeared.

The creation story told by King in The Truth About Stories starts out with “the Earth and how it floats at the back of the turtle” and how it’s turtles all the way down.

The most significant difference in the creation story told in the Genesis depends solely on one character, while the creation story told by King is dependent on an infinite number of turtles holding the Earth up. This is significant how different both these cultures are presently. The North American culture is based on the idea of individualism. Whereas the Aboriginal culture is more about the interdependence of people coming together to help and support each other. This underlying difference between cultures and creation stories is the fundamental point of difference is where conflicts arise.

One of the similarities in both creation stories, is the appearance of matter from nothing – the quality of mysticism. Where did God come from? Where did the Earth come from? Where did the turtles come from? In Green Grass Running Water, the story started where Coyote was dreaming and God came from the dream. In The Truth About Stories, King doesn’t tell us where God came from, or where the earth or the turtles came from. They were just there. This is a quality of faith – the faith that they were just there and that was the beginning.

“There is a story I know and it’s about the earth how it floats in space on the back of the turtle….and in all the tellings and all the tellers the earth never leaves the turtle’s back and the turtle never swims away.”

The other similarity I found is the language used of absolute certainty. In the Genesis, the language used was one of authority and finality. “Let there be…. – and it was done.”, the authority of God was never questioned. At the same time, the storyteller in The Truth About Stories is never questioned either. “There is a story I know”, is how King starts the creation story. Both these creation stories have a sort of unchanging quality to them. Even though in King’s creation story, little aspects are changed depending on the tone, pauses, responses from the audience, how the story begins and how the story ends remain the same. Just like the Christian creation story. There are many different versions of the bible and in different versions, God says something different but the result is the same. It’s almost as if both stories are self-aware of the tweaks that happen in the process of storytelling, but in all the tellings and the tellers of both stories, the begin and they end the same. The story remains unchanged.

As a side note, it is interesting to reflect on the perception that oral stories are more susceptible to change and that literature is more definite in nature. However, in this example, the Bible has been changed many times by many people, and so the ability for a story to change is not dependent on the medium that the story is told in. I think that stories change because people are dynamic and people will always add their own tweaks during the retelling of a story. It is the process of consuming stories and living them.

In The Truth About Stories, each chapter starts out with the same creation story, and from that story connecting to issues of identity of being Indian within the context of a culture that functions from the creation the story in the Genesis.

How we live our life depends on the story that we tell ourselves where we come from, where we want to go and how we can get there. There is no one right story and there is no such thing as a better story. Perhaps there is such thing as a better storyteller, but there is no such thing as a better story. Stories are what they are – stories, and in the end that that’s all we are.

Alright. So for this assignment I was assigned pages 349 to 360. In the beginning pages, Coyote is really eager to tell the story but does not tell the story the way it is supposed to be told.

A golden calf, a pillar of salt & a burning bush
A golden calf, a pillar of salt, a burning bush are representations of God’s image in the Bible.

The story of the golden calf in essence is condemning the prayer of idols. In the story the people that Moses had brought from Egypt begun to doubt Moses and God. To appease the situation, Aaron had collected all the gold from the people and made a calf-like figure. This was a sin, and as a result, three thousand people were killed.

In the context of the text, this could be also foreshadowing that if the Christian rules are broken, there will be consequences. In our text, the three rules that had to be followed were that 1) no one could help Young Man Walking On Water; 2) no one could tell him anything; 3) no one is allowed to be in 2 places at once, except himself. Since the Old Woman had not followed the Christian rules, she no longer had a place in the story and disappeared away.

A pillar of salt (349) refers to the consequence to the wavering of faith. It is said that God had mercy to spare Lot and his family from the destruction of the city. But as they were on the edge of the city, Lot’s wife looked back in a moment of longing and was hence turned into a pillar of salt.

In the context of the text, this could be foreshadowing for what might happen should one’s faith waver towards the Christian God. As we continue reading on page 352, Young Man Walking on Water is trying to establish his superiority and divinity by saving the men on the rocking Boat. In the end, the Old Woman is the one that calms the waves and stops the Boat from rocking. Despite this, the men dismiss her efforts because she sang to the waves, and chooses to follow Young Man Walking on Water. Perhaps the men did not have a choice in the matter to choose their leader, for if they chose incorrectly, then they would be turned into a pillar of salt.

The story of the burning bush is that God is showing himself through that image. This is an interesting image because the fire is not consuming yet the bush is on fire. Perhaps the contradiction here is an indication that we cannot try to rationalize or derive logic out of Christian rules, because there is no logic – how the story begins and how the story ends cannot change even if some parts do not make sense.

The story of Jesus calming the winds and the water are from Matthew 8:23-27. In the Bible Jesus has no problem calming the winds and water and even points a finger back to the men who doubted his ability. Parallel to this story, is the story where Young Man Walking On Water is yelling to the Boat to “Stop rocking!” but it does not stop rocking. It is Old Woman who calms the Waves and the Boat. Despite this, the men dismiss Old Woman and follows Young Man Walking On Water.

Reflections
I found this assignment a little challenging because I’ve never read the Bible and I am challenged to write what the Bible says in an unbiased academic manner. Moreover, perhaps because I am unfamiliar with it, I tried to simplify the stories so that others who are not familiar with the stories can understand them too.

Personal reservations aside, this exercise really exemplified the difference between Christian and Native storytelling. I think King has brought to light that the rules and structures within Christian stories limit its evolution. Meanwhile, Native stories is not limited to rules and structure and hence the different elements come together to continuously build its narrative.

Read at least 3 students blog short stories about ‘home’ and make a list of the common shared assumptions, values and stories that you find. Post this list on your blog.

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This blog post is late unfortunately due to an illness, and I’m only having the opportunity to make up for it now.

So I was reading some of my classmates’ blog post about home and it was such a privilege to share their stories, so thank you for sharing.

Here’s a list of the common shared assumptions, values and stories that I found. Home is where…

• you can be yourself
• you feel comfort
• there is consistency
• space for yourself
• you felt safe
• there is laughter
• there is love
• there is support

However, toward the end of the blog posts, there seemed to be consensus, that home was something that was inside of oneself, wherever you went

Write a short story (600 – 1000 words max) that describes your sense of home and the values and stories that you use to connect yourself to your home.

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I’m writing this blog post late, due to illness, but now that I have a chance, I would still like to share what I think of home.

It’s almost Chinese New Year and as I’m here in Canada, I start thinking of all these years I spent celebrating Chinese New Year. On the eve of the new year, all of us – cousins and aunts and uncles, gather together at my uncles’ place where my grandmother lives. (My grandmother will only stay with my uncle because he’s her only son and hence that’s her only home.. I’m told that in the Chinese custom, girls marry “out” or marry “away”, while boys stay in the family.) By this time, the house would be stocked full of oranges and snacks – lots of snacks – pineapple tarts, mini spring rolls, love letters, coconut tarts, egg tarts, barbeque pork, the list goes on. It’s so delicious, but we know that we’re going to have to eat all of them at every house that we visit over the new year, so we just put off devouring them.

My aunts and uncles are in the kitchen helping my grandmother with the finishing touches for dinner. The cousins are hanging out in front of the tv, letting the sounds of laughter and frying fill our hearts. We sit down as dinner as almost ready, and when everyone is ready, we have to “call” our elders before starting. My grandmother says its rude to make clanging noises (with the spoon on to the bowl) so we have to be careful. It’s the usual festive feast – roasted duck, roasted pork, chicken, seafood soup, noodles and rice and dessert. The cousins sit at a separate table, though I suspect this is just for logical reasons. We eat and try to make conversation. The distance in years and the miscommunications and any tensions between our parents, result in awkward silences, but the food is more than enough to fill the gaps. Plus, the tv is going on in the back, so we didn’t really have to make an effort to bridge the gap that our parents made.

After dinner, we bring out the cards and the cousins start a round of rumi. Our parents start talking, and I listen as they talk in dialect. This is where I’ve learnt the language they speak – from family dinners. They’re talking about the government, about immigration, about my grandmother’s siblings, about who’s making how much money, about the price of ginger. My grandmother was the oldest of 11 children and had to stay home while her younger siblings all received an education. A lifetime of taking care of her siblings and her children and her grandchildren, while watching her siblings and their children build companies and live overseas, has led my grandmother to resentful sometimes. Sometimes it seems like she’s envious of her siblings and their children and how successful they have become. My aunts and uncles internalize my grandmothers unsatisfied feelings of her life into their own unsatisfied feelings of their life.

The night is still young as the adults join us in rumi and it starts getting competitive. We start talking how much we are looking forward or not looking forward to visiting certain distant relatives. My grandmother starts telling us stories of her mother and the time they came from China. There was 2 children that were washed away during the flood of the Yangtze River. They called it the River of Tears. She reminds us the various ways to address our elders when we go visiting over the next few days. It is very important to get that right. There’s a specific way of addressing each elder depending of whether they’re on the maternal or paternal side and whether they are older or younger than the mom and dad.

The score is accumulated and the winner is one with the lowest score. Most of the time my grandmother or my aunt wins. We pack up pretty early on this night, because we have a whole day of visiting relatives on the next day. As we head out, we grab at least 8 oranges in preparation for the next day. It’s going to be a great new year. It always is when you have your family around.

1] In his article, “Godzilla vs. Post-Colonial,” King discusses Robinson’s collection of stories. King explains that while the stories are written in English, “the patterns, metaphors, structures as well as the themes and charac- ters come primarily from oral literature.” More than this, Robinson, he says “develops what we might want to call an oral syntax that defeats reader’s efforts to read the stories silently to themselves, a syntax that encourages readers to read aloud” and in so doing, “recreating at once the storyteller and the performance” (186). Read “Coy- ote Makes a Deal with King of England”, in Living by Stories.

Read it silently, read it out loud, read it to a friend, and have a friend read it to you. See if you can discover how this oral syntax works to shape meaning for the story by shaping your reading and listening of the story. Write a blog about this reading/listening experience that provides references to the story.

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This is such an interesting topic to respond to. I read this piece once aloud and the second time, I decided to record myself. Here are some interesting observations 1) It is a challenge to read this piece silently to yourself 2) there’s a circular rhythm of speech within the piece 3) It is hard not to add words of your own to the story while reading it. The most interesting observation is that through reading this piece of literature out loud, I almost felt like I was imitating the way an Aboriginal person speaks.

It’s almost as if there is a metronome ticking away during my reading session. The words follow a circular rhythm, and it keeps the reader going. Whether or not this style of speaking is intended, the image that I had in my head was of the Chief in Pocahontas. I know this is a problematic image, but I thought that it was interesting that I had that image in my head even though I knew it was problematic. So, I was trying to find a scene where the Chief was speaking to link here, but I could not find a satisfactory one, I’ll just add this link here for now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUFJnmXeeoM, but though my search, I noticed that the way Pocahontas speaks and the way the Chief speaks is quite different. Pocahontas speaks in a way that is more familiar to us, while the Chief speaks in phrases. Though this is not an analysis about Pocahontas, I thought that since we are analyzing speech syntax, it would be interesting to bring up here.

In my reading, since the syntax of the text was much different from my day to day speaking, I unconsciously added words in various places, or I changed the words, just to make it fit the pattern of stories that I am more familiar with.

The other thing I noticed was that I began questioning the story. In my previous blog, I spoke about how I used to take stories and believe them whole-heartedly, especially if they were Aboriginal stories and especially if they’re told by an elder. However, when the story is written on paper, I started questioning the “facts” that I could decipher and wondered if they were true. Which I think is rather interesting because I have been taught to always question what I learn, and most of what I learn is in the written form, and so when I start to learn stories from the Aboriginal culture, I start to question the facts that they claim. For example, the book that is called “black and white” could be that it is an expression to describe a piece of document that binds parties “black and white”, but in the story, it is called “black and white” because the people that wrote it, one of them was black and one of them was white. So I thought that was really interesting. Perhaps it is because I’m coming into contact with these stories in setting that is asking me to be critical. Perhaps it is because of the format of the story. But it is an interesting observation that I made in myself.

“If Europeans were not from the land of the dead, or the sky, alternative explanations which were consistent with indigenous cosmologies quickly developed” (“First Contact” 43). Robinson gives us one of those alternative explanations in his stories about how Coyote’s twin brother stole the “written document” and when he denied stealing the paper, he was “banished to a distant land across a large body of water” (9). We are going to return to this story, but for now – what is your first response to this story? In context with our course theme of investigating intersections where story and literature meet, what do you make of this stolen piece of paper? This is an open-ended question and you should feel free to explore your first thoughts.

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My first thoughts after reading the story was it made sense…

See I once heard of a story of how Australia came to be. The story was that the prisons in England were overflowing and they had so many criminals in England that they had to find more space for them. So one day, someone decided to bring all these prisoners to Australia and leave them there. Then England would be safe.

Then. I once knew of a man who believed in the existence of aliens (other worldly beings). He believed that Earthlings once came from a different planet and that somehow our ancestors did something wrong and were banished to Earth. Hence sightings of UFO’s can be explained by our “supervisors” or “guardians” checking up on us and that as soon as we are on good behavior, we would be able to travel back home.

So when I heard this story of how Europeans were the descendants of the banished twin, I thought, well I suppose that it could be true. I was not there. I do not know if the story of how Australia came to be is true. I suppose I could find out, but I would only be finding out someone’s version of how it came to be. But I definitely do not know if we are descendants of an alien species. Not to offend or dismiss any story to be more true than the other, and in the same spirit as Chamberlin, why can’t they all be true?

In the same way that this story fit into the stories that I had already come into contact with, this story of how the “Indian” was the first and how is it that the descendants of the younger twin came back after all this time to try and get back what perhaps he thought he should have. This particular creation story puts the pieces together of why the descendants of the younger twin left; why they came back after all; why they behaved they way they did; why they placed so much importance on the power of the written word. I suppose then that I am emphasizing the need we have to fit the foreign into the familiar – the need to find patterns. In the context of my response, I was quick to accept the story, unquestioning the authority or validity of the story, because of what I already know about the Aboriginal culture and other stories of creation… because there is a narrative in my head and that is that the Aboriginal culture is most often misunderstood and that not a lot of people know about the stories within the Aboriginal culture, and hence whatever stories I hear that are Aboriginal are undoubtedly Aboriginal and must not be questioned. Which is also interesting now that I think about it because I should always be critical…

Then my second thought was, well what about the people on the other side of the ocean? What about the Asian people? Where did I come from? How do I fit into this story? Was I a descendant of the Coyote? Was I a descendant of the younger twin? Now that’s a story for another time.

Your task is to take the story about how evil comes into the world, from King’s text, and change it to tell it. First, learn the story by heart, and then tell the story to your friends and family. When you are finished, post a blog with your version of the story and some commentary on what you discovered. If you want, you can post a video of you telling the story, in place of text.

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I have a story to tell you. A story about how evil came into this world. A story that began a long long time ago…

There once was a child, born with golden locks and eyes that shone as bright as the stars. She was blessed with a kind nature and a loving heart and all who knew her, loved her. Her name was Matilda and she was a very special girl. In fact, she had these 3 fairies who guided her and played with her all throughout the day. These 3 fairies were Blue, Green and Red. They loved Matilda very much and sought to always protect her from any harm. Every night before Matilda went to bed, the 3 fairies would tell her a bedtime story filled with wonder, love and magic.

Now these 3 fairies were playful and like to play while Matilda was taking her afternoon naps. Once, while they were playing Hide-n-Seek, Red’s tail got caught in the ground in between the rocks. She panicked as Blue and Green were far away and could not hear her cries of help. After a while, Blue and Green got worried and flew back to see what was holding Red. But it was too late, her tail was broken and she would never be as beautiful as Blue and Green again. Red grew angry as she blamed this incident on Blue and Green. She thought nasty thoughts and wished for their misfortune.

One day, just like always, Blue, Green and Red were telling Matilda a story before she went to bed. But on this night Red was quiet and did not participate much in the telling of the story. Matilda grew worried and asked Red what was wrong. By now, Red’s anger had been transformed to include every living creature on Earth. It was because of the rocks that had gotten her stuck. It was because of the ground that was so wet and sticky that got her stuck. It was because none of the other animals helped her. It was because Blue and Green always got more attention that she did. And her anger grew and grew, till it could not be contained anymore and she told a story full of horror, betrayal and hatred and Matilda cried and could not sleep that night. Blue and Green demanded that Red take back her story, but in response, Red said: “A story once told, can never be taken back”.

Since then, darkness, fear, betrayal and evil has been in Matilda’s heart and it will never go away.

The following blog is in response to the question.

Explain why the notion that cultures can be distinguished as either “oral culture” or “written culture” (19) is a mistaken understanding as to how culture works, according to Chamberlin and your reading of Courtney MacNeil’s article “Orality”.

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According to Chamberlin, “all so-called oral cultures are rich in forms of writing, albeit non syllabic and non-alphabetic ones…and, on the other hand, the central institutions of our supposedly “written” cultures – our courts and churches and parliaments and schools are in fact arenas of strictly defined and highly formalized oral traditions”. The mistake he says is in the concept that “speaking and listening are simple and natural… while writing and reading are cultivated and complex.” This, he says “encourages people to treat other societies with a blend of condescension and contempt while celebrating the sophistication of their own” (Chamberlin 19). In examining the evolution of language, linguists have realized the complexity of languages and hence the idea that speaking and listening are simple and natural are not true. Speaking, listening, writing and reading are all forms of communicating that require complex and organized systems of thoughts.

Culture is represented in many ways. Culture can be defined as “the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning” (A Definition). Under such a definition, a system of shared beliefs, values, behaviours are presented in oral and written traditions. Coping mechanisms – from helping us escape harm to working together to build communities are all through our ability to communicate. Further, our communication with others is not dependent on either oral or writing methods. It is in both. It is in these methods, that allow the passing on of ones culture from one generation to the next.

The classification of culture as either an “oral” culture or a “written” culture is dangerous in exactly the way Chamberlin phrased it. It is because it creates a hierarchy of culture. The thought that one culture is more “advanced” than other, or more “evolved” is an illusion that is encouraged by history. It creates the divide between “them” and “us” and does not encourage the desire to cultivate or to understand another culture on the premise that it is backward and therefore unworthy of understanding, preserving and celebrating.

MacNeil also expresses her views on orality. She says “The framing of orality as a “preference” or “tendency” encourages its place within the paragone of the printed and spoken word, and suggests a single-sensory conception of media – that orality exists in a dialectical relationship with literacy, and that communication is a competition between eye and ear” (MacNeil). In this framework of either “oral” or “written” culture. They are presented as mutually exclusive options that cannot co-exist. While in fact, culture is a result of both the “oral” and the “written”.

MacNeil further extends to apply this to the “oral” and the “written” within the framework of our modern web-based society. MacNeil quotes MacLuhan in stating that “the computer does not initiate the dominance of one media form over another, but rather encourages their fusion within the pluralistic realm of the “global village”.” Transcribing voice into text has become so advanced that one could record a voice note as a reminder and have it transcribed into text. Similarly, texts can be read out to us, sometimes in customized voices. The fusion of the written and the spoken word has never been such harmony.

The desire to classify culture either as “oral” or “written” is a convenient classification that might even stem from the OCD nature in humans to classify everything into neat little pockets. Where in fact, we do not fit in. “Them vs Us” is a mentality that has been encouraged because it separates people into neat sections. But as Chamberlin sees it, “We are… much more involved in both oral and written traditions than we might think. And our stories and songs draw on the resources of both.” (Chamberlin 20)

References

A Definition of Culture. n.d. Web. 16 Jan. 2015. <https://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/courses/122/module1/culture.html>.

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

MacNeil Courtney. “Orality.” The Chicago School of Media Theory. Uchicagoedublogs. 2007. Web. 19 Feb. 2013

Hello Peoples.

Grammar is not my favourite subject, but Indigenous culture and literature is fascinating to me and I’m quite excited to learn from this course. I expect this course to be challenging and time-consuming (after looking at the syllabus and because I read slow) but at the end of the day, it is an experience that I know will broaden my perspective and my ability to challenge the norms that we have in society.

About me. I love people. I love stories. I am curious. When I meet someone new, I am always thinking where they came from, how they came to be here…what their story is. I think that behind each story that we hear, are other stories that are forgotten and hidden. I think that stories need to be remembered because they are moments that define people for who they are. The tradition of oral story telling is one that is essential in the Indigenous culture, one that is integral to passing on the traditions and culture from generation to generation.

Canada is a such a great place for collecting stories. For it is here that we meet people from all around the world. Some of them looking for a better place to survive. Some of them, just looking for a place to park their money. Either way, they have a story, and I can’t wait to find out what. Canada is a country born out of immigration and as such the interaction with the Indigenous population is one that needs to be better understood.

One of the sites that I like to surf around is kickstarter (besides etsy and groupon) and I found this kickstarted a while ago that I would like to share https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jodymread/hitting-the-road-round-two?ref=nav_search. I think that it is through projects like these where Aboriginal people learn more about their own culture and are able to celebrate it.

During the time that I’ve been in Canada, it is in Squamish and in the Okanagan where I’ve learnt most about the Aboriginal people. I remember that I attended a conference where Jeanette Armstrong and Greg Youngling spoke and I would like to also share a poem that she read during the conference. “Artifacts” http://livinginthelibraryworld.blogspot.ca/2013/03/native-poetry.html

My educational background is in mathematics, and so I do not have a lot of previous material or knowledge about Indigenous culture or literature apart from English course I took in my first year. As such I look forward to working with you and learning from you!

Qihui. (Kiwi)

p.s. I couldn’t really figure out how to attach a visual here, but I have a link to a picture that I would like to share. http://www.otffeo.on.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/09/booksOFlife-class.jpg