My task was to examine pg. 94-102 in King’s Green Grass Running Water. Page 94-96 focuses on the interaction between Sergeant Cereno and Dr. Joe Hovaugh, where the Hovaugh explains his grandfather’s vision of building the hospital, and he began by buying a piece of land from a local tribe. When I was reading this story out loud, I found out that the doctor’s name sounded like Jehovah, as Professor Paterson has also pointed out. With that being said, King makes a reference that places him in the Christian mythological framework. However, rather than making the doctor an almighty, all-knowing individual, Dr. Joe Hovaugh is portrayed as clueless and confused. He also finds difficulty interacting with people around him. The purpose of Dr. Hovaugh’s character seems unsettle the relationship between indigenous people and the Christian majority. However, Dr. Hovaugh is also a powerful character who dislikes those who challenges his position or authority. He is like a God in the way where he regards the natives as mentally unstable. The doctor’s attitude towards the natives projects the same way as how Caucasians saw Natives as savages who required attention and education.
Page 97 concerns Norma and Lionel driving when they spot the four Indians on the side of the road, lost.
Page 98 includes Alberta, Patrolman Delano, Sergeant Cereno, and Lionel asking, “Where did the water come from?” one after another. To my understanding, each of the four main characters share a creation story that explains for the amount of water. Thus, King uses these four characters to tell a symbolic narrative of how the world was created and what the first people on earth did.
Finally, page 99-100 is about First Woman and Ahdamn taken to a train station. As the First Woman and Ahdamn are leaving, there is a guard that shouts when he sees the Lone Ranger walking out of the prison. The Lone Ranger, Robinson Crusoe, Hawkeye, and Ishmael leave together and head West. The Lone Ranger, Robinson Crusoe, Hawkeye and Ishmael are all Caucasian characters from western literature. However, King has transformed these characters into natives in this novel to present an alternative perspective to the stories. The purpose of this alteration is to disrupt their perceived notions as heroic and brave as Western protagonist figures. Instead, King portrays these characters differently to mock them. Not only do they undermine the popular attitude of western literary figures, but biblical figures as well. Ultimately, as Flick so puts it, “there’s a lot of material to pack in and the only way to do it is through promoting lateral (or bilateral or trilateral) cross-border thinking in the reader” (Flick, 138)
References:
Fee, Margery and Flick, Jane. “Coyote Pedagogy: Knowing Where the Borders Are in Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water.” Canlit.ca: Canadian Literature, 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
King, Thomas. Green Grass Running Water. Toronto: Harper Collins, 1993. Print.
Paterson, Erika. “ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres”. ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres. 2014. Web. <https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl470/unit-3/lesson-3-3/>