Pages 11-21 in Thomas King’s novel Green Grass, Running Water.

The pages that I chose are at the beginning of the novel since multiple characters are first introduced, and the symbolism and allusions are brought about immediately.

Once Upon a Time…

Starting on page 11, only a few pages from the beginning of Green Grass, Running Water, four characters are introduced with familiar names. As Jane Flick mentions in her article, the first character, Hawkeye, refers to a once-famous fictional character of “a white woodsman and guide with knowledge of ‘Indian ways'” (141-42). The second character is the Lone Ranger, a white hero of western books, but my immediate connection was with the 2013 American film The Lone Ranger. In the movie, he’s made out to be sort of a useless hero who lacks the qualities and bravery defined by typical hero tropes. What’s interesting in the first few pages I chose is that the Lone Ranger attempts to tell the story of creation, but being that he’s a white American, his version reflects the story of creation found in Genesis. The rest of the characters argue against him, saying that he has to tell the story that came first. His behaviour seems to be mocking or making fun of oral storytelling, which reflects the Western perspective of creation stories that are not from the Bible. The following characters are Ishmael, one of the main protagonists in Moby Dick, and Robinson Crusoe from the novel Robinson Crusoe. His role is attributed to survival, even if that means he has to be ingenuine to stay alive, and “is aided by his Man Friday, the “savage” he rescues from cannibals, and then Christianizes” (Flick 142). We don’t see very much characterization of these characters in the pages I chose, but it’s interesting to understand the allusions behind the names that King is playing on. He’s taking popular figures from fiction novels that were written by white Americans about Native Indian’s, other than Ishmael, and their culture, which is misrepresented in these novels.

In an interview, King explains his rationale for choosing to write humorously, and he describes that “comedy simply happens to be my strategy. It’s a way, I suppose, of getting away from being didactic”(1:23-1:30). The use of these fictional characters is a part of his strategy to not impose or directly point a figure at any one person. But connecting these figures to the Native American oral storytelling tradition alludes to the inaccuracy of Western culture’s representation of their culture.

Dr. Joe Hovaugh and the Indians

Dr. Joesph Hovaugh is a play on words of the name Jehovah, as Flick describes, which is the Hebrew name for God. Interestingly, our first introduction to Dr. Hovaugh is through the fascination of his wooden desk. Wood has obvious symbolism for the Catholic religion in terms of Jesus dying on a wooden cross, but that may be overstepping my analysis of King’s allusions. The correlation between his character and God can be seen by his role as an authoritative figure in the hospital in charge of the patients as God is, for the Christian religion, the most powerful being; basically the highest authoritative figure there is. As well, the notion that the Indians are a cause for concern or in need of being contained reflects the Christian religion as imposing their views and religious practices on others.

Alberta Frank and Fort Marion

The last chapter of my analysis shows Alberta Frank teaching a class about Fort Marion which was a place in Flordia that held “72 Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche, Arapaho, and Caddo Indian prisoners” (The Fort Marion Prisoners), transported from a previous war site known as The Red River War in Oklahoma and Texas in 1875. At Fort Marion, “the Indians were simply imprisoned without a trial. In order to facilitate these prisoners, the army reconditioned Fort Marion, Florida as a prison and placed Lieutenant Richard Pratt in command” (The Fort Marion Prisoners). Alberta Frank’s name not only indicates the province of Alberta, but Frank is also the name of a town that experienced a significant disaster known as the Frank slide of 1903. While she is teaching the class, the students, aside from one, show little to no attentiveness in the topic she is discussing. Their lack of interest reflects a majority of people then and even now who don’t pay enough attention to the livelihood of Native Americans and don’t respect their cultural history.

Works Cited

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

King, Thomas. “Green Grass, Running Water.” CBC, Interview, 1993, https://www.cbc.ca/books/green-grass-running-water-1.3992352.

Flick, Jane. “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water.” Canadian Literature, 1999, https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl372-99c-2019wc/files/2013/11/GGRW-reading-notes1.pdf.

“The Fort Marion Prisoners.” Native American Netroots, February 24th, 2012, http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/1269.

Regarding question six, while reading Thomas King’s novel Green Grass, Running Water, the first name I came across that I stuttered over in my mind was Ahdamn. I actually wasn’t the one to read this name aloud. Funny enough, I was explaining to my boyfriend how different it is to read silently versus orally while reading Green Grass, Running Water, and so he flipped to a random page of my book and started reading to me. When he came to Ahdamn’s name, he quickly looked it over, repeated it once or twice, and continued on. That was the moment when the name and its allusion connected for me. Of course, looking at a word and sounding it out in your head is sometimes different than sounding it out with your voice, and so I realized Ahdamn was also Adam, just spelt differently. Ahdamn, of course, refers to Adam from Genesis, which was made more clearly as I continued to read, but upon first glance, I was unable to connect the two. Another name that I found myself re-reading a few times was Dr. Joe Hovaugh. Every time I came across this name, I stuttered over the words until I read it aloud. The name is a play on word of Jehovah, which also reflects the character in which his opinions and judgements are of a Christian viewpoint. The last name I wanted to discuss, even though there are a few others that need to be spoken aloud to catch the allusion, is George Morningstar. I found a list of the characters’ names at the end of the book, but before I read the meanings attributed to the names, I thought of Satan/Lucifer as being referred to as Morning star. I actually repeated the name a few times out loud because I couldn’t remember where I heard it before, but then it clicked. I’m not sure if the name morningstar has any correlation with the devil, but it seems fitting since the character of George, a white American man, was mentally and physically abusive to Latisha when they were together. He put on a facade of being caring and empathetic towards her, signalling to Satan alluring Eve in the garden of Eden, but once he and Latisha married, his true colours shone through.

Throughout the novel, there were countless times when simply reading the words on the page was not enough to fully grasp the subtleties of King’s brilliant writing. As we have learnt from the lessons and assigned readings, silent reading can be very surface level in terms of fully understanding the text, and this notion was further emphasized in our own participation in creating and orally telling our own creation story. Reading aloud is a very different form of interpreting a story, and you not only pick up on specific allusions, but you better grasp the weight and meaning that words have when brought to life through speech and sound. I don’t know what I expected before picking up Green Grass, Running Water, but after reading the first chapter, I was enticed and captivated by King’s creative writing and his ability to convey and tell a story, within a story, within a story. I think one of his intentions in doing this was to make the reader work in terms of understanding exactly what he was writing about, which then lends itself to reading parts of the text aloud. He somehow brought the act of oral storytelling into a novel, and his story demonstrates the importance of orality and the spoken word, even on your own. The tradition of storytelling is quite prevalent in society, even though a majority of people don’t perceive it as such.

Works Cited

David, Daniel. “Thomas King, still not the Indian you had in mind.” The Globe And Mail, July 12th 2012,  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/thomas-king-still-not-the-indian-you-had-in-mind/article4426067/.

History.com Editors. “The Devil.” History, September 13th 2017, https://www.history.com/topics/folklore/history-of-the-devil.

For the first question, I chose to research and summarize the Immigration Act of 1910. I found this act to be the most interesting for me personally because both my parents immigrated to Canada when they were younger, and I’ve always been curious about the details that encompass that process. My Dad, his younger brother, and his parents immigrated to Canada in 1975 from Hong Kong, Macau, and my Mom immigrated in 1977 from Turkey with her parents. 

The Immigration Act of 1910 was not so much a way of bringing immigrants into Canada, but as a method to turn away “undesirable” people and races. The act “allowed the Canadian government to prohibit the entry of ‘immigrants belonging to any race deemed unsuited to the climate or requirements of Canada'” (CanLit Guides qtd. in section 38). The Immigration Act of 1910 also gave the governor-in-council more authority in admission and deportation decisions, which included the ability to turn away any landed immigrants if they were deemed as not fitting the requirements of Canada. Another branch that was given more power was the boards of inquiry. They could also make decisions concerning admission and deportation based upon acquired knowledge used as evidence to hold against an immigrant. The act also ensured that courts and judges were unable to impose and interfere with the decisions made by the minister that was in charge of immigration. Another new addition to the act was permanent residency referred to as domicile:

the concept of domicile, or permanent residency, which an immigrant could obtain after residing in Canada for three years. Until domicile was granted, an immigrant could be deported if they became classified as undesirable. Undesirable immigrants included prostitutes, pimps, vagrants and inmates of jails, hospitals and insane asylums. Under the new act, political dissidents advocating for the forceful overthrow of government and those attempting to create public disorder were also subject to deportation (“Immigration Act, 1910”).      

There was surprisingly little information on the immigration act of 1910, but after reading other sources, I learnt that the immigration act experienced many changes over the years, and this specific act was a small factor amongst a vast amount of immigration acts. From the research I found, it appears that this particular immigration act of 1910 was not so much of a target on race, but instead on the desirable and undesirable traits of a person. As mentioned above, undesirable traits ranged from a person’s criminal and medical background, job standing, and financial standing. Of course, previous immigration acts were biased to certain races which fall under Coleman’s argument of the project of white civility, but the act of 1910 had more to do with a person’s personal life and also expanded the authority of the executive branches of government that were responsible for immigration. Yet, if focusing on Coleman’s argument concerning the project of civility specifically, then the immigration act of 1910 could support his argument in terms of Canada judging people based on how well they fit into the British model of civility. It seems as though the act was set in place to uphold the Canadian identity as civil and aligned with “English Canadianness as [not only] white… [but also] civil” (Doctor Erika Paterson Unit 3:1).

Works Cited

CanLit Guides. “Reading and Writing in Canada, A Classroom Guide to Nationalism.” Canadian Literature. April 4th, 2013.

“Federal Apologies.” The Globe and Mail, May 1st, 2007, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/federal-apologies/article20396225/

“Immigration Act, 1910.” Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, https://pier21.ca/research/immigration-history/immigration-act-1910.

Munroe, Susan. “Chinese Head Tax and the Chinese Exclusion Act in Canada.” ThoughtCo, Feb. 11, 2020,  https://www.thoughtco.com/chinese-head-tax-in-canada-510472

Here are my three favourite posts I’ve done so far!

Assignment 2.4

For this assignment, I answered question 1 in lesson 2:2 that asked the reasoning behind King’s use of dichotomies when narrating two different creation stories; one merely a story and the other a religious account. For me, I found that this question really challenged my pre-conceived notion of what defines the believability of one story over the other and how much religion and culture can impact that perception. Since I come from a Catholic family, I was raised to understand the importance and significance of the story of Genesis versus other creation stories that are simply stories. Yet when reconsidering why certain stories have precedence over others, it definitely brought about a new insight into why these dichotomies are in place, which I discuss in my post!

Assignment 2.2

I really liked this blog assignment because I, like many others, have a very non-traditional view of what home means to me. And by non-traditional, I mean not defining home as a single building or place that you’ve known your whole life, one room that’s always been yours, etc. For me, home was moving from place to place, continually changing, re-arranging, packing, unpacking, and building new relationships. Not to say that this isn’t a bad way of growing up, but through this process, I found it confusing and at times saddening when I tried to think of where home was for me. Since my parents divorced at a young age, that notion became very different, but I eventually realized what I felt home was. This question had me bringing up old memories and feelings that I haven’t confronted in a while!

Assignment 1.5

This blog post is, by far, my favourite and probably one of the most enjoyable questions I’ve had to answer in a while. As I mentioned in my introductory blog post, I love to write creatively, so coming up with a story of my own had me very excited (clearly). I enjoyed reading all the other adaptations, and it really allowed me to open up my imagination and play with different ideas, all the while allowing me to understand the process of storytelling and the impact it has on others. I felt connected to the course through this post!

Creation stories are an essential aspect to not only religion but certain cultures. Coming from a Catholic family, my upbringing was primarily based around religious practices, beliefs, and of course, stories. The story of Genesis is an integral part of the Catholic religion, and my parents and grandparents, even my teachers, made sure I knew about the creation of the world and how humans came to be (but in a very diluted version). I also learnt about other creation stories, for instance, the story King tells about the world created on a turtle’s back but a more basic rendition of his. However, I was taught to believe it was purely a story versus the creation story of Adam and Eve, which carries far more importance and relevance for many religions. This is the reason why King gives us the analysis that depends on comparing two stories to show their differences. People often fall into the trap of “follow the leader,” or to be more specific, tend to believe what others define as real. By telling the two creation stories in a different narration, King emphasizes the typical reaction and perception that each story receives. “Genesis” is considered the actual story of creation while “The Earth Diver” is understood, for a majority of people, as a myth, a story that has no real substance behind it. 

I remember being told the story of the earth being created on a turtle’s back when I was around eight years old. Now in my twenties, the story of Adam and Eve is a subject that is constantly brought up or discussed in my literature classes and I find it has more significance for an older demographic. Why is this the case? Why are we meant to consider one story as sacred and anything else to be just stories? It’s difficult to define since I consider myself Catholic and unfortunately grew up with this mindset. Yet, looking at it from a different perspective or questioning this aspect of my religion somewhat challenges my pre-determined beliefs. I think especially as I grow out of the restriction of my views based on my parents, I see things differently that make me question things I hadn’t given much thought to before. I then started thinking about the concept of creation stories and why we even have them in the first place, which brought me to two interesting articles. Julian Baggini discusses the reasoning behind creation stories which she explains:  

Without an idea of cause and effect, we would be utterly incapable of making sense of the world around us. The problem, however, is that all we observe is one darn thing after another: we never actually see one thing causing something else. Nor do we have sound rational reasons for leaping from observations of regularity to the conclusion that two things are linked by some necessary connection. 

The notion of our lack of rationale for using stories to make sense of the world is a prominent aspect of what King is trying to show us. We tend to understand things through other explanations, but how do we know that explanation is correct or the right one to believe? King emphasizes the believability of one story over the other because he is demonstrating how people dictate things, which is primarily based on others’ interpretations. 

Works Cited

Baggini, Julian. “Why do we have creation myths?” The Guardian, 28 March 2006, https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2006/mar/28/features11.g21

Hansen, Liane and David Leeming. “Exploring the World’s Creation Myths”. NPR, 13 November 2005, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5010951

Nargiza Ailmova- Nargiza talked about the small and ordinary things that define a sense of home, for instance, going out grocery shopping or sitting down together to have a meal. The notion of being together with people you consider your family, whether they are blood-related or not, was a similarity with my perception of what home is for me. Home is comfort and being around loved ones. 

Cooper Asp- Cooper focused on home as not being a familiar house or specific place, but what you feel connected to and what you’ve experienced. This struck me as unique because several students talked about a family home, the people that made them feel at home, or familiar comforts. Cooper moved a lot, which ultimately trumps my number for the amount of times I’ve moved, which for most would be a lot. Picking up your lofe and rearranging it or trying to make it fit into something new is mentally and physically exhausting, and it can sometimes lead to a feeling of displacement and a loss of a sense of home. I experienced this feeling a few times throughout my child and “adult” life, but I eventually came to realize that my sense of home was rooted in what I felt connected to, and I am connected to this city, this province. Experiences are such a significant aspect for a person’s sense of home because without experiencing other places and feelings, how can you truly understand what makes you feel at home?

Megan Cameron- Megan’s discussion about her changed definition of her sense of home resonated with me because I, too, underwent a similar process. She describes that because she was acquainted and familiar with her home town West Kelowna, that was enough to equate her sense of home, not to mention her family and friends. However, after Megan gained a family of her own, her sense of home changed to being defined as the people she was surrounded by, which are her son and Husband.

Eva Dvorak- Following on the notion of loved ones as being a sense of home, Eva also described this attribute of familial bonds, and I also discussed loved ones as being the finishing puzzle piece to my understanding of home. I still live with my parents and sisters- can’t beat living for free- and I was at home by myself, except my dog, for a week. That’s definitely a record for me, mainly because I have a twin, and I’m very dependent on her. Being alone, even though in my home and in a place I love and am comfortable in, I felt a bottomless pit in my chest as if something wasn’t right. Previous to this experience, I hadn’t realized how much your family or people you are always with can make up that missing piece of home. It was such an indescribable and unbearable feeling not being close to my family, and that’s when I finally realized that no matter where I am, without certain people in my life or nearby, I don’t feel at home. 

Lisa Hou- Lisa described her sense of home as related to a past experience from high school, which challenged her original notion. Even though many, including myself, define home as a place where we can go to that’s comfortable or being surrounded by family and friends, there’s more behind our perspective of home. As Lisa discussed, a sense of familiarity and even cultural similarities can be a significant indicator of home, which is most noticeable when travelling to a foreign country and feeling a sense of “home-sickness.” I as well touched on the idea of home equalling familiarity, something I have previously experienced and grown accustomed to or comfortable with. 

Joanne Kutlimetova- Joanne sums up most of the points I touched upon concerning other students’ perspectives of home, but she further adds to it saying, “home for me is a special state of mind when I am comfortable, relaxed, and can be myself. I may also feel relaxed, safe and comfortable in new places, but it will take a while before I can call that or the other place as one more home in my life. This is why the sense of familiarity is one more component that contributes to my definition of home”. Again, familiarity is a defining factor that constitutes a home, but to further delve on this notion is how familiarity allows you to be in a particular state of mind, as Joanne explains. I think it’s safe to say that a majority of us all share similar if not the same opinion of what we believe to be our sense of home. 

Works Cited

Ailmova, Nargiza. “Assignment 2.2”. Engl 372: Oh Canada, Web blog post, 28 Jan. 2020, https://blogs.ubc.ca/nargizaalimova/.

Asp, Cooper. “Assignment 2:2 – My Sense of Home”. English 372, Web blog post, 30 Jan. 2020, https://blogs.ubc.ca/cooperasp/. 

Cameron, Megan. “Assignment 2:2”. Megan Cameron’s Blog, Web blog post, 28 Jan. 2020, https://blogs.ubc.ca/megancameronengl372/. 

Dvorak, Eva. “2:2 A Story of Home”. Oh Canada: Our Home and Native Land? Web blog post, 28 Jan. 2020, https://blogs.ubc.ca/evadvorak/. 

Hou, Lisa. “Lesson 2:2 Sense of Home”. Canadian Lit Blog. Web blog post, 27 Jan. 2020, https://blogs.ubc.ca/lisahouengl372/. 

Klinkenborg, Verlyn. “The Definition of Home”. Smithsonian Magazine, May 2012, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-definition-of-home-60692392/. 

Kutlimetova, Joanne. “Assignment 2:2. Home… Where is it or what is it?”. Joanne (Zhanna) Kutlimetova’s Blog. Web blog post, 28 Jan. 2020, https://blogs.ubc.ca/zhannakutlimetovaengl372/.

Home. What is home for me? When I was younger, home was tough to define. I didn’t exactly know where to call home because maybe I felt there wasn’t one particular place that I could commit to or set as such. My parents divorced when I was in grade 4, so home became two different places, two provinces. I grew up moving, constantly re-arranging my life to fit in with something new, something different. So then where was home? I was born in Guelph, Ontario, but my parents decided to move back to BC. They met in Whistler, my Mom coming from Guelph Ontario and my Dad from Steveston, though originally Hong Kong, Macau. We lived in Pemberton for a few years, then Furry Creek, and finally laid down roots in Squamish. This finally felt like home. But I was so young, so my idea of home had more to do with the people I surrounded myself with; my friends, sisters, my Dad’s family, and this was what I became acquainted with. Home had more to do with who I was with versus the place I resided. But not long after, that changed. My parents decided to make a big move to Ontario so my Mom could be closer to her family, but my sisters and I sacrificed our friends and family in return. Yet, we were young and used to change so the thought of moving somewhere new was exciting. A year later, my parents divorced, and my Dad moved back to BC, and we stayed with our Mom in Ontario. This was when my idea of home became skewed because the people that made me feel at home were separated. I ached for my life back in BC when I was surrounded by my family and friends, I missed my grandparents, who were, and still are, such a big part of my life and without that comfort, I didn’t feel at home.

A few years passed, and my parents remained in two different provinces with my Dad coming out to visit every month. We went back to BC to visit twice a year, and each visit felt more and more like home, which made it extremely hard to leave and readjust in Ontario. I knew Ontario wasn’t my home, even though I was with my Mom, sisters, and friends, it could never compare to the attachment I had formed with BC. Around grade eight, I came to understand what defined my sense of home, which was more than just a house. I felt home when I was back in a place that I grew up in, and not necessarily concerning a specific town or community, but the landscape, the trees, mountains, the ocean, the air. These aspects became a part of who I was at a young age and being removed from something I became familiar with took away my sense of home. I grew up with my Dad’s family, his parents and siblings, so they also accounted for my sense of home, and going back to my grandparent’s house was one of the most prominent reminders of home for me because home was familiarity. I moved back out to BC with my sisters in grade eight to live with our Dad, and even though my Mom stayed behind, I understand that Ontario is her home, just as BC is mine. No matter where I’ve travelled to or considered re-locating, I always come back to BC, Vancouver. Even though I’ve moved from place to place, a house doesn’t define my sense of home; it’s the people I’m with and the familiar surroundings that make up home for me.

Works Cited:

“Macau.” Lonely Planet, https://www.lonelyplanet.com/china/macau

“Villiage of Pemberton” Pemberton, https://www.pemberton.ca

Stories are dangerous, as some say, but maybe it’s the person who tells such stories to conjure fear, panic, havoc, and worst of all, evil, which is truly dangerous. Who might this person be, you ask? And is it even a person? Well, if you continue reading, you’ll find out. 

A weightless yet tangible entity, not quite a human being for it was light as dust and pure of soul, was floating through a beautiful garden filled with white roses and peonies. All entities lived in harmony and peace, and they closely resembled one another in gender, race, shape, and form since there was no such thing as distinctions or rankings. Now, you need to understand that these entities only knew what each other looked like, they did not know their own appearance because any reflective object or substance was not of existence. Now, to return to this secluded entity called Good, came across a large wooden door blanketed by hanging ivy. On this door was a heavy metal lock secured over the latch, but Good was not in the least bit concerned with this big lock since the wood that made up the door was poorly constructed. With one push, the door came crumbling apart. Beyond the door was an empty area overgrown with weeds and dying flowers. Good had never seen such a terrible sight and was about to leave when it saw a tall shiny structure in the far corner of the space. Good slowly made its way over and was pleasantly surprised to find another entity staring right back at it. Except the entity didn’t say anything, it didn’t even move. So Good reached out its hand to greet this peculiar entity, but Good’s hand hit something firm. What Good didn’t know was that it had found the only mirror in all the universe that was created before the entities, but because all entities had no knowledge of such a creation, Good was very confused and scared. After several minutes of staring at itself in the mirror, Good, who was very clever, realized it was its own reflection staring back. 

The next day, Good returned to the strange object and spent hours on end enjoying the sight of itself, and after a few days past, Good wasn’t able to leave its reflection. Suddenly, in the bright and early morning, the reflection made an unusual face and spoke in a voice that was not Good’s own. 

        “I am going to tell you a story, and you’re going to listen. My name is Evil, and now that you’ve become acquainted with self-obsession and vanity, you will understand the story.” So Evil told Good all things terrible, sickening, frightening, and unpleasant, all things that encompassed Evil. After listening to the story, Good backed away from the mirror to try to escape it. This was silly because no matter where Good went, Evil would be there. It was now a part of Good. 

        “I don’t like your stories, take back what you said. I don’t want to remember what you told me!” Pleaded Good. But it was too late. For once a story is told, it cannot be called back. And so Evil was created by Good’s narcissism, and that, readers, is how evil came into the world. 

When choosing how to retell this story, The Picture of Dorian Grey immediately popped into my head since the role of an evil double seemed suitable as the conjurer of bringing evil into the world. As well, the idea of narcissism and vanity as representing “evil,” whoever or whatever evil may be, tangible or invisible, was a suitable fit, and the use of a mirror, rather than a portrait, acts as a metaphor of a reflection into one’s soul. 

I found it a little challenging memorizing the entire story at first, but after repeating it to my sister multiple times, it was like describing my favourite book. However, as others have already mentioned, each time I told the story, I either added, excluded, or changed an element of it, which reflects the notion of storytelling. Stories have such a significant impact on us whether we recognize it or not, and understanding that even though the structure of stories can change over time, the overall message or idea remains intact. 

Works Cited

Williams, Zoe. “Me! Me! Me! Are we living through a narcissism epidemic?” The Guardian, March 2, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com. 

Ross, Alex. “How Oscar Wilde Painted Over ‘Dorian Grey’” The New Yorker, August 1, 2011. https://www.newyorker.com.

I chose the first question to answer: 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”. 

I chose this question because I had a class last semester that focused largely on orality in regard to Walter Ong and McLuhan’s definitions. After reading MacNeil’s article and Chamberlain’s book, however, my understanding of oral and written culture was challenged yet again. 

It’s easy to distinguish cultures as either oral or written when basing it off of their traditions, practices, way of gaining and distributing knowledge, etc. But as MacNeil discussed, from a Western perspective, our notion of what constitutes an oral and written culture is skewed. She briefly mentions the “internet culture” and how this intermingling of oral and written word represents a dualism that challenges our westernized understanding of them as two separate cultures. She goes on to explain that one of the problems of viewing “orality as a ‘preference’ or ‘tendency’” causes one to think that “orality exists in a dialectical relationship with literacy, and that communication is a competition between eye and ear” (MacNeil). What I took from my previous class concerning oral cultures is that there is a clear differentiation between an oral community versus a written one, as Ong had discussed. His notion that there are “primary oral cultures” in which they are presumed to have no knowledge of writing was the main idea I learned while reading his research. Yet, MacNeil and Chamberlain have a different standpoint on the idea of primarily oral and written cultures. For instance, Chamberlain explains how oral cultures do in fact engage with writing:

All so-called oral cultures are rich in forms of writing, albeit non-syllabic and non-alphabetic ones: woven and beaded belts and blankets, knotted and coloured strings, carved and painted trays, poles, doors, verandah posts, canes and sticks, masks, hats and chests play a central role in the cultural and constitutional life of these communities, functioning in all the ways written texts do for European societies. 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, in which certain things must be said and done in the right order by the right people on the right occasions with the right people present (Chamberlain 59)

After reading through Chamberlain’s book If This is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories?, I came to understand the relationship between the oral word and the written word. Even if our Westernized perspective may find it difficult to see, the two are interconnected in “so-called oral cultures” and written cultures. MacNeil further discusses this interconnectedness in which “the advent of contemporary internet culture has encouraged the recognition that oral and textual need not be viewed from a hierarchical perspective” but rather conceptualize the difference between cultures  “dominant art form” (MacNeil). Cultures do not all work the same, so the perception that orally dominant cultures are lesser or “barbaric,” as Chamberlain mentions, compared to a written dominant culture is a mistaken way of viewing how culture works. To expand, Chamberlain explains how we “learn to dismiss others who haven’t grown up exactly like us as incorrigible babblers and doodlers. And eventually the distinction becomes one of the ways we divide the world into Them and Us” (17). His example of Them and Us is how our culture (Western) tends to view cultures unlike our own, and as he and MacNeil discuss, this opinion creates a divide when understanding cultures and leads us to an incorrect standpoint. After reading MacNeil’s article and Chamberlain’s book, I learnt so much more in regard to the separation that is created by a mistaken understanding of the relationship between oral and written cultures and how they are both interchangeable in which they are both oral and written, not solely one versus the other.

Works Cited

Chamberlin, Edward. “If This is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? Finding Common Ground”.  Penguin Random House Canada. 2003. Print. 

MacNeil, Courtney. “Orality”. The Chicago School of Media Theory. Uchicagoedublogs. 2007, http://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/mediatheory/keywords/orality/.

Hi everyone! My name is Samantha, and I am a third-year English Literature Major, unsurprisingly. I’ve moved around quite a bit in BC (from Pemberton to Richmond!), but have been residing in Vancouver for the past few years. I’ve always had a passion for reading, and near the end of high school, I came to appreciate Gothic Literature (Dracula, Frankenstein, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Hyde, etc.) Another one of my hobbies is writing short fiction stories. I was initially planning on majoring in Creative Writing, but I decided to pursue my love for the English language further to continue to develop and improve my writing! I have taken a few online courses before, but the layout and assignments are unique to my previous classes, which is quite refreshing.

English 372, Canadian Literature, really appealed to me, and I am glad I ended up taking this class. The course discusses Indigenous traditions of literature while maintaining the importance and impact of stories and storytelling that shape our ideas about Canada. For the majority of my childhood, I grew up in Squamish and attended Howe Sound Secondary. The Squamish Nation is a large part of the community in Squamish and growing up a part of their culture changed my perspective of Canada, as I’m sure most of us experienced when learning about Canada’s history in elementary and high school. My Aunt-in-law is a teacher at the Squamish Nation and has made a significant impact in educating students from grades 8-12 in the language and culture of the Squamish Nation. I hope to further my knowledge of indigenous traditions and gain new insights I may not have previously had, and I can’t wait to dive into the course material!

I am currently reading through all the introductory posts and am looking forward to becoming better acquainted with you all as the semester progresses 🙂

Works Cited:

“Our Culture.” Squamish Nation, 2013, https://www.squamish.net/about-us/our-culture/. Accessed 12 Jan. 2020.

Macpherson, Maggie. “Thousands gather to celebrate Indigenous culture at Squamish Nation Youth Powwow.” CBC     News, July 17, 2019, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/photos-squamish-nation-youth-powwow-1.5212514. Accessed 12 Jan. 2020.