For this weeks blog post regarding “Green Grass Running Water” we were prompted to “discover as many allusions as you can to historical references (people and events), literary references (characters and authors), mythical references (symbols and metaphors)” (Paterson).

The section I was assigned is pages 406-418 in my version of the novel.

Summary: My section primarily focuses on Latisha who explains her past marital problems and resulting single motherhood to empathize with Alberta who is in strong denial of her  pregnancy; “there’s no way I can be pregnant” (King 407). Alberta begins to better understand their tense relationship, when George unexpectedly arrives  for the Sun Dance and greets Latisha. The section also contains Eli and Harley remarking about the changes that the Sun Dance has undergone over the years, and also the damage that the dam is doing to the river.

Ann Hubert:

 “Ann Hubert, a white girl who wore a new dress to school each week, asked if the Sun Dance was like going to church” (King 409)

Latisha’s arrival for the Sun Dance illustrates how her cultural identity is strongly connected through the generations:”Norma’s lodge was always in the same place (…) And before that Norma’s mother. And before that” (King 409). With seeing the lodge, she is reminded that in the past her cultural identity was challenged by a girl called Ann Hubert. Flick notes that Ann is an  allusion to the Canadian novelist, Anne Cameron  who also writes as Cam Hubert (161).  She famously published “Daughters of Copper Women” in 1961, which retold the oral stories of Nootka women on Vancouver Island. Anne was criticized for her misuse of cultural property that was not hers (Flick 161).  Ann Hubert  similarly appropriates Latisha’s culture by forcing her own beliefs onto what the Sun Dance is about:  “Ann said that it was probably a mystery (…) like God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost” (King 409). Her appropriation is connected to power dynamics and the essentialization of “the other”. Latisha is unable to challenge her, because her voice has been stolen by Ann’s chatter; “in the end she said nothing” (King 410).   Jeanette Armstrong, a First Nation author and activist has notably criticized the work of Anne Cameron:  “there are a lot of non-Indian people out there speaking on our behalf or pretending to speak on our behalf and I resent that very much; I don’t feel that any non-Indian person could represent our view adequately” (Hoy).

George Morningstar:

“Hello, Country.Even before she turned, Latisha’s arms instinctively came up and she stepped back, setting a distance between herself and the man behind her. “Hello, George,” she said.” (King 412).

George Morningstar (Latisha’s ex-husband) like Ann Hubert presents another example in Latisha’s life where her identity has been appropriated by a white individual. George is an allusion to George Armstrong Custer, a famous United States Army Officer.  He was notable for   Custer’s last stand, which was a plan to defeat the Lakota. He faced problems when he advanced too quickly which allowed the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors to surround and kill him (“George Armstrong Custer”). Custer’s false expectations of the warriors are reflected in George’s essentialization of Latisha, when he greets her with “hello, country”.Much like Custer he feels a sense of ownership over her, which was evident in how he attempts to claim native identity through  his buckskin jacket and exploiting her by remarking how he likes her, because she “is a real Indian” (King 112).  Similar to the warriors who defied Custer’s lowly expectations Latisha illustrates resistance by realizing the true nature of George as seen through Alberta’s eyes; “Latisha’s body tensed up, could feel her hands clench” (King 418).

Alberta Now:

“Charlie lay on the bed and thumbed through a copy of Alberta Now” ( 413)

Flick notes that the magazine “Alberta Now” is a play on Ted Byfield’s  ultraconservative news magazine “Alberta Report” (151). Byfield’s “Alberta Now” discusses the sentiment of Western discontent and alienation from political affairs.He coined the phrase “the west wants in” which symbolically ties to how Charlie reads about “how old movie Westerns were finding a new life in the home video market” (King 413). This obviously refers to his dad, Portland who starred in Hollywood Westerns.  There seems to be the  suggestion that Portland is resisting, and fighting back, possibly against societal standards stemming from the stereotypical Indian in the films.

“Maybe we should give the Cree in Quebec a call” (King 416)

Flick notes that this refers to the Cree who  managed to delay the Great Whale Project and received millions of dollars after signing the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement in 1975 (102).  They also gained control over parts of their land.  In this section concerns over the dam are juxtaposed with images of families unpacking “chairs and blankets and dragging them toward the circle” (King 416). It is evident that both Eli and Harley want to achieve the same results as the Cree, because they want the Sun Dance to be “just like the old days” (King 416).

Reflection:

My section follows closely after the incident in Bursum’s store where the Indians in the Western film fight back against their traditional deaths. The same sense of resistance is carried forward with Latisha refusing to let George “colonize” her once again. Similarly,Portland who is Charlie’s father is symbolically reflected in the “Alberta Now” magazine illustrating a resistance against Hollywood tropes. This sections resistance is further solidified with Eli and Harley remarking on how to stop the dam from damaging the river in order to restore the sanctity of the Sun Dance.

Works Cited:

“Alberta Report.” Archives Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 July 2015. <http://www.archivescanada.ca/>.

Cameron, Anne (1938-).” ABC book world. N.p., 2010. Web. 10 July 2015. <http://www.abcbookworld.com/>.

Flick Jane. “Reading Notes for Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water.” Canadian Literature 161/162 (1999). Web. 4 Apr. 2013.

“George Armstrong Custer .” New Perspectives on the West. PBS, 2001. Web. 11 July 2015.

Hoy, Helen. “How should I read these?.” Insight. N.p., 6 Jan. 2006. Web. 9 July 2015. <http://www.uoguelph.ca/>.

King, Thomas. Green Grass Running Water. Toronto: Harper Perennial, 2007. Print.

Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 3:3.” ENGL 470A Canadian Studies Canadian Literary Genres May 2015. University of British Columbia Department of English, n.d. Web. 10 July 2015.

Question 8: Everyone is on the move in this novel, road trips abound and in order to hit the road what do we need? — a road map. At the same time, Lionel, Charlie and Alberta are each seeking direction in life. As Goldman says, “mapping is a central metaphor” (24) of this novel. Maps chart territory and provide directions, they also create borders and boundaries and they help us to find our way. There is more than one way to map, and just as this novel plays with conflicting story traditions, I think King is also playing with conflicting ways to chart territory. What do you think lies at the centre of King’s mapping metaphor? Marline Goldman, “Mapping and Dreaming; Native Resistance in Green Grass Running Water.” Canadian Literature 161-162 (1999). Web. April 04/2013.

In our previous lessons we learned about the importance that maps play in the national narrative of Canada.  Mapping is a method in which colonial power is achieved through the erasure of “the other”.  In “Green Grass Running Water” King subverts this colonial cartography by challenging the power of Bill Bursum’s prized map during the screening of the Western film “The Mysterious Warrior”.  The four Indians reverse the racial and power dynamics in the film by forcing the white men (such as John Wayne) off “The Map”. The allusions present in Bill Bursum’s name give a historical context for his imagined power  and suggests a reason why resistance has been vital in regaining cartography and ensuring First Nation survival amidst numerous challenges.

Bill Bursum’s entertainment store contains television screens that he placed in the shape of a map of Canada and the United States. He is an aficionado of western films  which alludes to his connection to  Buffalo Bill who was the creator of “Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show”, a theatrical show that recreated frontier events. Buffalo Bill notoriously exploited Native Americans by recruiting performers from different tribes.  The performances glorified Bill while vilifying the Indians as “bad guys” (“Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show”). Bursum, similarly re-creates this one-sided power through his map which he thinks as “being able to see everything, being in control” (King 140). Florence Stratton suggests that “The Map” is a Panopticon in which “the individual becomes an object of knowledge over whom power is excised” (94).The maps power is further solidified through the films that Bursum shows. The films seem to repeat Buffalo Bill’s script of the glorification of white individuals through the massacre of Indians, which Bursum knows by heart; “quiet (…) the good part is coming up” (King 351).

The eventual disruption of the script during Lionel’s birthday can be traced back to the historical events surrounding Holm Bursum a New Mexican senator that introduced the Bursum bill in 1921. The bill was intended to settle land disputes over ancestral Pueblo territory, by allowing European American settlers to buy the land (“History: Statehood”). If the bill had passed, the Pueblo Indians would have lost ownership over their fertile land. The Pueblo Indians resisted against the colonial measures and in 1924, the Pubelo Lands Act was passed which recognized their land rights, and provided compensation for property (History: Statehood”).  The four Indians similarly resisted colonial scripts by reversing the ending of the film through their humming. They caused the death of John Wayne and Richard Widmark as well as making “hundreds of soldiers in bright blue uniforms” disappear (King 357). Forcing the white men off the map destabilized the permanence that Bursum  felt, because he was no longer included within it. Trying to regain power he kept pushing the rewind button, but nothing changed; “Well, something sure as hell got screwed up” (King 359). The shift  from black and white  to color during the film suggests that the readers perspective must also change. Similar to Bursum we all have scripts that we follow in our lives,  but King challenges us to create new perceptions and to question old beliefs. So, like Bursum we have lost the ability to rewind.

 

Works Cited:

“Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show opens.” History. History Channel, 9 May. Web. 6 July 2015. <http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history>.

“History:Statehood .” New Mexico Museum of Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 July 2015. Path: http://online.nmartmuseum.org/.

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

Notman, David. Sitting Bill and Buffalo Bill. 1885. Montreal. Web. 5 July 2015. <https://commons.wikimedia.org>.

Stratton, Florence. “Cartographic Lessons Susanna Moodie’s Roughing It in the Bush and Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water.” Canadian Literature (1999): 82-102. Canlit.ca. Web. 5 July 2015.