Thomas King’s “Green Grass Running Water” is a novel rich with an amalgamation of historical, pop-cultural and politically charged allusions. In my reading of the text and, more specifically, the range of text I will be covering in this blog post, I was able to uncover at least a few of these cleverly incorporated allusions (albeit after much re-reading and outside research).

The first of these allusions came to mind as I read about the theft of Milford’s truck. In this section, Milford’s truck is taken without his consent or knowledge, and sold to a car dealer named Fred Peterson. The theft is initially reported to a man named Amos who works for the tribal police. When Milford comes across his truck in Peterson’s parking lot, Amos is alerted and proceeds to confront Fred Peterson about the matter. Peterson, however, states that he has a bill of sale with Milford’s signature on it. On the bill of sale, Milford’s name is misspelled as “Melfred”; a clear indication that his signature was forged and the bill of sale was not authentic. Peterson, however, disrespectfully dismisses what Amos is saying and exhibits a  disdain towards both Amos and Milford, as well as the larger community of First Nations people. In response to Amos’ suggestion that the bill of sale was not signed by Milford, Peterson simply states that Milford must have signed it and was likely drunk, desperate for money and/or simply forgotten he signed it. Peterson clearly displays his lack of regard for First Nations people, assuming that these negative character traits can be used to describe Milford (and in general, all First Nations people) and, further, that he has no regard for the ownership of property by First Nations’ individuals. The scenario that transpires between Amos, Milford and Peterson reminded me of past legislation that has served to abolish and show blatant disregard for Aboriginal land claims. In the CanLit guides, Fee and Flick mention, for example, the “Bursum Bill of 1921” which sought to remove land from Pueblos (Native Americans in the Southwestern United States) and give the rights to this land to “non-Indians”. A disregard for the land rights and opinions of First Nations people is also evident in the White Paper of 1969. Similar to the “bill of sale” presented by Peterson, the White Paper and Bursum Bill were not agreed upon by First Nations people. The White Paper was, quite frankly, an act displaying blatant disregard to First Nations peoples’ desires, identities and land claims, as well as a covert means of assimilating First Nations people into a colonial conception of Canadian identity. The misspelling of “Milford” as “MelFRED” stood out to me as a smaller-scale display of this assimilation process.

The CanLit guides proved to be an indispensible resource as I searched for allusions within the text. I would not have known, for example, that Buffalo Bill Bursum was an allusion to two men who were “famous for their hostility to Indians” (CanLit guides). I mentioned the Bursum Bill of 1921 above and this bill was proposed by none other than Holm O. Bursum, a senator from New Mexico. There is some discussion of his lack of regard for Aboriginal land rights above so I will move on… “Buffalo Bill” refers to a man named William F. Cody who was known for exploiting First Nations people for entertainment purposes in “Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Shows”. The shows depicted a “western cowboy” mentality, in which First Nations people were shown as inferior adversaries to the ever-heroic white cowboy! King’s Bursum exhibits these same character traits and discriminatory views of Indians as inherently lesser and, furthermore, as a white man’s entertainment.

Perhaps a more obvious allusion in this section the mention of John Wayne; an actor who often played the “heroic white cowboy” who would defeat the antagonistically depicted First Nations people. These western films and John Wayne’s role as a victor in these films have created a pop-cultural reference point that justifies the depiction of First Nations people as stereotypically defined adversaries and, furthermore, has served to normalize and perpetuate violence and discrimination against First Nations people as well. The narrative put forth in these media depictions is one that favours the colonial settler and positions him/her as the dominant societal figure while diminishing the identity and importance of First Nations peoples. King, in his novel, shifts the narrative by making the First Nations people in the film the victors and bringing John Wayne to an untimely death.

As mentioned, these are only a few of the allusions that I could find/decided to share here! I hope you found this post interesting and informative! Also, please note that due to the confusion surrounding page numbers, this covers pages 300 – 317 in the 2007 edition (the one made available at UBC Bookstore) of Green Grass Running Water! 

Works Cited