Dr Patterson writes that “there is no doubt that King wants us to work to get the story,” and that “his invitation is specific.”There are many allusions and references in Green Grass, Running Water which are worth exploring. In the section which I was assigned (pages 300-317) there is certainly some work to be done in regards to understanding King’s use of outside sources. One of the most interesting references King makes is in regards to John Wayne, the quintessential Hollywood Western hero.

Of obvious significance to the novel is the nature of John Wayne’s role in film. Wayne was a typecast performer, generally playing the white cowboy in struggles against often Native American adversaries. Wayne was symbolic of the mythological cowboy figure, which justified violence against Indigenous peoples and reinforced theories of their inferiority. In the traditional cowboy versus Indian narrative the Indian is an obsolete person, destined to be eradicated to make way for progress and civilization. The clash between Indigenous culture and modernity is a recurring issue in King’s novel. Charlie, Lionel, and especially Eli struggle with their identities and their heritage throughout the text.

What is particularly interesting about John Wayne is that his personal belief system was not entirely different from his on screen performances. Wayne was an outspoken Republican and a conservative, and a supporter of both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Wayne was active in Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Communist witch hunt of the 1950s, even starring in the anti-communist propaganda film Big Jim McClain. Later, he would make the film Green Berets, which was part of an effort to rouse public opinion in support of the Vietnam War. Wayne’s striking views on indigeneity and race relations were recorded in an interview with Playboy magazine in 1971:

“I believe in white supremacy, until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people … I don’t feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from [the Native Americans] … Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.”

John Wayne is more than a symbol of the American West. For many people, and I think for Thomas King, Wayne represents an insidious tradition of bigotry, hatred, and injustice inherent in North American culture. Through Wayne’s work in Hollywood, this tradition is normalised and perpetuated. The participation of Native Americans in the production and the viewing of the Westerns in Green Grass, Running Water might represent an internalized racism, something which the Four Indians resist through their “fixing” of the John Wayne film.

The pervasiveness of a sort of cultural malady is iterated by the normally mild-mannered Babo on page 314. Babo is herself a reference to a character in Herman Melville’s Benito Cereno, the tale of a black slave revolt aboard a Spanish ship. “All sorts of slaves in the world” Babo says, “Drugs, television, junk food, religion, cars, sex, power, cigarettes, money, fashion, jobs, designer kitchens, politics.” Here King’s analysis appears to be reaching beyond Indigenous issues, into a broader critique of Western consumer culture. Indigenous issues might be a part of an overarching imbalance, according to King.

“Yellowstone, Mount Saint Helens, Wall Street… Krakatau? Yes, it was indisputable. Everything made sense” Dr Hovaugh ruminates on page 313. What is the meaning of Hovaugh’s list of geographical locations? What do Wall Street and Krakatau have in common? Krakatau was the sight of a devastating volcanic eruption in 1883 (Mt. Saint Helens and Yellowstone are seismically active areas as well). Here King appears to be likening Wall Street to a cataclysmic natural disaster. I would like to suggest that John Wayne’s bigotry, Babo’s “slaves,” and a volcanic Wall Street are interrelated. The issues which Indigenous peoples have faced through the ongoing process of colonization are the product of a particular paradigm, of which the aforementioned things are a part. Power and money are the prevalent malignant forces of this paradigm.

Of course, I am basing my analysis of King’s symbols and character around a very particular worldview. But I believe that the connections which King makes are strong enough to support this. Even if this is not the message of the novel as a whole, I believe it is one of many messages which King includes in the text for the consideration of the reader. King’s intent with Green Grass, Running Water is probably not to promote a rigid and encompassing ideological framework. Rather, I feel like the purpose of the book is to stir a variety of feeling and ideas within the reader.

Works Cited:

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

Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 3:3.” ENGL 470A Canadian Studies Canadian Literary Genres. University of British Columbia Blogs, 2013. Web. 3 March 2014.

“Big Jim McClain Trailer” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJJfVgU4pJM Web. 17 March 2014.

“The Green Berets Trailer” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F49A3zS3no0 Web. 17 March 2014.

“John Wayne Playboy Interview” https://pages.shanti.virginia.edu/Wild_Wild_Cold_War/files/2011/11/John_Wayne_Playboy_Int2.pdf Web. 17 March 2014.

There are several instances in Green Grass, Running Water in which traditional narratives are altered in order to “extricate the characters’ lives from the domination of the invader’s discourse.” I plan to discuss two of these instances, beginning with the “fixing” of the fictional John Wayne film by the Four Indians in Bill Bursum’s electronics store (316-322).

It is important to note, especially in the context of our previous assignments, that the Four Indians “fix” the film through song. This song is a form of oral narrative, and this method of fixing usurps not only the content of the film but its medium as well. King challenges the “invaders discourse” by suggesting that even the fixed recorded narrative of the film is subject to revision, and that oral traditions are still powerful. Through rewriting the history ascribed to settler-Indigenous relations in the film, the Four Indians appropriate an Indian identity which subverts that which is presented in this “invaders’ discourse.” In the new version of the film the Indians are not the inevitable victims of the settler’s superior technology and military strength. They are strong, resistant, and dangerous.

The film is broadcast on the The Map, a representation of the world according to Bill Bursum. The Map is made up of televisions, potent symbols of capitalist consumer culture. The televisions themselves are a medium through which stereotypes and invaders’ discourses’ are propagated. Televisions construct and enforce identities and worldviews. By altering the narrative presented by The Map, the Four Indians challenge the global hegemony of Western consumerist ideology. In this way, their actions transcend Indigenous issues, and are representative of a larger struggle.

Another narrative which is altered from its original state occurs when Changing Woman encounters Ahab, sailing aboard the Pequod. (194-198) This is, of course, a retelling of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, a powerful symbol of American culture. Ahab is very much a Western colonial figure in King’s retelling, and he is not portrayed kindly. Both Ishmael and Ahab are eager to assign names and identities to characters who these identities do not belong to. Changing Woman becomes Queequeg and Moby Jane becomes Moby Dick, according to Ahab and Ishmael. The whalers are so intent on succeeding in their quest that they are willing to manipulate reality in order to achieve their ends. Ultimately, their efforts are unsustainable and destructive. Ahab and Ishmael’s behaviour, firstly, mirrors Columbus’ “discovery” of America. The explorer was looking for something completely different, but when he found the Caribbean he treated this land according to his needs and desires (slaves and precious metals). That Ahab’s crew abandons him, and his ship sinks, could be read as a commentary on the unsustainability of Western exploitative ideology – that our propensity to dominate and consume is a short sighted and ill fated phenomenon. Throughout this section, Changing Woman refuses to cooperate with Ahab and Ishmael. Changing Woman represents and independent, strong, resistant and adaptable Indigenous identity.

Works Cited:

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

Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 3:2.” ENGL 470A Canadian Studies Canadian Literary Genres. University of British Columbia Blogs, 2013. Web. 3 March 2014.