So, why does King create dichotomies for us to examine these two creation stories? Why does he emphasize the believability of one story over the other — as he says, he purposefully tells us the “Genesis” story with an authoritative voice, and “The Earth Diver” story with a storyteller’s voice. Why does King give us this analysis that depends on pairing up oppositions into a tidy row of dichotomies (divisions)? What is he trying to show us?

King uses these dichotomies to demonstrate how western culture love their opposing forces: “Rich/poor, white/black, strong/weak, right/wrong, culture/nature, male/female, written/oral, civilized/barbaric, success/failure, individual/communal” and how “we trust easy oppositions. We are suspicious of complexities, distrustful of contradictions, fearful of enigmas” (King 308). King uses the opposition between “The Earth Diver” story and the Biblical “Creation” narrative to arguably demonstrate the superiority of the ‘white man’ versus the ‘native’. As he states in his book, Native people enjoyed laughing, so the comical components to their stories are enjoyed by them but they still understand the moral undertones; whereas the European listener only thinks of it as comedy but with no substance (King 277-286).

When I think of our comedy today though, there are enough comedians who point out the absurd actions in our world through humour – so what has changed in our cultural narrative that allows this? Is it because we have become increasingly secular and therefore humour in storytelling is now how we communicate rather than through the authoritative voice?

By creating this binary between the native narrative and the biblical, King causes a sense of opposition in the next -a kind of them or us. So, as believer living in Canada I am faced with this awkward dilemma of either condemning another culture’s creation narrative because I believe that mine is the right one, or accepting it at the expense of feeling that it weakens my own. I would argue however that King is calling his modern audience out on this sort of thinking. Not that I in any way believe that ‘everyone is right’, as I am convinced that that leaves too many loop holes and unanswered questions (in the same way that one can only know what is evil by knowing what is good). So, what is King getting at? I am not convinced that a re-hashing of arguments about creation narratives legitimacy is what King wants, but more how our assumptions and human desires to understand everything cause us to discredit other culture’s stories when we feel that they do not hold up to our ‘intellectual’ standards.

In would appear to me that King’s analysis also creates this opposition to educate us on what happens when different cultures blend. We can see from our history that the European culture took over the Native one, but look around us today – is the Native culture not making a come back, even if it is only a small one at the moment? For example, I attended Immaculate Conception down on Dunbar and 28th Avenue which had a large number of Musqueam children in its’ attendance. I remember that my school would hold a week long educational program once a year during which we would learn about their historical stories, methods of cooking and saving food, their music, and how they would sow and make baskets. I really enjoyed those times – especially Bannock Bread <3 (what I especially enjoyed about this video is how she makes the bread from memory, including measurements, and translates it into our measured and calculated western ways of cooking! Amazing! I would not know what 4 cups of flour would look like….). And from all the blending of cultures that Canada experiences, do we not now have more cultures with their own creation stories all claiming that theirs is the correct one?

Now, I realize I may have left my reader feeling rather cheated as I am not going to delve into the philosophical debate about religion and what is ‘truth’ or ‘right’ as that is not the question – if you have some strong feelings either way and would like to share them, I warmly invite your thoughts into my conversation! 

So… with all that chaos being said – what do you think King is trying to say with his binary-creating analysis of creation stories?

Works Cited:

How To Make Indian Bannock W/Gramma Glenda. Perf. Gramma Glenda. N.p., 12 Mar. 2013. Web. 5 Jan. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cpw7M6a38b8>.

King, Thomas. The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. Peterbough:Anansi Press. 2003. Print.

Michael McIntyre – God Save the Queen. Perf. Michael McIntyre. N.p., 12 July 2013. Web. 5 Jan. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjkHpJuifg4&spfreload=10>.