Assignment 3:5 – Auditory Allusions

6. Find three examples of names that need to be spoken aloud in order to catch the allusion. Discuss the examples as well as the reading technique that requires you to read aloud in order to make connections. Why does King want us to read aloud?

In his novel Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King’s continues Robinson’s storytelling traditions to blend oral and written cultures. In order to emphasize the importance of oral stories, King also includes multiple allusions in his text, which I would call auditory allusions, because they can be caught only if the text is spoken aloud. Some of such allusions come up with the reading aloud of the names of the characters, such as Dr. Joseph Hovaugh, Alberta Frank or the combination of three: Louis, Ray and Al.

Dr. Joseph Hovaugh runs the mental hospital from which the Indian elders escape. If to abbreviate his first name as “J” and read it aloud as one word with the last name “Hovaugh”, it sounds like “Jehovah”. Therefore, Joseph Hovaugh’s name is an allusion to one of the pronunciations of the name of the Christian God in the Old Testament (OED). From the first introduction of Dr. Hovaugh in the text, I could sense his God-like personality traits and position he observes the world from: “Dr. Hovaugh sat in his chair behind his desk and looked out at the wall and the trees and the flowers and the swans on the blue-green pond in the garden, and he was pleased” (King 16). He plays the role of God when he wants to report the four missing Indian elders as dead: “They are dead… I can feel it” (47). His pre-occupation with his superior self-identification is perfectly reflected by Babo Jones, a janitor at the hospital: “Dr. Joseph God Almighty Hovaugh” (220).

Alberta Frank is a Blackfoot woman who works as a university professor. Her first name immediately alludes to the province, because she lives in Calgary. I was also thinking of her last name Frank as a dispatch to her personal characteristics, i.e. she is frank, with free-minded personality. However, I had a feeling that it should be something more hiding behind the name of this character. Upon some investigation, I found out that unlike in the previous example, in order to get to a clear allusion, you need to pronounce Alberta Frank with the pause between the first and last names, and better start from the last name “Frank”, i.e. Frank, Alberta.

Frank is a small town in the District of Alberta, North-West Territories, known for Canada’s deadliest rockslide in 1903. The slide was caused by the collapse of the Turtle Mountain. The name of the mountain makes me to think of the allusion which is contrary to the first creation story in the novel. The world started when the First Woman fell on the back of grandmother Turtle (39). Frank Slide alludes to the collapse of the world, when Turtle Mountain has fallen.

Double allusions in the Alberta Frank’s name suggest that King prepares readers for something really important and crucial for the narrative.  I can also see that Alberta is a character, who is closely connected to her land and traditions, struggles to find her way as a woman and mother, without going through the tensions of marriage. She feels that whatever decision she takes, it will cause the catastrophic rockslide to the direction of either Charlie, or Lionel, or both of them.

One more example of the allusions, which may be lost on the reader when silently reading, are the names of the characters “Louis,” “Ray” and “Al”. If we read aloud these names as one word, we can hear the play of words which lead to the name of Louis Riel. Here, King helps us to catch this allusion, when Latisha repeats the names of the visitors in the correct order. In addition, one of the visitors (Ray) clarifies, that all three of them are from Manitoba, and each year “they get together” (334), i.e. this works as a tip to read all three names “together” and catch the allusion to Riel Louis. According to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Riel Louis was a Métis spokesman, and regarded as the founder of Manitoba, teacher and leader of the North-West rebellion, one of the most controversial figures in Canadian history.

I think that the auditory allusions created by King in the novel remind us how important is to listen, hear, and think of what has been said. He encourages us to stop, read certain fragments again and again, and make further research to get full understanding of the meanings intervened in the story.

Works Cited

“Biography – RIEL, LOUIS (1844-85) – Volume XI (1881-1890) – Dictionary of Canadian Biography.” Home – Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Web. 03 Mar, 2020, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/riel_louis_1844_85_11E.html

Frank Slide, Alberta – When a Mountain Fell on a Town, Web. 05 Mar, 2020, http://www3.sympatico.ca/goweezer/canada/frank.htm

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

OED/Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press, Web. 06 Mar, 2020, https://www-oed-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/view/Entry/100996?redirectedFrom=jehovah#eid

Sources

Chester, Blanca. “Green Grass, Running Water: Theorizing the World of the Novel.” Canadian Literature 161/162 On Thomas King (1999). Web. 03 Mar, 2020, https://canlit.ca/article/green-grass-running-water/