Green Grass Running Water- Reader Response

I found Thomas King’s style of writing to be very unique. I liked how all of the various stories seemed to have the same underlying message. This message appears to relate to how Indians are perceived by others, and also how Indians perceive themselves.

Lionel Red Dog and Charlie Looking Bear make their resistance to their culture quite clear. Norma, their aunt, addresses this by saying, “your uncle wanted to be a white man, just like you” (36). She is referring to Eli, when she says this. He is the men’s uncle. At first I was wondering why these people are so ashamed of their heritage and why it was only the men. After reading the middle of the book, I realized that the reason could be that Indians are portrayed as inferior in the media. King incorporates western movies and novels that the characters of the book are viewing. This is evident when Christian asks his mother, “how come the Indians always get killed?” (216). She responds to him, “if the Indians won, it probably wouldn’t be a western” (216). Throughout this whole section of the book, westerns seem to have the same characterization:

“Indian leaves the traditional world of the reserve, goes to the city, and is
destroyed. Indian leaves the traditional world of the reserve, is exposed
to whit culture, and becomes trapped between two worlds. Indian leave the
traditional world of the reserve, gets an education, and is shunned by his
tribe” (317).

I also noticed that John Wayne seems to be the big hero. Even for someone like Lionel, he sees the white man as his idol over the brave Indian chiefs, “the John Wayne who saved stagecoaches and wagon trains from Indian attacks” (264). I found this sad that the Indians always lost and how that was reflected in the feelings of Charlie, Lionel, and Eli.

On another note, the parts that confused me the most were those involving Hawkeye, Robinson Crusoe, Ishmael, the Lone Ranger, and Coyote. I am not sure whether their stories that they tell are the same, only in different versions, or if they are completely different. I noticed how each elder had a different “woman” that they described. The Lone Ranger had “First Woman,” Ishmael used “Changing Woman,” Robinson Crusoe used “Thought Woman,” and for Hawkeye it was “Old Woman.” I sometimes saw biblical relations, other times the stories made absolutely no sense. Coyote was the one always listening to the elders speak. I think that he is metaphorically represented in each of their stories in some way. For example, in Robinson Crusoe’s version, Thought Woman enters a river and exclaims, “this must be Tricky River” (254). This is after the river claims to be warm when it is actually cold. In the Lone Ranger’s version with “First Woman,” the tree tricks her into eating the food, angering the G O D. I still, overall, do not understand the purpose of all these characters and the meanings of their stories. It is confusing how they show up the Western movies, also. “On the bank, four old Indians raised their lances. One of them was wearing a Hawaiian shirt” (343).

I noticed a lot of generalizations in this book. Coyote, especially tends to do this: “I don’t shoot Indians…I would make a wonderful President” (332) and “I’m compassionate, too. I must be white” (434) and “I have a keen sense of smell…I must be an Indian” (434). This seems to be a main theme throughout the book. This is especially evident when Nasty Bumppo is describing gifts: “Indians can run fast. Indians can endure pain. Indians have quick reflexes….whites are patient. Whites are spiritual. Whites are cognitive…” (434). I got the impression that Thomas King is trying to get the message across that people tend to generalize and that Indians are the biggest victims of this generalization. I found it interesting also, that the "gifts" of the Indians were all related to war (pain endurance, reflexes, speed, etc.) and the white "gifts" were ones involving spirit and intelligence (patience, cognitive thinking, spirituality, etc.).

The satire in this book is clearly bitter. I feel that throughout the entire book, King is implying that Indians feel ashamed of their heritage and that they need to act “white.” This goes along on the same path of how the western movies always had the Indians lose and how Lionel, Charlie, and Eli all acted as if they were not Indians. When he says, “In the end, [Eli] had become what he always had been, an Indian….an Indian back on the Reserve” (289), I think there is the implication of the lack of civilization that Indians had. This is because after that statement is made, King goes on farther describing the cabin: “no electricity, no running water, a wood stove, an outhouse…” (289). I definitely get the feeling that Thomas King thinks that the Indian culture is being “washed away.” It seems almost sarcastic how he portrays white people as the "big heros." I think he could possibly have resentment towards white people.