Green Grass Running Water By Thomas King: The Parallels Between Reality And The Novel

Thomas King’s Green Grass Running Water tells the story of the construction of a dam on Native Land and the struggle that the Native People face every day. The novel is parallel to what is actually happening in real life. It then deviates slightly from the horrible reality to demonstrate the freedom of indigenous peoples and their independence without government intervention. The government symbolises the dam. It is also symbolic of what is happening to the Native Peoples through the Native Relocation Act. Dr. Joseph Hovaugh is a symbol of the stereotypical white culture as well as their aim to assimilate native people.

The ending of the novel is different from real life. The dam is removed and the natives can resume their lives normally without any interference by the government. This parallels real life in which the government continues to seize the native land and move them. The dam is used by white culture as a symbol of government control and white culture as an attempt to take over the traditional land. The dam is used as an emblem to signify the government’s attempts to remove native people. Because of the similarities between reality and fiction, propaganda is used by the Duplessis Company. They hire a public relation company to convince native peoples that the dam will help them. These lines show how far government and big corporations will go to convince Native people that this is in their best interests. The decision to build the dam at a location not suitable for the environment was made without any consideration. Questions regarding the potential fault lines under the dam were not raised. The court rescinded all Native Land Claims that were pending for more than fifty years. King used this passage for proof that safety and ethical issues have been ignored in taking land from tribes.

The Blackfoot tribe was promised that after a year of the dam being operational at maximum efficiency, they would be able to make more than 2 million dollars. The article admitted that white farmers, white businesses, and even white business, would all benefit. But the Indians will be the biggest beneficiaries. King uses the statement to blur lines between reality/fiction by showing Natives the promises and how they will benefit. In reality, however, the Natives lose land and the government benefits. The North American government has shown restraint in relation to the Native Americans by constructing the dam and the promises and propaganda made. Dr. Joseph Hovaugh embodies white culture. However, he also attempts to assimilate native culture by criticizing and trying to catch the four Indians. The four Indians who managed to escape each time were subject to a terrible event that would impact the rest the world, “Mount Saint Helens.” They vanished May 15th, 1980. On the 18th, Saint Helens explodes. … This makes it difficult to remember where they were in August 1883. “August twenty-seventh, 1883”.

These lines are used by King to illustrate how white culture depicts natives as barbarics who cause pain and destruction. Dr. Joseph Hovaugh also demonstrates how white culture attempts to help native people, but without proper knowledge “… areas in gerontology and culturalanthropology and a lack of…and substantive scientific research. This passage shows us how we cannot properly help native peoples because we don’t do enough research on their culture and history to diagnose them. Dr. Hovaugh takes great pains to point fingers at the four Indians who caused the dam’s collapse. Hovaugh was stiff against the bus and grabbed his book. Babo said, “It’s all there,” “It’s all here,’he said to Babo. King uses this passage as an example of how white cultures look to blame native people when there is a catastrophe, even though they are not directly involved.

King is an example of white culture’s attempts to help Native Americans through Dr. Joseph Hovaugh’s actions and speeches. Unfortunately, our research has not been correct, which means that we have done more harm than good.

Author

  • davidwong

    David Wong is a 29-year-old educator and blogger who focuses on helping students learn in creative and interesting ways. He has a background in teaching and has been blogging since 2006. David's work has been featured on a variety of websites, including Lifehack, Dumb Little Man, and The Huffington Post.