On Two Means of Revision in Thomas King's Green Grass, Running Water: the Importance of the Element of Water and the Subversion of the Finality of the Concept of One Beginning and One End

Mgr. Jiří Šalamoun, Ph.D.

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Diplomová práce zkoumá dvě narrativní strategie, které Thomas King používá ve svém románu Green Grass, Running Water za účelem přepsání příběhů, jenž ustanovují a ospravedlňují kolonizaci původních obyvatel Severní Ameriky.

Abstract:

The thesis focuses on Thomas King’s revisionary activities in Green Grass, Running Water. The first chapter of the thesis posits that colonization brought nothing good to Native Americans, and that its rightness was established and perpetuated through a series of colonizing narratives. The first chapter concludes with drawing attention to King’s decision to deprive colonizing narratives of their power and to emphasize the presence of Native Americans in the North American fiction. The following two chapters then inquire as to how this aim is achieved through the usage of two different means. The second chapter thus concentrates on the concept of time as it is perceived in the West and by Native Americans. It places special emphasis on the imprints which the differing concepts of time bestow on works of the writers that adhere to them. The second chapter further posits that colonizing narratives often adhere to the linear mode of narration where special importance is placed on the concept of one beginning and one end. It also claims that given the cyclical nature of the Native American concept of time, this concept is useful for King’s subversive purposes. Since, if the instances of colonizing narratives are narrated in a novel which doesn’t seem to have one beginning or one end, they are deprived of their finality and, consequently, of their power. The second chapter concludes with an analysis which draws light on Green Grassm Running Water’s indeterminacy in this manner. The analysis points out (i) how the discourse of Green Grass evades the boundaries of the concept of one beginning and one end (ii) how the sway of colonizing narratives is decreased by the subversion of their finality (iii) how the quality of the lives of the Native American characters improves once the influence of the concept of one beginning and one end is decreased. The third chapter is dedicated to the element of water and its subversive role in Green Grass. It starts off with a brief introduction of the importance of the element of water for the spiritual and physical survival of Native Americans. It also raises the question of what would happen should the water cease to run and draws attention to the actual examples of the ‘obstructed water trope’ in the novel. Nevertheless, the primary aim of the chapter is to highlight how King uses the element of water as one of the means of revision in Green Grass. Therefore, the chapter lists many examples of King’s using water for his trickster endeavours and draws attention to the element’s capability to rewrite colonizing narratives. The chapter concludes with an analysis which points out how all the instances of the ‘obstructed water trope’ are eventually liberated and how the element of water ensures the continuation of the lives of Native American characters of the novel. Also, the third chapter elucidates how the two means of revision (i.e. the disruption of the importance of the concept of one beginning and end along with the revisionary qualities of the element of water) merge into a single subversive strategy. In conclusion, the thesis focuses on Thomas King’s subversive usage of the two aforementioned means of revision in Green Grass. And since their humorous sway seems to be irresistible, it is my belief that King’s novel—by setting straight many a contorted image of Native Americans—presents a valuable contribution to the process of balancing the tipped scales of the relationship between Native Americans and the rest of the North American population.

Keywords

subversion of master narratives, linear &, circular concepts of time and their application in literatures, revision of the "obstructed water trope"

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 4. 6. 2012

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 16. 6. 2009
• Supervisor: Mgr. Klára Kolinská, M.A.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Master programme / field:
Teacher Training for Secondary Schools / Upper Secondary School Teacher Training in English Language and Literature