Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King is a Canadian novel featuring Native Americans in the midst of their traditions in accordance with the rulers of the modern world in the book, the Whites. Several characters are seen to engulf in a battle with discrimination in an attempt to stay united as a community and find continued happiness in their Native identities. In Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King, the author states that discrimination negatively affects happiness, which leads to the questioning of one’s confidence that in turn has a negative affect in their search of identity. Although this novel’s characters forgo several acts of discrimination, Robinson Crusoe’s Friday discovery of home, Lionel’s realization of his identity, …show more content…
When Crusoe meets Friday, he is joyous for having found someone he could finally make his slave as he had been previously. Although not fully envious of Robinson Crusoe, Friday is found stuck in between two worlds. One, where he thinks of Robinson as his friend and the other where he wonders why he is being treated as a slave, and not for his own personal benefit. Robinson’s views are purely of self-profit as he describes his dreams: “to think that this was all my own, that I was King and Lord of all this Country indefeasibly, and had a Right of Possession” (Defoe 72). This passage explains the belief of Robinson Crusoe in the feudal system and the use of hierarchy to promote bourgeois values upon the populations. The character of Robinson Crusoe then is used in Green Grass, Running Water in a satirical manner when Thought Woman explains to Crusoe that Robinson Crusoe himself would not enjoy his own company as he is seen by the rest of the world as a white supremacist with no place in native land: “But I don’t want to be Friday, says Robinson Crusoe. No point in being Robinson Crusoe all your life, says Thought Woman. It wouldn’t be much fun”(King 295). This proves that Friday was never a true friend to Crusoe when he also states: “[...]it has been difficult not having someone of color …show more content…
Although Lionel’s character is portrayed as passive and utterly disengaged in his work, he is disinterested and unhappy by mentioning: “Way things go, I guess” when asked about his daily job and life (King 80). King presents the discrimination against Lionel’s own culture when he speaks of Lionel’s need to be white. When the novel states: “That’s what you did when you began again. That’s what John Wayne would do”, the author emphasizes upon Lionel’s changing life, with a sense of discrimination for his heritage and a welcoming to the White culture (King 243). Furthermore, the identification of John Wayne is repeated in the novel to be Lionel’s definition of an ubermensch, the ultimate symbol of a White male, and to describe Lionel’s drive to be more like this character. To add, when Lionel receives the jacket on his birthday and feels its warmth and comfortability, it becomes a symbol of the white culture as Lionel tries on the jacket and Eli says: “You know, you look a little like John Wayne” (King 303). Wayne is seen as the epitome of the Whites which are then often seen as the heroes in the Western films. It becomes the driving force of reason when Lionel wants to be just like his hero, John Wayne. Ultimately, Lionel dislikes being a part of his current Native community and therefore decides that since he cannot rise above the
Humankind has been facing and conquering problems, droughts, famines, and wars for instance, since the beginning of its existence. Throughout an individual’s life, obstacles arise and challenges present themselves in an attempt to inhibit the individual from moving forward. In her poem Crossing the Swamp, Mary Oliver utilizes a variety of techniques to expand on this idea, establishing a relationship between the speaker and the swamp as one of determination and realized appreciation.
To some this story might seem like a tragedy, but to Christians this is a beautiful story. Although young Harry dies at the end, he is accepted into the kingdom of God, which is far superior to anything on Earth. A non-religious family raises him and the first taste of Christianity he gets makes him want to pursue God. In Flannery O’Conner’s short story, The River, the allure of Gods grace and the repelling of sinful ways are shown heavily through Harry.
The aspect of racism in their lives, is especially important because it causes these men to become filled with hate and drive them to lives of crime. For example in Black Boy, Richard and his friends have a gang fight against white kids. Another aspect of racism for him was the Ku Klux Klan, this can be seen when a man tells Richard after seeing a white propaganda sign that "Do you know what the Ku Kluxers do to colored people?" Then Richard responded "They kill us. They keep us from voting and getting good jobs." Racism also plays an important role in shaping Tommy's life. Although it is apparent throughout the film, the best example is when he meets McKinney, and he beats Tommy while shouting racist comments. Also, in Malcolm X, Malcolm grows up in a very racist environment and he experiences his dad, a Baptist preacher, being murdered. This can be seen when "My father's skull, on one side, was crushed in, I was told later. Negroes in Lansing have always whispered that he was attacked, and then laid across some tracks for streetcar to run over him. His body was almost cut in half."
Since taking possession of North America, Europeans have colonized the continent and enforced their beliefs and practices. Now Native Americans are reclaiming their culture and heritage. Thomas King participates in this movement through the form that Helen Tiffin identifies as "the processes of artistic and literary decolonization [which] have involved a radical dismantling of European codes and a postcolonial subversion and appropriation of the dominant European discourses" (17) by publishing his postmodern novel Green Grass, Running Water (1993). The book creates certain conflicts between values and expectations and conventions for the non-Native Canadian reader. These are mainly composed of stereotypes, internal structure of the text and reoccurring ideas throughout it.
The author distinguishes white people as privileged and respectful compared to mulattos and blacks. In the racial society, white people have the right to get any high-class position in a job or live in any place. In the story, all white characters are noble such as Judge Straight lawyer, Doctor Green, business-man George, and former slaveholder Mrs. Tryon. Moreover, the author also states the racial distinction of whites on mulattos. For example, when Dr. Green talks to Tryon, “‘The niggers,’., ‘are getting mighty trifling since they’ve been freed.
The white people around Malcolm consistently views and treats Malcolm as an animal instead of the human he has the right to be. Malcolm's ambitions to change this acknowledgment drives his fight for human justice for blacks. He experiences unpretentious racism in his childhood from his family and school, who treat him in a different way from others because he is light-skinned. Malcolm foster parents and a couple of the people he encounters in school treats him different in a good manner. Malcolm concluded that these treated him wonderfully in order to show that they are not dehumanizing him and not racist. He feels that they are playing him for a fool because different, in a way that he refers to a "pink poodle." Malcolm thusly dehumanizes certain white people as revenge for the racism he has felt over the years. In Boston, he demonstrates on his white sweetheart Sophia as a status picture, seeing her less as a person than and more like a piece of property he owns. This shows Malcolm the power of dehumanization as if he was European. After years of practicing anti-white behavior for years, Malcolm finally meets white people that treats him as equal, and begins to acknowledge some white individuals as humans. This experience leads him to realize to true power dehumanization has furthering the drive to change this injustice action, once and for
It also allows people to grasp an understanding on how life really was like for a black person in this era. Malcolm’s childhood is filled with trauma and heartache. His father is killed and his mother is eventually sent to a mental hospital. His siblings are split apart and he is sent to live with a white foster family. Throughout this misery, Malcolm remains ambitious, becoming class president and preserving his goal of becoming a lawyer. The anguish Malcolm suffers through in his younger years is the direct result of racism. It is disheartening to imagine such a young child go through so much pain because of his skin color. The text strikingly displays this heartache Malcolm combats and how he copes with it. A turning point in his life is when Malcolm tells his teacher of his aspirations of becoming a lawyer and he tells him to set his sights on carpentry instead. He claims, “It was a surprising thing that I had never thought of it that way before, but I realized that whatever I wasn 't, I was smarter than nearly all of those white kids. But apparently I was still not intelligent enough, in their eyes, to become whatever I wanted to be” (page 34). In this quote, Malcolm recognizes that he is more intelligent than his peers, but since he is of darker complexion, his intelligence does not matter. In this moment, Malcolm realizes the true extent of racism in society and begins to take a step back from white people. Malcolm states, “I don 't care how nice one is to you; the thing you must always remember is that almost never does he really see you as he sees himself, as he sees his own kind. He may stand with you through thin, but not thick; when the chips are down, you 'll find that as fixed in him as his bone structure is his sometimes subconscious conviction that he 's better than anybody black” (page 29).
For example, Tom reveals himself to be racist through his belief that the white race is superior: “It is up to us who are the dominant race to watch out or these other races will have control of things” (17). Tom’s arrogance also manifests itself through his elitist attitude. This is evident by the way he believes his education and class have given him a deeper understanding of the world, making his opinion indisputable: “‘Well these books are all scientific’ insisted Tom” (17). One could infer that his elitist and racist views are, in part, due to the fact he was born into money and has very little appreciation for hard work and honesty. This lack of honesty is revealed during dinner, as he leaves the table to answer a phone call from his mistress: “Tom’s got some woman in New York” (19). Tom represents men from old and established families, thus revealing the author’s perception of his class to be immoral and often
In conclusion, the theme of the book is, people of another race tend to do and say hurtful and discouraging things. These events showed how each character reacted towards everything. This book could be based on the famous quote: “It ain’t about hard you can hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward” (Rocky Balboa- Sylvester Stallone). The Robinson family shows wit and integrity at the end of the
Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King is a Canadian novel featuring Native Americans in the midst of their traditions in accordance with the rulers of the modern world in the book, the Whites. Several characters are seen to engulf in a battle with discrimination in an attempt to stay united as a community and find continued happiness in their Native identities. In Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King, the author states that discrimination negatively affects happiness, which leads to the questioning of one’s confidence that in turn has a negative effect in their search for identity. Although this novel’s characters forgo several acts of discrimination, Robinson Crusoe’s Friday discovery of home, Lionel’s realization of his identity,
Green Jacket was promised the land North of the Ohio River because he fought in the recent war for the British and was granted this land from the king to show appreciation. Green Jacket is furious the the settler woman refuses to leave her cabin so he tells her this, “It is true we do not live here, but for many fathers and sons and grandsons, this land is the
On the train he is aware of the respect that other blacks hold for him, because he is a man of God, though, in the city, his. social standing demonstrates little significance.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The author, in contrast, also tries to show the equality of two races through Julian himself and his thoughts. When Julian sees his mother wearing the same hat as one of the black woman, he says that the black woman looks better in the hat. Not only that, he tries to engage in conversation with a black man to show the black's wise. In this way, Julian tries to teach his mother that now it is not time for difference but equality, and her thoughts about those blacks should be changed to fit in with the society.
...aches his children to see through people’s disabilities and skin color. He stands for what is right without disrupting the town, but isn’t afraid to voice his opinions when it was necessary. He creates equal rights for everyone by helping Tom Robinson during his trial while everyone else didn’t.
Through realistic literary elements of the novel and the themes of individuality, isolation, society and being content versus being ambitious, readers of Robinson Crusoe can relate to many experiences that Crusoe faced. Crusoe’s story represents the genre of the middle class; it is the narration of middle-class lives with the help of realism elements and prominent themes that reflect on middle-class issues and interests. Crusoe represents mankind in the simplest form, he stands on middle ground no higher or lower than any other. He represents every reader who reads his story; they can substitute him for themselves. His actions are what every reader can picture himself or herself doing, thinking, feeling or even wishing for (Coleridge and Coleridge 188-192)