GGRW Blog

Green Grass Running Water is clever book that is written with many references to pop culture and the bible in a light hearted manner. There are five allusions that greatly influence the story. The first is the reference to Macbeth when the Dr Hovaugh is planning the trip at the motel repeatedly saying, tomorrow, a famous line in the play. This adds to the story because it reinforces the constant allusions made to different things that make you think about how out there this story truly is, due to the fact that it truly touches on everything. The second allusion is made to the star of Bethlehem when Dr Hovaugh and Babo are crossing the border. This adds to the story because there are constant references to the Christian creation story and this keeps the reader thinking about the native perception of the bible according to the four Indians. Overall this greatly increases the underling fun that is being poked at Christianity. The third allusion is to great men of justice who have killed when Old Woman is named Hawkeye, after declining Daniel Boone and Harry Truman. This reinforces the story’s constant need to make light of history and culture and preserves the humor in the mix. The forth allusion is to the Kennedy assassination that it’s a conspiracy theory.  It makes light to the fact that there is always something happening in government yet natives seem to get sorely overlooked. Greatly adding to the plot which seems to put natives on the winning side as they did with the western that they “fixed” The fifth and final relevant allusion is the Maxwell coffee commercial in which the line “it’s going to be a good day” is said after coffee. This adds to the story because it shows how redundant our culture is and how natives have been assimilated into it, but also because it adds to the humor in this book which greatly pokes fun at modern culture.

            Much is revealed about the characters Eli Stand Alone, Lionel Red Dog, and Coyote in the last two sections of the book. There are three main passages that   greatly contribute to your understanding of the characters. The first is for Eli Stand Alone, he remembers his struggles, how he couldn’t go home and he avoided the Sundance because he wanted to make a life for himself in Toronto. How it was hard and it got easier the more distance he put between who he is and who he had been. This shows us his conflicted emotions about his life and heritage. It also explains his need to stay in his mother’s cabin. The second is about Lionel Red Dog The passage about his 40^th birthday and how he was embarrassed with who he was but more importantly how he was going to change. This shows us that although Lionel had been an under achieving character, he has the will to change and he is finally doing something about it. Also it highlights the ability within Lionel to become a stronger man. The last has to do with Coyote, when Robinson Crusoe tells the story of Thought Women it begins the same with Thought Women falling out of the sky, Coyote cries out in protest because the story is to begin again it shows us that not only is coyote a trickster but he is also very impatient almost like a child. In addition it leads on to the fact that made coyote will do something mischievous again.

Blog Assignment Three Day Road

The scene from Three Day Road where Xavier kills Elijah is a crucial one. It shows the progression of the two friends and how the war has changed them.  Elijah has grown wild with killing and has even turned to removing the scalps of his victims for “proof”, that he has killed them. The blood he spilled has wrought madness within him and he has turned Windigo, hungry for the meat of German flesh. Xavier has gone down a different path, one far from morphine. He has matured to hate killing, and has realized that this war is not worth the cost. When Xavier kills Elijah he brings closure to the book because he has now taken on the important role of Windigo killer thus bringing Elijah’s madness to an end.  This is important to the book because it was the final test placed upon Xavier who stayed true to his values learned in the bush. Elijah however was turned into a war mongering British soldier and in the end it destroyed him.

“You have gone mad. There is no coming back from where you’ve travelled.” I press down harder. Elijah’s eyes shine with tears. His face grows a dark red. He tries to whisper words to me but I know I cannot allow Elijah to speak them. I must finish this. I have become what you are Niska.

I lean all of my weight down across the rifle. Elijah begs with his eyes. I desperately want to stop what I’ve started but something else controls me now. My tears fall heavier on his face. His mouth opens and closes, gasping for air. Veins bulge from his forehead.

Just when I think he is made of something unbreakable, the rifle in my hands sink down and I feel through the stock the collapse of his windpipe under the rifles pressure. He goes still his eyes still watching me. (370)

This scene in the book shows Xavier’s maturity and that he has grown up and followed in his aunt’s foot steps. Connecting the fact that his aunt was taught by her father about killing Windigos as well as doing it herself years later; to Xavier killing Elijah after being taught by his aunt when he was younger.  Even though Xavier doesn’t want to kill Elijah, he does it because he realizes what Elijah has become, and knows that he has to. This shows Xavier’s strength as a person, that he and Niska both have. This ends the cycle and shows that Xavier has inherited the gift and talent of Windigo killing that his family has passed down through the generations. Thus bringing the story to and end while tying up all loose ends.

A Moveable Feast B.M

        Gertrude Stein is introduced off as smart women with some narrow-minded perceptions. “I did not agree at all […] but it was a point of view […] and many of the other things Gertrude said were very intelligent” (Hemmingway25). This shows that Gertrude had some narrow opinions but she also was very intelligent. However as the novel goes on we learn that Gertrude is more arrogant and disrespectful than anything else because she makes generalizations to support her uncanny views on Hemmingway’s “Une Generation Perdue”. When Gertrude makes generalizations about those who served in the war, “you have no respect for anything. You drink yourselves to death”(Hemmingway 61). We see how little respect she has for war veterans and how arrogant she is of their hardships. This changes her as a character because no one sees the generation who goes to war as “lost” but rather as those who suffered which causes her to appear arrogant and disrespectful in the story.

        In the book Shakespeare and Company is described, as a great place to be with is heart-warming atmosphere. I would like to visit this place the most because the setting is warm and a place where most people would be content to relax an read throughout the afternoon or evening. “On a cold windswept street this was a lovely, warm, and cheerful place with a big stove in the winter, tables and shelves of books” (Hemmingway, 31) Bookstores have always been a favorite of mine and this one sounds like it would be one of the best places to visit. The fact that its in Paris also adds value because it sounds like a place filled with passion and romance.

The Boy In The Moon

Part A)

Ian Brown views the L’Arche as a special community where the disabled thrive and are accepted for who they are and not what they ought to be. It is the love an acceptance that makes the L’Arche special, for the handicapped this place is their home. In part of his book Ian Brown talks about how he feels inside the L’Arche society “No one at L’Arche talked about integration […] (they) made no pretense that the residents would eventually be part of a ‘normal’ community. People like me were outsiders”(Brown 199) This shows that Brown strongly endorsed L’Arche because they accepted the handicapped for what they were, just as he accepted walker for what he is and will continue to be. Also when Ian calls himself an outsider he shares that fact that to them we are abnormal or even disabled because we are incapable to just accept and show love. Ian Brown thought of these things because of Walker, but now this will help him help Walker because the same freedoms the communities share with their disabled patrons, he can try to share with his son.

Part B)

I used to feel bad whenever I saw a profoundly disabled child, because I would think about the parents and how it affects them. I knew it would drain the life out of them and they would no longer have the luxuries of a normal family. What I didn’t know was what I learned from Ian’s Brown’s book that having a profoundly disabled child is extremely rewarding too. This changed the way I thought about handicapped children, I now know that everyone has their own problems some more than others but eventually if we do are best it will always work out in the end. Also through his memoirs Ian Brown has showed me that every life holds a gift, you just have to solve the puzzle as to what it is.

Part C)

The Three Questions I would ask Ian Brown are:

1. Did you and your wife’s relationship ever recover from the strain Walker put on it?
2. Did you ever feel Hailey was neglected because of the constant attention you gave to Walker?
3. Do you still feel that it would have been better to just have a normal kid after you visit to the L’Arche communities?

Last NIght In Twisted River

Plot Summery
Last Night In The Twister River is about the lives, of Domenic a cook, his son Daniel, and his best friend Ketchum a logger. The story begins with a death an adolescent worker Angel, who died under Ketchum’s close supervision as Ketchum was looked upon as the boy’s mentor in the dangerous business known as river driving. Angel’s death is only the beginning for Daniel or Danny is growing more imaginative as time goes on. As Ketchum sulks about the boy’s death he remembers that Rosie Domenic’s deceased wife, took three days to reach the dam after her untimely death on the river that one drunken night, so he begged the cook or cookie as Ketchum called him to travel with him from the logging settlement to the mill where the dam is located. This brings old stories back to life and Danny once again remembers how his dad killed a bear with his legendary Skillet. Distressed about all that has happened Domenic is consoled that night by the corrupt constable’s girlfriend Jane, who the cook has been involved with. This however brings bad tidings because as Domenic and Jane begin their business, Danny wakes up with the notion that his dad is being attacked by a big grunting bear. Blinded by fear Danny takes his dads 8-inch Iron Skillet and hits the long haired heavy women on the head effectively ending her life. This then forces Domenic and Danny to go on the run to in case the constable suspected them in his girlfriend’s death. Their first stop the damn to meet with Ketchum and then Boston the place where Angel grew up. It is here Danny first discovers he is destine to become a writer and where Dominic meets his second love Carmella, Angel’s mother also a woman of heavy stature. Eventually the constable catches up with them but not before Danny hit his late twenties with a son he had to avoid the Vietnam draft. This once again prompted Danny and his dad to leave, but this time with a wealth of money and a child as Danny had now become a famous writer, so they headed to Vermont. Only to be discovered again by two blabber mouthed Twisted River folk who wandered in Domenic’s restaurant, forcing them to go on the run again to Toronto, hoping that things might be different this time, just as Joe Danny’s son goes to college in Colorado. Only, time will tell and I don’t plan on spoiling the very good ending.
Literary Analysis
The characters in the Twisted are very genuine, one way this is shown is through diction because each character was raised differently which influences their choice of word and how they speak. For example Ketchum had his own unique choice of words he frequently used throughout the book such as, “Mountains of Moose Shit”, “That Asshole” and “Shit” because he had become tough as he grew up and was illiterate which played part in his limited vocabulary. This creates interesting conversation between the main characters in the story, “‘you’re actually learning how to read’ Danny asked. ‘Yes I am-it’s just going slower than counting coon shit,’ Ketchum told them” (Irving 184). Which in turn makes the characters and their actions seem authentic as the plot continues to build. This also helps build suspense because Ketchum usually brings about a sense of urgency through his various methods of communication.
Favourite Passages
The first passage that appealed to me was where Danny finds out about Ketchum’s dog. “Aren’t you afraid you’ll pass out dead drunk, and that’s when Carl will come after you?’ ‘You haven’t met my dog Danny-he’s a fine animal.’ ‘I didn’t know you had a dog,’ Danny said.”(Irving 184) This appealed to me because it is the introduction of a dog who is a lifelong friend to Ketchum and later Danny, but it is also a symbol of their caring friendship because Danny worries about Ketchum’s safety so Ketchum get a dog and later Ketchum gives it to him for Danny’s own protection. The second passage that appealed to me was the part just after Carl’s ordeal in the restaurant kitchen. “But her Gamba leaving had hurt more; Carmella was crying because she knew that her Gamba’s ordeal was not over.”(Irving 195) This passage really touched me because it truly shows how deep and intimate Domenic and Carmella’s relationship really was, which made the plot seem more sincere. The final passage that interested me is at the end when Danny again finds true love. “Danny feed the dog and wrote Amy a note, not telling her he was falling in love with her.”(Irving 552) This is the best part because everyone is at peace Ketchum went the way he wanted to and Domenic got his last laugh, Also Danny finally found someone he can finally be with and it brings a nice closure to the novel.