Green Grass Running Water #2

Part 1:

“The Indian who couldn’t go home. It was a common enough theme in novels and movies. 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 white culture, and becomes trapped between two worlds. Indian leaves the traditional world of the reserve, gets an education, and is shunned by his tribe. Indians, Indians, Indians. Ten little Indians.” (286 – 287) In this passage, it becomes clear that Eli is very troubled by his relationship with his culture and home. It had been hard leaving his native reserve, but resisting the temptation of returning to Alberta got easier after every passing year. At the end of this quotation the phrase, “Ten Little Indians” is used. This is a popular nursery rhyme that is still sung today. It is a clear reference to popular culture and the stereotypes related to Indians (who clearly aren’t actually from India).

“In the distance, at the edge of the horizon, Babo could see a point of light, a star in the morning sky.” (235) This is a very apparent biblical allusion to the Star of Bethlehem. In the Bible, this star leads the three wise men to a barn where Jesus’ birth is taking place. In the novel, it leads Babo and Dr. Hovaugh to the four Indians. Babo has a strong understanding of the situation as it unfolds while the Doctor does not. This comparison between Jesus and the Indians shows the importance of these four individuals in this novel.

This allusion to pop culture directly relates to the previous biblical allusion. Right before seeing the star in the morning sky, Dr. Hovaugh comments on the comfort level of riding in the Karmann-Ghia. “He had forgotten how uncomfortable the Karmann-Ghia was on a long trip, how every bump telescoped up through the steering wheel, shaking his arms and shoulders, how road noise rattled about the cavity of the car, leaving him with the vague feeling of being trapped inside a casstanet.” (235). The Karmann-Ghia is a popular culture allusion to Christopher Columbus’ Santa Maria. As commonly known, Christopher Columbus and his team took part in a bold expedition to an unknown continent. Likewise, Babo and Dr. Hovaugh are experiencing a trip to an unknown country, Canada.

“That woman who wanted a baby. Now, that was helpful.” (416) Coyote is referring to Alberta and the baby that he impregnated her with. This is a very similar situation to the Virgin Mary birth of Jesus that takes place in the Bible. Both Alberta and Mary’s children were not conceived normally, but by a higher being. This is very significant in Alberta’s life because she has always wanted a baby, but never expected to finally have one.

A very repetitive popular culture reference throughout the novel is the western film character, John Wayne. John Wayne is nothing short of a role model for Lionel. This is seen when he is as young as six. “By the time Lionel was six, he knew what he wanted to be. John Wayne. Not the actor, but the character. Not the man, but the hero.” (241) John Wayne is a very significant part of Lionel’s life partly because he looks like the white man he wants to become. This clearly goes against the teachings of his Indian traditions, but he truly believes that being white is superior to his Indian background.

Part 2:

Eli Stands Alone:

“And in a rather perverse way, Eli had come to enjoy the small pleasures of resistance, knowing that each time Duplessis opened the gates a little too much or turned on the light a little too late, it was because he was there.” (260)

This quotation shows that Eli not only feels the need to protect his cabin and heritage, but enjoys the resistance and annoyance he causes Duplessis. Eli has always kept a stubborn attitude throughout his encounters with Duplessis, but this quotation shows his pleasure in his actions. It has been clear during the entire novel that one day the dam was going to open, but everyday that this was delayed was a small victory for Eli.

Lionel Red Dog:

“’Today,’ he shouted at the mirror. ‘Today things change.’ And he whacked himself in the stomach and grabbed his saggy chest for good measure. He stood there naked, glaring into the mirror, pleased with the fire that burned in his eyes. Just above his left nipple, Lionel spotted the mole with the single long hair growing out it.” (240)

This quotation comes in the morning of Lionel’s 40^th birthday. He is truly fed up with the embarrassment that is his day-to-day life. This passage shows his newfound grit and determination that have not been especially evident until this point in the novel. However, his constant displeasure with his appearance brings his self-conscience attitude to the surface as usual.

Coyote:

“Up ahead, at the end of the alley near the entrance to the store, Lionel thought he could see a yellow dog dancing in the rain.” (279)

Nearing the end of a long walk to work, Lionel sees coyote in the distance through the rain (which was caused by none other than the same yellow dog). This proves coyote’s existence in flesh to both me as the reader and Lionel as an unsuspecting pedestrian. I was unsure of coyote’s true existence in the novel until this quotation and it helped me further my understanding of the unfolding plot.

Three Day Road Blog

The scene I have chosen proves to be an awakening for Xavier and his fellow soldiers, which opens their eyes to the true horror of war. It is the first friend of Xavier’s killed in the war and installs a sense of panic within him. Unfortunately, Xavier notices minutes earlier that both Sean Patrick, who is sniping, and Grey Eyes, who is working the plate, have been using the same position too long and Grey Eyes is not paying close enough attention to his job. Sean Patrick is shot directly in the neck by the notorious German sniper and his eyes widen with the terror of what is coming. The following excerpt depicts the terror of the scene, I bend back down to fill sandbags when I hear Gilberto shouting for help. When I look over, I see ten yards from me Sean Patrick on the ground writhing like a snake and grabbing his neck, blood spurting out in impossible amounts, his eyes wide with terror of what is coming. I run to him. We all run to him, McCaan and Elijah, Graves and Fat who’ve become closer and closer over the last months like a skinny father and his heavy son. We stand over Sean Patrick dumbly, none of us really knowing what to do, in shock at the sight of bright red blood pumping from between his fingers clenched so hard that it appears to be chocking himself, McCaan kneeling & fumbling to help. (111) Following this scene, the rest of the book begins to sound like the horrible war that we learn about in history textbooks. There is a sudden urge for payback and revenge in Sean Patrick’s name that cannot be quenched. This scene marks the end of Xavier’s innocence along with many others.

Boy in the Moon Reading Blog

Ian Brown’ first impression of L’Arche was a very interesting realization. It was “In that community, I was the stranger.” (187) He was quite nervous when entering the house in Verdun for the first time but it slowly began to grow on him. This is explained in a quote from page 194, “The remarkable thing about that house in Verdun was that the calm descended upon me again and again in a single evening. For a long time I didn’t want to leave.” However, his nervous attitude toward the community was something hard to shrug off. When visiting the L’Arche communities in Cuise-la-Motte and talking to the director Garry Webb he found the activities in the house in Semance “interesting, free, spirited, and made me extremely nervous.” (196) He had a slight skepticism towards the almost perfect atmosphere of the communities and thought “If Walker ever lived in such a place, would he be surrounded by people who cared for him for his own sake or by people who cared for him because they were in a cult? I didn’t want Walker in a cult.” (197) However, after several days in many of the communities he realized that “It was a pleasant place to be, and conveyed no sense that life ought to be otherwise.” (200)

When I visited L’Arche in Toronto it was very apparent that the place was a large family where everyone was free to be themselves and applauded for doing so. It was a very relaxed atmosphere in which it was hard not to smile at everyone around you. The community was very unique and it is clear that “No one at L’Arche talked about integration….this community existed for the disabled and made no pretense that residents eventually would be part of the “normal” community” as Ian Brown stated on page 199.

The most apparent thing I have learned about life with a profoundly disabled child is it is most definitely a full-time job. However, those who have to take on this responsibility would not refer to it as that. I can tell it is a great learning experience where there is a lot of giving involved but a lot given back. A child like this can give hope, but also stifle a parent’s life and become a burden at the same time. I can only say so much because I have only read the book and not experienced life with a disabled child.

My three questions include: If you could go back in time and have a child without a disability instead of Walker what would you do? What is one thing that you have learned from Walker that you think anyone could benefit from knowing? If there was one thing you could change about how you raised Walker, what would it be?

Dead Cold Reading Blog

C.C. de Poitiers can be easily described by this quotation, “CC gripped harder, willing herself not to launch herself over the sleek metal divider and onto Clara. She balled up all her rage and made a missile of it and, like Ahab, had her chest been a cannon she’d have fired her heart upon Clara. Instead, she did the next best thing. Turning to the man next to her and she said, ‘I’m so sorry, Denis that you think Clara’s art is amateur and banal. So she’s just wasting her time?’” (38) This quotation proves that C.C. is a very intentionally cruel person and finds pleasure in hurting other people like Clara. Ruth Zardo is portrayed in this quotation, “‘This’s a waste of time,’ she said, her short-cropped white head bending over Clara’s book. ‘No one from Montreal came, not a goddamned person. Just you lot. What a bore.’” (30) This quotation shows that Ruth has no problem saying what is on her mind, no matter how appropriate it is.

Clara Morrow is depicted in the following quotation, “Will that happen with my art? Clara wondered as she swooshed through the revolving doors into the perfumed and muted atmosphere of Ogilvy’s. Am I about to be plucked out of obscurity? She’d finally found the courage too give her work to their new neighbor, C.C. de Poitiers, after she’d overheard her talking in the bistro about her close personal friend, Denis Fortin.” (27) This quotation shows Clara’s positive attitude and optimistic mood that she maintains throughout the novel. Finally, Inspector Beauvoir is depicted by the following quotation, “Jean Guy Beauvoir was constantly at war with himself, at odds over his need to wear clothes that showed off his slender, athletic build, and his need not to freeze his tight ass off. It was nearly impossible to be both attractive and warm in a Quebec winter. And Jean Guy Beauvoir didn't want to look like a dork in a parka and stupid hat.” (147) This quotation shows Beauvoir's constant attitude of style over comfort in order to show off his good looks.

Crie Lyon is a very self-conscious 14 year old. She is overweight and tormented for that everyday, even by her mother. However, this does not hold her back from being a great student, especially in science. This is depicted in the quote, “At her side was a bag containing her snowflake costume. Stuffed into it was her report card. Straight As. Her teachers had tsked and shaken their heads and bemoaned the fact that such brains had been wasted on someone so damaged.” (27) Crie wants desperately to be liked and to impress her mom, but this seems almost impossible. C.C. even insults Crie after she sang beautifully at the Christmas service by saying, “They were laughing at you, you know. Deep and crisp and even…And your clothes. Are you sick? I think you’re mentally unstable.” It is very clear what motivates Crie to kill her mother. It is understandable to have a deep hate for someone who torments you on a daily basis and shows no love for her daughter.

A good example of Louise Penny’s use of humour to break down tension comes on page 27 when Kaye says, “Fuck the Pope.” This effectively breaks the tension created by Mother Bea realizing that her meditation centre and C.C.’s book having the same name, “Be Calm.” My second example of humour being used to break down tension appears on page 77, “How does someone get electrocuted in the middle of a frozen lake? You used to be able to electrocute someone in a bathtub but that was before most appliances had automatic shut-offs. Toss a toaster in your spouse’s bath these days and all you’ll get is a blown fuse, a ruined appliance and a very pissed of sweet-heart. No. It was almost impossible to electrocute someone these days, unless you were the governor of Texas.” These two light-hearted jokes reduced the tension after Gamache heard the news from Lemieux that C.C. was in fact murdered.

Crime Fiction Blog: Recalled to Life

Recalled to Life is a 1992 crime fiction novel set in England by Reginald Hill and is part of the Dalziel and Pascoe series. The novel tells the story of Andy Dalziel and Peter Pascoe’s re-investigation of the 1963 murder at a weekend get together at the local manor, Mickledore Hall. The house party ends badly with the wife and child of one of the guests dead and the host and a nanny in police custody. The host, Sir Ralph Mickledore is found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang. Cecily Kohler, the American nanny, is also found guilty of killing the daughter, Emma, and spends more than 25 years. During her stay in prison, she murders a prison guard, but years later she is freed. Cecily Kohler travels back to the U.S. with barely any comment on the murder while decade-old clues are found by Dalziel and Pascoe that leave the detectives thinking that the wrong aristocrat was hung.

Andy Dalziel, also known as “Fat Andy,” is by far the most prominent character in this installment of the series. In 1963, he was just starting his career as a detective, which has led him to the position of detective superintendent. This same position was held by his late friend and mentor, Wally Tallantire. Andy was there the night of the murder and wants to keep both Wally and his reputation intact by proving that justice has been served and the case was correctly closed. Dalziel will go to any measure to not let anyone besmirch the name of his dead friend and he ends up conducting his own unofficial investigation. He pulls a somewhat reluctant Peter Pascoe into the case and they uncover a national scandal. Dalziel is the almost polar opposite of his partner. Dalziel is a very independent minded and free-spirited detective unlike Pascoe who has a more by the books style. Dalziel is always three steps ahead in every investigation. The reader’s first impression may lead them to believe he is unintelligent and awkward, but you will be surprised to realize that inside he is a brilliant and relentless investigator. Humor is a key part of this novel and Dalziel produces much of it. One of the most humorous parts of the novel is Dalziel’s trip to the US in which Dalziel submerses himself quite well in the local culture.

It is very clear that Cecily had been responsible for Emma's death and that of the wardress in prison. Following Cissy's release, Detective Superintendent Andrew Dalziel remains convinced of her guilt, but after further investigating, his certainties were eroded. The murder of the wife, Pam Westropp, had never really been solved to Andy's satisfaction. To make things more interesting Pam was the American wife of James, distant cousin to the Queen and working for the British Secret Service at the time. The actual events of the night of the murder are slowly revealed through clues such as the fact that Cecily was not the only one involved in Emma’s death. There are constant efforts by even the British Intelligence and CIA to cover up the true story, which makes Dalziel’s job even harder. Pascoe studied a tape made about the affair and a recent television interview with Cecily showed him that there is some doubt in whether the right conviction was made. Later in the novel, the two detectives discover a group of decade-old clues that lead them to believe that a member of the royal family is the true culprit. However, when one of their most promising leads is mysteriously found dead, Dalziel goes to interview one of the most reliable sources that was there at the scene of the crime, Cecily.

The writing in Recalled to Life is very descriptive and allows the reader to picture almost every scene in their head. The following are three passages that particularly appealed to me while I was reading the novel. The first coming in chapter four, “An habitual criminal is easy to spot. Ask him, ‘Where were you when President Kennedy was shot?’ and he’ll say ‘I was at home in bed reading a book. I can bring six witnesses to prove it.’ ” (21) This passage stood out to me because it was very witty and clever. Fortunately, this novel has a humorous and amusing side that kept me reading because of passages like this. The second passage that appealed to me came from the first page of the novel and also re-appeared in chapter six:

It was the best of crimes, it was the worst of crime; it was born of love, it was spawned by greed; it was completely unplanned, it was coldly premeditated; it was an open-and-shut case, it was a locked-room mystery; it was the act of a guile-less girl, it was the work of a scheming scoundrel; it was the end of an era, it was the start of an era; a man with the face of a laughing boy reigned in Washington, a man with the features of a lugubrious hound ruled in Westminster; an ex-marine got a job at a Dallas book repository, an ex-Minister of War lost a job in politics; a group known as the Beatles made their first million, a group known as the Great Train Robbers made their first two million; it was the time when those who had fought to save the world began to surrender it to those they had fought to save it for; Dixon of Dock Green was giving way to Z-Cars, Bond to Smiley, the Monsignors to the Maharishis, Matt Dillon to Bob Dylan, l.s.d. to LSD, as the sunset glow of the old Golden Age imploded into the psychedelic dawn of the new Age of Glitz. (3 and 40)

This was one of the best openings to a novel that I have read in a long time. It set the standard of excellent writing for the entire novel and makes it clear when the crime took place. The year, nineteen sixty-three, is only a number while this passage really explains what that year was all about. The last of the passages that stood out to came in chapter twenty, “The Immigration queue snaked before him like an Alpine pass with its head almost hidden in the clouds.” (197) I particularly like the simile in this passage and it is a great representation of the writing throughout the novel. The author, Reginald Hill, uses many similes and metaphors throughout the novel, which makes his writing style very appealing and interesting.

In conclusion, Recalled to Life was an excellent crime fiction novel that I would recommend to anyone looking for a challenging and attention-grabbing read. I have not read many novels in the crime fiction genre, but after this one I definitely plan on reading more.

Obama's Eulogy for Ted Kennedy

Obama's excellent use of multi-media enhances his eulogy for Ted Kennedy in multiple ways. The video shots showed during the eulogy are expertly taken such as the video of the painting given to Obama from Kennedy. The shot effectively zooms in on the painting of a Cape Cod landscape and a note from Kennedy saying, "To Barack. I love your audacity - With great respect and best wishes. Ted Kennedy" becomes legible. The use of still images throughout the eulogy also contributes to the enhancement of the speech. Multiple pictures of Obama and Ted Kennedy together in political scenes show Kennedy's dedication to his beliefs and his strong relationship with Obama. These Pictures show how much of a powerful person he can be, but other pictures and videos such as the ones of his childhood show his more gentle side. The most meaningful piece of multimedia in this eulogy would have to be the video of Kennedy sailing with his family. This video shows Kennedy with a broad smile on his face steering a sailboat into the horizon and making it clear that he is also just a regular guy who loves his family and would do anything for them.

Kennedy's main focus of his political career was public service and he made that clear in Congress. Ted Kennedy accomplished many things in his lifetime when it came to improving public service. These things ranged from sponsoring the Family opportunity Act of 2006, which allowed states to expand Medicaid coverage to children with special needs to his constant goal of making healthcare a right and not a privilege. The "liberal lion of the Senate" convinced his opposers on many occasions with stirring speeches on his beliefs. Kennedy always kept a positive attitude when it came to his reforms and even returned to the Senate floor on July 8, 2008 after being diagnosed with cancer just months before.

Throughout the eulogy, Obama used many rhetorical devices and outstanding diction to make his speech nothing short of stellar. Obama accurately showed the different sides of Kennedy by making the eulogy simple yet very descriptive. Kennedy's passionate public life was brought to the forefront but his private life was not left behind. Obama made it clear that Kennedy was much more than a public figure for reform, he was a family man. Kennedy had a softer more humorous side to him that went along with his serious side. Obama used the most flattering and fitting words of praise to describe Kennedy like when he described him as "the baby of the family who became its patriarch; the restless dreamer who became its rock." Obama described Kennedy as the great person he was, but made it clear that like everyone else, no one is perfect.