Gender Roles In Green Grass Running Water

Great Essays
From the very first page of Thomas King’s Green Grass Running Water it is clear that his novel is focused on more than just one social issue. Though the most prominent one is that of the indigenous culture in Canada, there are many others hidden in plain sight throughout the book. The one, aside from culture, that seems the most prominent is gender. As he weaves in and out of different narratives, it seems obvious that King has something to say about gender; more specifically women. And yet, while he seems keen on bringing out the topic of gender it is almost as if he’s contradicting himself with his characterization. With such prominent characters in that of Alberta, Latisha, Babo, and Norma you would think that he would put some of what he …show more content…
Whether it be the amount of times it switches to her perspective, or just how many of the other characters’ stories she weaves in and out of, her importance is very obvious from the beginning. We first come in to contact with Alberta as she is giving a lecture at a university in Calgary (Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King, 18). This immediately sets her up to be somewhat of a successful character, showcasing that she has a stable job in a city outside of her hometown. Right away we see the makings of what could possibly be a great character plot. This is accentuated when we see her, not long after, beginning to explain her desire for a child, and lack of one for a man. This immediately evokes the hope that Alberta will have an independent storyline, with somewhat of a breakaway from the male influence. Of course, these hopes are soon dashed by the fact that she then reveals conflict between choosing two men in her life, and thus this continues throughout the whole book. Her storyline never deters from this for more than a couple of sentences. Alberta’s main focus seems to always come back to her struggle to escape both Lionel and …show more content…
A journal titled “Key Female Characters in Film Have More to Talk About Besides Men: Automating the Bechdel Test by Apoorv Agarwal et al. talks in depth about something called the “Bechdel Test”. While, usually used for films, it is something that can be applied to literature, and is extremely useful in this context. For better understanding, the Bechdel test, as explained in the journal, is a “series of three questions, which originated from Alison Bechdel’s comic ‘Dykes to Watch Out for’” (Agarwal et al., 1). The questions themselves are simple: “1. Are there at least two named women in the movie? 2. Do these women talk to each other? 3. Do these women talk to each other about something besides a man?” (Agarwal et al., 1). These three questions are used often to develop an understanding on how women are portrayed in film (or literature in this case). Using these questions for King’s novel can therefore help to better explain where exactly the female characters in this novel are being unjustly portrayed. The answer to the first two questions for this novel is thankfully yes. There area few more than two named female characters; Latisha, Alberta, Norma, and Babo being the main focus. Latisha and Alberta have a conversation near the end of the book and there are many other instances sprinkled throughout the novel with female characters

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