『푸른 초원, 흐르는 강물』에서 ‘진짜 원주민’의 문제 (The Question of an Authentic Indian in Green Grass, Running Water)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국현대영미소설학회
· 수록지 정보 : 현대영미소설 / 17권 / 1호 / 7 ~ 27페이지
· 저자명 : 민태운

초록

This article examines the question of a real Indian in Thomas King's Green Grass, Running Water(1993). Non-natives, mostly white people hold stereotypical views of Indianness. They have definite expectations of what Indians should look like, how they should act, and where they should live. According to these stereotypes, the Indian people in their "original form" no longer exist in the present; they are part of history. In short, they are "extinct." This is closely related with the all-the-Indians-are-doomed-to disappear-anyway myth, which the Euro-Americans hold for justifying their continental conquest. As the Mohegan people continue to live since James Fenimore Cooper wrote his romantic classic The Last of the Mohicans, however, so real Indians are not disappearing despite of whites' expectation of their imminent extinction.
In the nineteenth century the "real" Indians resisted against U. S. Army's campaign of destruction aimed at forcing Aboriginal nations onto reservations; now in the twentieth century Eli stands against the dam, which represents the Western science and technology. Eli, retired English professor, wanted to be a white man, but after his wife's death he returns home to the cabin his mother built. In view of the fact that for Indians the relationship between identity and land is inseparable, his home coming indicates his return to traditional ways and acceptance of his Aboriginal identity. It is worth noting that his resistance against dam is in fact for protecting Indian culture and identity, for the operation of the dam means the genocidal annihilation of Native culture. Ecological destruction, in the guise of development, thus repeats the explicitly assimilationist policies of the past. Eventually, Eli, the chief figure of resistance to white power and authority, wins because with Coyote's help, the dam is destroyed. Though Eli dies, killed in the earthquake, the traditional values he learns to cherish are handed down to his nephew Lionel, for whom John Wayne was once his hero. In this way King asserts that a "real Indian" is not "extinct," and that it should not be mummified in stereotypical images of the dominant culture.

영어초록

This article examines the question of a real Indian in Thomas King's Green Grass, Running Water(1993). Non-natives, mostly white people hold stereotypical views of Indianness. They have definite expectations of what Indians should look like, how they should act, and where they should live. According to these stereotypes, the Indian people in their "original form" no longer exist in the present; they are part of history. In short, they are "extinct." This is closely related with the all-the-Indians-are-doomed-to disappear-anyway myth, which the Euro-Americans hold for justifying their continental conquest. As the Mohegan people continue to live since James Fenimore Cooper wrote his romantic classic The Last of the Mohicans, however, so real Indians are not disappearing despite of whites' expectation of their imminent extinction.
In the nineteenth century the "real" Indians resisted against U. S. Army's campaign of destruction aimed at forcing Aboriginal nations onto reservations; now in the twentieth century Eli stands against the dam, which represents the Western science and technology. Eli, retired English professor, wanted to be a white man, but after his wife's death he returns home to the cabin his mother built. In view of the fact that for Indians the relationship between identity and land is inseparable, his home coming indicates his return to traditional ways and acceptance of his Aboriginal identity. It is worth noting that his resistance against dam is in fact for protecting Indian culture and identity, for the operation of the dam means the genocidal annihilation of Native culture. Ecological destruction, in the guise of development, thus repeats the explicitly assimilationist policies of the past. Eventually, Eli, the chief figure of resistance to white power and authority, wins because with Coyote's help, the dam is destroyed. Though Eli dies, killed in the earthquake, the traditional values he learns to cherish are handed down to his nephew Lionel, for whom John Wayne was once his hero. In this way King asserts that a "real Indian" is not "extinct," and that it should not be mummified in stereotypical images of the dominant culture.

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