“All this water imagery must mean something…”

1. “All this water imagery must mean something…” Carl Hesselin: water really signifies rebirth or starting anew.  Water comes and cleans the world by washing everything away and allowing for the growth of something new.  The dam is what I believe to be the final act that will cleanse the world…and allow for [everyone, including the Indians], to start life over again in whatever form that may be.  As the water appears more and more in this book, sweeping away cars, going under cabins, covering peoples feet, I think that it is showing that the rebirth is near and getting closer with every passing moment. 

2. “All this water imagery must mean something…” Gabriel Ben-Shalom: water seems to be a cleansing, clearing away of things to its original state. [It]seems to swallow up cars, forcing their owners to revert back to a simpler mode of walking or simply destroying their sense of being in control and having a plan. And then of course in the First Woman narratives it always begins with nothing but water. Things area always very simple in this state, water acting like a blank canvas with which to build a story… the pure, floating, beginning state of the water, or all the strange adventures she finds herself in. I think she represents a uniquely human dilemma of being caught between a nostalgia for the blissful simplicity of the womb and a thirst for adventure.  

3. “All this water imagery must mean something…” Reese Layton: characters are reaching back into history and trying to make sense of everything that’s going on, by explaining what has changed since the earth was nothing but water. They’re all reaching back to their origin, trying to make sense of their heritage, their personal histories and the history of the world – back at a time where, even if it didn’t make sense, it was still less confusing than just “floating” in the everyday woes of being a native today.

4. “All this water imagery must mean something…” Colleen Reveley: When coyote dances he brings down rain, and this is right when the four old Indians are about to go into the TV store to try and fix and restart Lionel’s life. Another [instance] is when the Indians fix the western: the Indians in the film are in the middle of the river in which they rise out of and defeat the cowboys. It’s always water and always beginning again. I guess that’s the message of the novel, to fix things by starting at the beginning, starting with water.

5. “Can’t hold [it] back forever…” Jessica Schafer: The dam is put in place in order to use the land for efficient energy purposes and profit gains. This is on the other end of the spectrum to what the Native Americans want to use the land for in the novel. [Dam is also a “barrier” or a dividing line between “white” and “Indian” worlds.]

6. “Can’t hold [it] back forever…” Ryan Hainey: the dam is often phrased in terms of an object that “can’t be held back forever”….The conflict between Eli and Sifton in regards to the operation of the dam, which will destroy Eli’s childhood home, uses this phrase as a way to metaphorically say “no matter how hard you try (years of lawsuits from Eli) the modern society (non Indians) will enclose and take over.” But an alternative interpretation of this can also be seen in that a physical dam itself cannot hold back all of its water forever before breaking down and releasing the natural force it was withholding.

7. “A concept at the heart of Western civilization…” Olivia Smith: there is a problem with the concept of “the heart of Western Civilization” itself. It is in most cases, biased and idealized. For example, in the Old Westerns, the …John Wayne character and the other cowboys would have triumphant victory over the Indians…. It’s a white view of western civilization, and the Indians are the bad guys. In the book, there is also a parallel [with] the creation stories. The narrator and coyote are telling the stories of first/changing/ thought/old woman and they always run into characters in the middle of their own creation stories who are stubborn and rooted in Christian “rules” and beliefs. Much like the Christian tendency to reject anything that does not follow their rules or stories, the western civilization stories often reject any notion that the Indians were anything but the bad guys…

8. “A concept at the heart of Western civilization…” …So I believe that Bursum’s Map, meant a lot more than he realized. When he was playing the old western on all the TVs in the shape of the land, he was trying to capture the fiery spirit associated with the cowboys and the land, but as soon as the old Indians “fixed” the movie, he immediately thought it was broken or damaged. And the map had lost its meaning to him. Who would want to kill John Wayne, he asked. But what he doesn’t see is that to some people, John Wayne was not the hero.

9. “Christian rules” = Boys Rule! Liz: Alberta is also trying to follow her own path, thinking about what is best for her. At this time it is having a baby. Charlie and Lionel have their own ideas of marriage and family…both Charlie and Lionel are convinced that they can give Alberta what she wants (similar to Jesus and Noah [trying to “dominate”] Changing woman); in reality these boys know nothing of what she wants but still believe they can give it to her. This is one way in which the mythical women merge with reality and Alberta. Calista: It is the men in Alberta's life, caught up in the ideals of western patriarchy, who believe they must marry to fulfill their masculine duties, who throw her life out of sorts. Like First Woman, it is the ideas of the patriarch that throw her life into disorder.