Green Grass Running Water

King uses multiple pop culture and biblical refecnes to enhance the plot. The first of these references is when Babo and Dr. Hovah are driving in Dr. Hovah’s Karmen Ghia in search of the escaped Indians when Babo, in an act of old time explorer nature, uses a star in the sky to direct them. This is a biblical reference to the star of Bethlehem used by the three kings to find their way across the desert to the manger in which Jesus was born. Dr. Hovah’s car could also be a very vague reference to the Karmen Ghia used in “The Graduate”. “In the distance, at the edge of the horizon, Babo could see a point of light, a star in the morning sky.” (pg.235).

The second pop culture allusion is when Lionel wakes up on his birthday and wants to change his life. Lionel is a big fan of westerns, as are many characters in the novel, so he uses John Wayne as a kind of model. Instead of what would Jesus Lionel refers to Wayne’s “man of mystery” personality. “That’s what you do when you begin again. That’s what John Wayne would do.” (pg.243) Lionel has little care for his people’s culture to begin with so it seems appropriate that he is using a white man as a model. It also fits very well because he receives, as a gift from the Indians, the jacket John Wayne was wearing in one of his films.

The next biblical allusion is when Thought Woman arrives on an island in the middle of a seemingly endless ocean that she has been swimming in and meets a man named The Archangel Gabriel who introduces himself as A.A. Gabriel. Gabriel tells her that she is going to be a mother. This is a referene to the to the annunciation of Mary, in which the Archangel Gabriel comes to Mary in a dream and gives her the same news. Alberta becomes pregnant at the same time as thought woman

Another biblical allusion is when Coyote is shown holding a bible-like book. “I read a book,’ says Coyote. ‘Forget the book,’ I says. ‘We’ve got a story to tell. And here’s how it goes.” (pg.349) The quote refers to the Bible as some book. Coyote mocks First Woman’s observations of Earth and compares them to bible stories. The other Indians shun coyote and they try and summarize the native creation story for the umpteenth time in the book.