Oppression and the Justice System Theme Analysis

In Green Grass, Running Water, traditional systems of justice often fail to serve the Indian characters and even contribute to their oppression. One of the novel’s main plot lines, for example, centers on how the government has forced four old Indians (Lone Ranger, Ishmael, Robinson Crusoe, and Hawkeye) to live locked up in a psychiatric hospital against their will, despite the fact that they don’t seem to be dangerous. This parallels how Lionel gets imprisoned after a misunderstanding with some police officers who think he’s holding a gun. The consequences of Lionel’s arrest continue to reverberate throughout the story, with him losing his university job and having to move back to the small town of Blossom, showing how the justice system has oppressed him rather than protect him.

Another symbol of authority in the novel are the soldiers who appear in all of the creation stories and send First Woman, Changing Woman, Thought Woman, and Old Woman to a fort in Florida where they must stay. The soldiers stop these women from moving freely through nature, similar to the actions of the U.S. and Canadian governments, who forced Indians to live on reserves, often through the use or threat of violence. This theme of restricting the movement of Indians also comes up with the many border guard characters in the story. In one symbolic interaction, when Amos, Ada, and Alberta are trying to cross the U.S.–Canada border, the border guards disrespect the traditional dancing clothes they have with them, confiscating the clothes and returning them in tatters. Green Grass, Running Water thus shows how the justice systems in Canada and the United States has failed Indians, and instead of providing justice, these systems have attempted to limit their free movement and their culture.