| dc.description.abstract | This thesis explores the ways in which Thomas King
layers levels of textual and symbolic narrative in order to
show that truth is a relative concept that cannot be
strictly bound by conventional, essentialist beliefs.
In Truth & Bright Water, Helen creates a quilt that
tells a continually re-interpreted version of both her, and
her community's history. It is only when the reader looks
closely at the details of the quilt in conjunction with the
textual details of the novel that the reader is able to
come to any understanding of the novel. In keeping with
King's theory of associational literature, the quilt
provides the reader with 'snapshots' of history; each time
the reader looks at the quilt, different 'snapshots' are
considered and the reader's perspective necessarily
changes. Truth therefore becomes a wholly individual
concept.
The ever-changing versions of truth are represented in
the novel by the convergence of the novel's two communities
on the banks of the Shield River. It is here that the
concrete and abstract concepts of truth are brought
together to create flowing, multiplicitous versions that
are more analogous to First Nations traditions. | |
