I've sat here for hours wondering what to write and link. I have to admit that I was pretty lost so I apologize for the much delayed posts. This is definitely more time consuming and complex than I originally thought, but I hope
I'm on the right track!
There was the matter of their mother's house, Norma told him. No one could live in it because it was right in the middle of the proposed spillway for the Grand Baleen Dam... (112)
It was always the same argument. Always the same topic. Stands Alone v. Duplessis International Associates...
"Charlie, how can you work for Duplessis? You know that the tribe isn't going to make a cent off that dam. And what about all that waterfront
property on the new lake - "
"Parliament Lake."
...Eli had fought Duplessis from the beginning, producing a steady
stream of injunctions that Duplessis countered (116-7).
..."Emmett over at Brocket figures that the dam is killing the river."
"Not doing it any good."
"He was on the radio the other day. Said if the river doesn't flood like it does every year, the cottonwoods will die."
"Hadn't heard that."
"That's what he said. When the river floods, it brings the cottonwoods... you know..."
"Nutrients?"
"That's it. No flood. No nutrients. No cottonwoods."
"Emmett ought to know."
"And if the cottonwoods die, where are we going to get the Sun
Dance tree? You see what I mean?" (375-6)
"Eli's going to dance," (388)
...[Eli] heard the sound of thunder rolling down the valley. (409)
...[T]he waters swelled and the cars were thrown into the dam, hard, insistent...[A]nd in that instant the water rose out of the lake like a
mountain, sucking the cars under and pitching them high in the air, sending them at the dam in an awful rush.
And the dam gave way and the water and the cars tumbled over the edge of the world.
...Below, in the valley, the water rolled on as it had for eternity (414-5).
The dam is no more and although Eli sacrifices his life, the cottonwoods and the Sun Dance can continue to stay. Plans to build a new cabin with the logs from the old cabin are made as the rest of the characters move on with their own individual stories.
Maybe I'm going a bit far with this idea but in the Sun Dance Legend in my previous post, the main prayer was for rain to give life again to the land. In terms of GGRW, I feel that the dam was holding up water that was naturally meant to flow freely and so metaphorically I see it as a method of trying to break and hold back Native ways and assimilation. Without the water there will be no cottonwood trees and without them there will be no Sun Dance. After Eli dances at the Sun Dance, it seems that Manitow does respond. In the legend, the Thunderbird throws Wi-sa-ke-cahk violently to the ground which through misfortune frees him from the buffalo skull and it is also through the Thunderbird that Manitow waters the land. Before the dam breaks, Eli hears thunder and although he sacrifices his life, the breaking of the dam allows the water to give life to the cottonwood trees again and in the bigger picture, free the Natives from a white culture. Also the way King describes how the water falls 'over the edge of the world' reminds me of the creation story of Falling Woman. Perhaps this is symbolizing the rebirth and renewal of Native traditions, a new beginning to fix mistakes.