The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative

Why do most of the chapters begin with the story of turtles holding up the earth on their backs? What is the significance of the idea that it’s “turtles all the way down” (2)?

King mentions that people have an image of an Indian in mind, whether it be one from a team mascot, a film, or history. What do you picture when you think of the term “Indian,” and how has King’s argument changed your conception of an Indian?

Why does King describe his father as an “enigma” (25) and Will Rogers as a “conundrum” (43)? How do those figures relate to the trickster Coyote mentioned throughout the text?

The Truth About Stories is subtitled A Native Narrative. But is the book a narrative? Why or why not? And if it isn’t a narrative, how should it be classified?

King describes Native writers’ project to “use the Native present as a way to resurrect a Native past and to imagine a Native future. To create, in words as it were, a Native universe” (106). How does The Truth About Story contribute to this universe?

King admits that the “private” story he tells in the Afterwords would not make him change his behavior if he were given a second chance. So why does he share that story? According to King, what is the purpose of sharing stories at all?

Dichotomies are everywhere in this text. Which dichotomies does King argue were imposed on Indians, and which does he himself use? Why does he use them if he recognizes that they are problematic?

While King’s text is mostly concerned with whites’ treatment of Native Americans, he brings up issues of class and gender throughout. How does King acknowledge that he, a middle-class male, has privileges that other Natives do not? Why does he bring those issues up?