Green Grass, Running Water

Cycles and repetition appear frequently in the novel to show that identity, the world, and storytelling are all in a constant process of creation and recreation. The cyclical structure is most evident in the creation stories plotline, with each one following the same structure and plot beats; however, even the realist plotline defies linearity by interspersing flashbacks that inform and recontextualize what is happening in the present. Thus, the motif of cycles and repetition works to frame the stories in such a way that there is no clear beginning, middle, or end. It is a mode of storytelling that sees stories as living, changing objects, rather than closed, finished products.

This reflects one of the main contrasts between oral and written storytelling: Once a story is written, it remains the same forever, which creates a paradigm in which a single narrative becomes the dominant one that everyone must know and accept. Oral stories are not indelible or authoritative in this way; instead, they are reinterpreted and retold, making the listener as important as the storyteller, as they could become the teller in the future.