Louise Erdrich's Tracks Analysis

A common purpose for all of Louise Erdrich’s novels is to evaluate the roles that religious and cultural beliefs play in influencing Native American heritage. Her novel Tracks, displays the conflict that arises between the Catholic and Ojibwa religions as the Ojibwa people respond to the forced assimilation and religious conversion brought about by the white expansion. In this novel we see three characters and how they respond to the attack on their culture and religion. While Nanapush and Fleur demonstrate their adherence and racial pride to the traditional Ojibwa religion and culture by resisting assimilation into white culture, Pauline abandons the Ojibwa ways and tries to integrate herself into the Catholic religion, displaying her internalized racism while doing so. Family is normally the foundational unit, grounding nearly all cultures and religions. After both of their families are killed by the influenza epidemic, Fleur and Nanapush act like a family. It is through one another’s support that they are able to adhere to the Ojibwa customs, embracing the traditional customs. After saving Fleur, Nanapush carries on the Ojibwa tradition by ensuring that her relatives have a proper burial by making the bear and marten clan markers. Additionally, …show more content…
Pauline, who longs to be white, displaces this want onto her fascination and disgust with Fleur who she thinks of as an untamed, perilous woman. She believes that Fleur’s mystic powers represent temptations from the devil, pitting her against Christ and leading Pauline to think that she must destroy the Ojibwa culture. She is continually trying to show Fleur in bad situations such as her mystical powers in the poker game leading to her gang rape and the miscarriage of her second baby, in hope of destroying Fleur’s power, making it so that she can complete her mission in converting the Chippewa to