Symbolism In Saint Marie, Marie Lazarre?

Baited and Lured Aristophanes said, “Hunger knows no friend but its feeder” (BrainyQuote). In “Saint Marie (1934): Marie Lazarre,” from the novel Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich, begins with Marie Lazarre following the Nuns up the hill to the Sacred Heart Convent where she will become a protégé, not for the intentions of salvation, but to prevent Sister Leopolda from getting into heaven. In this story brimmed with layers of irony, Erdrich uses fishing and baiting imagery to demonstrate the ambition and hunger within Marie in her goal to rise above Sister Leopolda. Erdrich provides instances in which fishing and/or baiting is used to relate to the theme of religion, Marie’s ambitions, and the relationship between Marie and the Nuns, especially concerning Sister Leopolda. Religion is crucial to keep in mind when approaching this story. It is deeply rooted into the framework and, though not out of the intentions to be saved, but to have Sister Leopolda kneeling before her, is the primary focus of Marie’s time spent with the Sacred Heart Convent. The beginning line “when I went there, I …show more content…
That’s the intended purpose, but is also used by Sister Leopolda “for catching Satan by surprise” (825). This “hook-pole” indirectly is a piece of fishing imagery. A lure, artificial bait, has one or many hooks attached to it. The oak pole is the main flashy part of the lure while the iron hook is a representation of the hooks that can be found on a lure. Sister Leopolda used this hook-pole as punishment towards students whom she believed the Dark One had taken residence in and had gained access to their mind. Marie says, “That pole would brain you from behind. And he would gasp, dazzled, and take the first thing she offered, which was pain.” In reality, what Sister Leopolda is claiming as the Dark One is really just misbehaving or bored, tired, in Marie’s case, ambitious