Louise Erdrich

Water Imagery and Symbolism in Love Medicine Louise Erdrich’s novel Love Medicine conveys the state of Native American life in today’s society. Her symbolism stands out to me above all else in the book. While Erdrich uses many symbols and motifs, the most poignant is her water and river imagery and the symbolism behind it. She uses water to symbolize many concepts in the novel, most prominently time and religion. The passage of time being likened to the movement of a river is not an…

In Louise Erdrich’s enthralling novel Tracks, Pauline Puyat is a young woman of Chippewa and Canadian descent. Throughout the course of the story, it is abundantly clear that Pauline wishes nothing more than to shed her Native American culture. Instead of embracing her Chippewa roots, she wants be like her mother, “who showed her half-white”, and her grandfather, who was “pure Canadian” (Erdrich 14). While it is easy for the reader to assume that Pauline is willingly rejecting her Chippewa…

Louise Erdrich’s widely acclaimed novel Love Medicine follows three generations of four Chippewa families through contemporary life on the reservation. Over a span of fifty years, issues from racism and identity to retaining community and life after colonization are explored. Erdrich beautifully contrasts the grim realities of life on the reservation with a poignant humour that counters the somber tone of the novel. Humour throughout the novel humanizes the characters while also bringing them…

Historically, the Chippewa Indians placed their male and female members in rigid, gender-specific roles; the men were warriors and protectors, leaving their families to hunt and go to war, while the women tended to hearth and home, raising the children, caring for the home, and planting and harvesting the food they were also responsible for preparing. As this was once also the typical attitude towards gender roles in European-American families, it would seem that the two worlds would naturally…

The short story “A Rose For Emily” was written by William Faulkner in 1930. Fifty-three years later, the story was adaptation was adapted for the big screen based on Faulkner’s short story. The short story and the film have many similarities and differences; they compare in areas of plot and symbolism, but differ in chronological order and mood. These similarities and differences give “A Rose For Emily” the ability to be distributed in two completely different mediums, while sticking to the same…

The short story “A Rose For Emily” was written by William Faulkner in 1930. Fifty-three years later, a movie adaptation was created based on Faulkner’s short story. The short story and the film both tell the story of Emily Grierson, but they are limited to what their mediums allow. This limitation inhibits the movie and the short story to be completely the same. The symbolism within “A Rose for Emily” and the plot remain alike; whereas, the chronological order and the mood are dissimilar between…

on the perception of the reader standpoint and viewpoint. In the short story Matchimantio, Louise Erdrich explores the interpretation of how life may have not always begin when we were first born. Louise begs to differ that it may have started after death. In short story of Matchimanito shed light on the first sentence, “We started dying before the snow, and like the snow, we continued to fall.” (Erdrich 507) This is pretty much elaborating how the story is going backwards, when the passage…

DREAMS VS REALITY "The yellow woman ." A short story written by Leslie Marmon Silko about a woman who meets a man while she was traveling along the river whom she believed was the "katsnia spirit" . The woman was told stories by her grandfather about a "yellow woman" who was taken by a spirit in the night , she lived with him until she was able to leave and return to her village . The young woman in the story is referred to by the man whom she believes to be is a spirit as "yellow…

This essay will look primarily at William Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily’ and through that, argue how the atmosphere of the environment Faulkner was raised in, has directly influenced his work, not only through its central plot themes of death and decay but also through the setting and environment of the story. The environment he was raised in, glorified the past and alienated people from the present. Faulkner however rejected those views and through his short story “A Rose for Emily” attacked…

given year (PTSD: National Center for PTSD). Not only does the individual have to live with it, but so do those who love them. In the short story “The Red Convertible” written by Louise Erdrich, two brothers are living through the time of the Vietnam War, and their struggle with PTSD. The emotional rollercoaster Erdrich takes us on, through the time before Henry leaves, to the time he comes back, and finally to his giving up are all here for us feel. At the beginning of the story we find…