Abstract This paper examines Louise Erdrich's novel, "Tracks" about the starving Native American Chippewa tribe in North America moving toward extinction due mostly in part because of the Industrial Revolution. The path of Erdrich's novel consists of a series of tracks that connects the present to the past. It analyzes how through colorful characters and conscious detail, Erdrich portrays a realistic account of the struggles of the Chippewa tribe. It looks at how by consciously selecting descriptive details and portraying dynamic characters, Erdrich successfully reveals to the reader a side of Native American culture that is often not taught. and how she demonstrates the importance of culture and family, as well as the art of storytelling.
From the Paper "Tracks, is also a novel of sorcery and love within the traditional realm of the Chippewa people. Throughout the novel, there are several references to love and relationship triangles; Erdrich uses the character of Fleur to help make some of these situations real. Erdrich adheres closely to known Chippewa myth portraying her characters. She calls upon many legends to enhance them including animal folklore, evil forces, love medicine and Christianity, in constructing Fleur. Fleur is the traditional Indian woman in the story. She does not conform to the white ways and, as a result, conflict arises between her and Pauline. Pauline's dislike for Fleur is evident throughout the book. She despises her and attempts to spread unflattering rumors about her. Pauline's description of Fleur includes a wide range of emotions, ranging from hatred to respect to envy. Pauline senses that Fleur's spirit is stronger and more powerful than her own; therefore she never misses an opportunity to do her reputation harm. Pauline cannot help but observe Fleur; she is drawn to her."
Abstract This paper examines how the history of the Native American is fraught with attempts to assimilate and with acts of dispossession and how the indigenous culture is multi-faceted. It looks at how Melissa Meyer, in her book, "The White Earth Tragedy", argues that Minnesota's White Earth Reservation of the Anishinaabe, or Chippewa, could have been an experimental showcase for assimilation, how the Dawes Act went awry, and how the Anishinaabe were dispossessed of their land and its resources.
From the Paper "The Anishinaabe people were originally composed of a number of bands whose migratory habits brought them into contact with one another only on occasion. The introduction of settlers or Euroamericans (mainly French) into the area brought yet another element into their society. By the end of the nineteenth century there existed two major factions among the Chippewa of Minnesota: those of mixed blood and full blood conservatives. The Metis or mixed blood members of the tribe were interested in following the course set down by the government. They advocated assimilation and the inclusion of Western marketing. The conservatives, on the other hand, thought to preserve the integrity of the "old ways" by following the cultural agenda of tradition."
Abstract This paper reviews the novel ?Tracks" by Louise Erdich, which chronicles the lives of Ojibwa people living in North Dakota between the winter of 1912 and the spring of 1924. The challenges of becoming a member of a mixed society are many and within the novel "Tracks" can be seen the assumed realities of the changing world of the Chippewa people. The paper focuses on the lives of the Chippewa people and their interaction with mainstream America at the time.
From the Paper "Rather early in the post-colonial phase, ?Tracks chronicles the lives of Ojibwa people living in North Dakota between the winter of 1912 and the spring of 1924.? (Stookey 1999) Scholarship on the issue of colonial native America has recently headed toward the interdisciplinary approach and has learned to embrace narrative fiction. ?The elements of a sound Native American history would include an interdisciplinary perspective, reconstruction of the American Indian experience, and a more complete description of how Native societies adapted to changing conditions."
From the Paper "Even before the 1600s, before the introduction of the fur trade in North America, the Chippewa and Cree tribes resembled each other culturally, linguistically and geographically, give or take a few hundred miles. They controlled areas in the Great Lakes region up to the southern edge of the Hudson Bay Company hunting, fishing, trading, warring with other Indian tribes and harvesting small crops of maize and wild rice. The European fur trade, made particularly competitive by the establishment of the Hudson Bay Company in 1670, pushed both tribes westward in their quest of furs which the Indians traded for guns, alcohol, and horses around the end of the 18th century. But as the furs depleted in the east and northcentral part of the continent and ?the Great White Father,? and ?her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland,? extended their reach further into North America, the tribes felt even more pressure to migrate West."
An exploration of the trickster figure in Native American culture and its presence in Erdrich's fiction, and a general analysis of the story's two main characters.
1,370 words (approx. 5.5 pages), 4 sources, 2001, $ 45.95
From the Paper "Nanabozho is the trickster hare of Chippewa tribal lore. He represents mischief, both playful and malicious deceit, and all things manipulative. Marie is a trickster. A main player in Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine and the star of one of the book's sections, Marie narrates the details of her adolescence with unflinching wit and attention to every graphic detail. Saint Marie (Chapter two in Love Medicine) tells the story of Marie's experiences as a fourteen year old girl sent to live in a convent, and achieving a much-desired moment of sainthood by the folly of her main rival, the torturous nun Sister Leopolda. The theme of Marie's seemingly indestructible spirit and wit, compounded by the oppressive atmosphere in which she fights for her individuality (nearly to the death) and emerges victorious is at the story's heart. Everything in the text: Marie, Sister Leopolda, the convent, the nature of good and evil, all make their appearances as manipulative and deceiving at one point or another. "
Abstract Louise Erdrich, in her book Love Medicine, and John Neihardt, in his biographical novel Black Elk Speaks, both address the importance of gender in the daily lives of their characters. This paper compares the role of gender identity to each of the main characters in these novels and how the society in which they live influences their outlook.
From the paper:
"Louise Erdrich, like many of the characters in her novels and short stories, is part Native American, part something else ? in her case, her family is a mixture of a German-American father and a Chippewa mother. Erdrich's parents worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as teachers on a nearby North Dakota reservation and she recalls that her father regularly recited memorized poetry ? Frost and Byron ? to her and her six siblings and it is no surprise that Erdrich started her literary career as a poet, supporting herself by working at a Kentucky Fried Chicken and on road construction crews. "
Abstract This paper traces the fascinating history of the third largest Native American tribe in America, the Sioux. It shows the way the Sioux have fared socially, culturally and economically as a tribe living among a white majority in the United States. he paper also examines the book, "Land of the Spotted Eagle", by Luther Standing Bear in which he offers an analysis of his people, the Lakota Sioux, including their relations with the white government. Finally, the paper examines the means in which the Sioux, as well as other Native American tribes, are struggling to maintain their cultural identity in America today.
From the Paper "Various Native American groups have been pressing for greater respect through legal and other efforts to remove Native American symbols and names from schools, sports teams, and even geographical features. The issue was raised recently with reference to the University of North Dakota, whose mascot and team are known as the Fighting Sioux (Brownstein 46). The issue is not always clear-cut. One term that has been given much attention recently is "squaw," a word once used by white settlers to refer to Indian wives and that is found on hundreds of place names in the country, from rivers to valleys to mountain peaks to town names. An example is Squaw Peak, a familiar Phoenix landmark targeted for change by Native American groups. They claim that the word "squaw" is derogatory to tribal members and all other women, pointing out that the word is derived from an Indian word for female genitalia."
Abstract This paper analyzes the four stories assigned for analysis in Gerald Vizenor's anthology "Native American Literature: A Brief Introduction and Anthology". ( "Return to White Earth" by John Rogers, ?A Good Chance,? by Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, "The Little People" by Maria Campbell and ?Someday Soon,? by Paula Gunn Allen). The author discusses their common themes, adaptability and the finding of identity. The writer illustrates how the four stories represent a wide variety of writings about a wide variety of Indian peoples, help the reader understand the history of the Native American experience, and to some degree, today's reality of that changed experience.
From the Paper "The four stories assigned for analysis in Gerald Vizenor's anthology (Native American Literature: A Brief Introduction and Anthology) are each, to begin with, quite different, in terms of the point of view and the tone the authors have set. "Return to White Earth" is a very pure and charming story of the homecoming and coming of age of a Chippewa boy, returning to his native northern Minnesota following a stay at a boarding school in South Dakota. This story, by John Rogers, is as much an education in how Chippewa Indians lived, hunted, worked, interacted, and survived, as it is a story merely about characters and events. Beautifully written, and loaded with similes about the natural world and why Native Americans respect that world, this story is an up-tempo, pleasurable experience to read."
Abstract This paper examines Toni Morrison's novel "Song of Solomon" and Louise Erdrich's novel "Love Medicine" as illustrations of the gynocentric myth of identity and culture. It looks at the main characters and character development.
From the Paper "In both Morrison's Song of Solomon and Erdrich's Love Medicine one of the main purposes of the story seems to be to create for men a whole new way of thinking about their place in the world. What makes that way of thinking especially unusual is that their ..."
Abstract The paper examines Louise Erdrich's short story "The Red Convertible", which was published as part of her book "Love Medicine," as a blend of the autobiographical and the artistically Modernist. The paper discusses how her own life has been marked by the fundamental themes of her background as one of cultural and biological division, with a German-American father and a Chippewa mother who combined their traditions and beliefs in Erdrich's natal household.
From the Paper "Louise Erdrich's short story "The Red Convertible" which was published as part of her book "Love Medicine" is a blend of the authentically autobiographical and the artistically Modernist. Her own life has been marked in many ways by the fundamental themes of Modernism, alienation, disillusionment, fragmentation and uncertainty, for Erdrich's background is one of cultural and biological division with a German-American father and a Chippewa mother who combined their traditions and beliefs in Erdrich's natal household."
