Louise Erdrich's Poem "Windigo"

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes Louise Erdrich's poem "Windigo". The paper considers the traditional legend of the Windigo and Erdrich's sensualization of the topic of monsters.

From the Paper:

"The windigo is a Native American nightmare, invented by the Cree and Ojibwa peoples of Northern America (Great Lakes Regions) and Canada. The area in which these peoples lived is subarctic, five million square miles of forest and tundra inhabited by fewer than 60,000 people. It is a lonely region with long, dark, cold winters. In times past, the tribes Native to this region spent their winters secluded in their homes, carefully dividing up food supplies, and, in traditional Native American style, telling tales to pass the time. A popular and terrifying one of these stories featured the windigo, a creature that lives alone in the forest. Described as being from ten to thirty feet tall, it has a frozen, grotesque mouth with jagged, icy teeth. Its footprints in the snow are bloody, and its rasping breath can be heard for miles. Its modus operendi? It eats people, but that is not even the worst of it."

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