For a novel rife with references often complicated for non-native readers to understand, the narrative discord created within Tracks between Pauline and Nanapush only complicates the reading further. The variations in distance between the...

The issue of male dominance has long been one of the most prevalent issues in history, male elitism dating all the way back to the beginnings of humanity. Similar to most communities, Native American tribes are no exception to the blatant misogyny...

Written in 1812, the last line of each verse of the Star Spangled Banner, which later became the National Anthem for the United States of America in 1931, reads “O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!” (Francis Scott Key) It could be...

In Keystones of Thought, Austin O’Malley said “We use religion as a trolley car - we ride it only while it is going our way.” In Louise Erdrich’s novel Tracks, similarly to how O’Malley stated, Erdrich creates characters who use religion...

“‘Nothing?’ said Mama piercingly, ‘Nothing to come home to?’ She gave me a short glance full of meaning. I had, after all, come home, even husbandless, childless, driving a fall-apart car” (Erdrich, 13).

This moment from Louis Erdrich’s Love...

In the novels Their Eyes Were Watching God and Love Medicine, Hurston and Erdrich (respectively) use the characterization of the women to promote women’s empowerment and self-fulfillment. Lulu can be seen within Erdrich’s work as the...

Often in literature, central themes are based around two or more opposing forces. Whether it be religion, socioeconomic class, or race, conflicts allow the author to challenge the audience's beliefs and societal expectations of the past and...

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...

Lulu Nanapush Lamartine is a symbolic and admirable Chippewa Woman in Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine. As a Native Woman character, Lulu reclaims and redefines space that is usually taken up by unjust stereotypes by using her shameless beauty and...

Double consciousness is a term that was coined by W.E.B. Du Bois in The Souls of Black Folk. According to Du Bois, double consciousness is a “sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of...

Louise Erdrich’s novels Love Medicine and Plague of Doves are filled with a multitude of characters. These characters are different from one another with their own struggles and problems but are connected, not just by blood but by their shared...

The novel suggests that Marie Lazarre was born in the 1920s; she is born a mixed blood, as her father is white. She is raised by Sophie and Izear Lazarre who are her supposed family, her mother Sophie is said to be an old drunk. She is a child of...

In the book "Love Medicine," Louise Erdrich transcribes about the lives of Native American families and relationships during the period between 1934 and 1983. The story is set on an unnamed Native American reservation of the Chippewa tribe in...

In Louise Erdich’s Love Medicine, we are introduced to the protagonist, Lipsha, who has great love and respect for his grandparents who raised him. Interwoven throughout the story, we witness the complicated history and dynamic of his grandparents...

Louise Erdrich is a prominent and celebrated Native American writer. Her novel ‘The Round House’, covers many themes and issues pertinent to the Native American community. The novel is told in the first-person point of view of the protagonist Joe...

In November, 2018, United States Border Patrol agents tear gassed and attacked members of a migrant caravan from Honduras at the US border. After marching for weeks to escape political unrest and seek asylum, the migrants were met with the same...

What do an eight-year-old girl in boarding school and a grown veteran from the Vietnam War have in common? They are both featured characters in literature about Native Americans who left their way of life and faced crises in their new worlds. Two...