Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine Analysis

Love Medicine The book, Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich is instilled with captivating and intense drama that makes the story come alive. From passages of a Chippewa woman’s mysterious death to several family predicaments, this novel allows readers to quickly become charmed in which a deceased person has the ability to tie a story together. Erdrich keeps readers engaged with religious themes and imagery while developing strong yet concealed fragments of symbolism throughout the story. June Kashpaw, a middle-aged Chippewa woman is situated in Williston, North Dakota.

One thing Perdue could have done to have taken this book to the next level, is include more insight from specific Cherokee women. With their insights, it would have given more of a direct insight as to actual stories making the book more interesting. If she had included more examples of Cherokee women today and how they demonstrated strength this book could have been better. Also, Perdue’s analysis reveals the burden of her politics. It is evident that at times she uses communitarian and the female centric nature of Cherokee society to criticize modern American gender relations and society.

Many Native Americans live on reservations that were established in 1851 under President Andrew Jackson. Life on a reservation is not glamorous. A majority of the stories are filled with alcohol, suffering, death, and sadness. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie details some of the experiences that that Native American culture faces. Arnold reflects on the treatment of Native Americans when he states “We Indians have lost everything… We only know how to lose and be lost”(Alexie 173).

Although Native Americans are characterized as both civilized and uncivilized in module one readings, their lifestyles and culture are observed to be civilized more often than not. The separate and distinct duties of men and women (Sigard, 1632) reveal a society that has defined roles and expectations based on gender. There are customs related to courtship (Le Clercq, 1691) that are similar to European cultures. Marriage was a recognized union amongst Native Americans, although not necessarily viewed as a serious, lifelong commitment like the Europeans (Heckewelder, 1819). Related to gender roles in Native American culture, Sigard writes of the Huron people that “Just as the men have their special occupation and understand wherein a man’s duty consists, so also the women and girls keep their place and perform quietly their little tasks and functions of service”.

Throughout history, there have been many literary studies that focused on the culture and traditions of Native Americans. Native writers have worked painstakingly on tribal histories, and their works have made us realize that we have not learned the full story of the Native American tribes. Deborah Miranda has written a collective tribal memoir, “Bad Indians”, drawing on ancestral memory that revealed aspects of an indigenous worldview and contributed to update our understanding of the mission system, settler colonialism and histories of American Indians about how they underwent cruel violence and exploitation. Her memoir successfully addressed past grievances of colonialism and also recognized and honored indigenous knowledge and identity.

How is your feeling when you are falling in love? Most of the people say “it is awesome” because they “fall in love with the most unexpected person at the most unexpected time.” How do show your love? Every person has his or her own ways to show his or her love; therefore, Erdrich’s character – Grandma Kashpaw in Love Medicine also has her own ways.

In "Love Medicine" by Lousie Erdrich, the main character Lipsha Morrissey tells a few different stories, also is

Native American culture and history has been used for the enjoyment of audiences over many years in film, literature, television, and other forms of media. Not surprisingly, directors and writers hardly ever portray Native Americans accurately. In the play, “Foghorn” by Hanay Geiogamah, and in Mary Tallmoutain’s poem The Last Wolf, reader scan trace their influence into modern day media, even though almost none of it is accurate.

In Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich, the narrative ends with Lipsha’s perspective as he is told the identity of his parents, June Morrissey and Gerry Nanapush, and reacts to these new revelations. This ending is important in light of the entire novel because it emphasizes the importance of families and claiming their ancestry. This is specifically seen in Lipsha’s confusion and desire to trace his ancestry after being told about his parents and his act of driving June’s car back onto the reservation, in effect, “bring[ing] her home” (367).

It was a time when people’s lives were at risk because families were scared they could not hunt ducks for food, a time when the Iñupiaq people came together as one to fight the law, and a time when taking pride in your culture could overpower the United States government. If it was not for the leadership skills the community and individuals portrayed, the Iñupiaq people’s way of life would be completely different due to the fact that the language, subsistence, and the way of living would diminish away or we would have to live accordingly to the urban way of

Once European men stepped foot onto what is now known as North America, the lives of the Native Americans were forever changed. The Indians suffered centuries of torment and ridicule from the settlers in America. Despite the reservations made for the Natives, there are still cultural issues occurring within America. In Sherman Alexie’s, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, the tragic lives of Native Americans in modern society are depicted in a collection of short stories taking place in the Spokane Reservation in Washington state. Throughout the collection, a prominent and reoccurring melancholic theme of racism against Native Americans and their struggle to cope with such behavior from their counterpart in this modern day and age is shown.

In the discussion of Native America, the representation of identity plays a large role in defining meaning to either a particular work or group. In the same way that we may look at ancient Roman architecture and attempt to construct an identity for a civilization and the individuals that made up that particular society. We use artifacts and art to help us define how groups of ancient civilizations looked and acted. The voices of these lost generations become lost or muted, as we as the viewers and interpreters are giving these objects meanings.

This book did a great job in doing what it intended to do. Its goal, I believe, was to shed light on the atrocities and injustices done upon the Native American people, spreading across various tribes. Using multiple primary sources, the author is able to bring accounts of witnesses and quotes forward to prove the points that he wishes to. The objective that the author has made is made clear in the introduction of the book.

The Native American authors are indeed writing to Euro-ethnic American audiences in the hope to allowing them to understand their identity, sovereignty, and traditions. In their goal to become separate, they have indeed become equals. Their writing styles have taken on Western form and style, the literary pieces are created in a multitude of lenses to appeal to the populace, and in the end, Native Americans, are still

A narrative or story is any report of connected events, real or imaginary, presented in a sequence of written or spoken words, or still or moving images, or both.