Summary Of Love Medicine By Louise Erdrich

In Love Medicine Louise Erdrich shows the efforts of assimilation. Many characters tried assimilation, with varying degrees of success and failure. Assimilation could be considered another form of “nature vs. nurture.” In theory, assimilation sounds like a good idea, of lets all fit in together, but it has the condion of as long as you fit in with us. However, when forced, the results of assimilation are not optimal. Erdrich shows us that assimilation forced the parent’s choice and there was compliance but no character in Love Medicine truly assimiliated.

According to Michael Friscolanti, assimilation is, “If the Department of Indian Affairs came calling, parents had little choice but to surrender their children to residential schools.

Lulu liked to live her life as she wanted, it was not the punishment that was a problem for Lulu it was the lack of personal freedom, or the ability to be herself. Erdrich shows that the school's attempts at disciplining Lulu were not sufficient, as she was constantly in the orange shame dress. Corporal punishment was not enough to force the assimilation of Lulu. Corporal punishment according to Stout is;

Corporal punishment was one commonly accepted method of discipline in American Child-rearing practice, which was transplanted into the governments Indian boarding schools. The educators did not know, and many did not care, that corporal punishment was never used to discipline Native American children in their various native cultures (93)

Native Americans were thought to be savages, and corporal punishment was believed to be a way to get the savage out of them. As in the case of Lulu's repeated incidences of running away, it could be thought of in two ways. She was either running away from the corporal punishment or, the corporal punishment had no effect on her. To point this out Chavkin says in his analysis of Erdrich, “Lulu’s repudiation of her government school values and her embracing the Pillager spirit also results in her rejection of a white goal oriented lifestyle” (Chavkin 98). Lulu shows that you can not force an idea on

There is the underlying current that those years in boarding school may have contributed to his dementia when he got older. This shows that the childhood was forced out of him, and he stole it back as he aged. Eli, on the other hand, who was not sent to boarding school was taught by the “nature” route. Eli became one of the best hunters and fishermen, although he lacked the social skills to leave the reservation, and lived more like a recluse. Lulu fought assimilation the entire way; she was constantly in trouble at boarding school. The boarding school was unable to beat the savage out of her. There may have been good intentions with the idea of assimilation. When one is forced into something, it does not work. Assimilation required that they leave their heritage, and adapt. Adaptation in such an environment leaves out the facts of biology and nature. Again Erdrich shows the theory of assimilation in Love Medicine was to chose red, act white, and it offered no shades of pink. If the shades of pink were offered, then assimilation could have been successful. The attempts at assimilation in Love Medicine, even those that responded well such as Nector, no one truly assimilated or left the