Theme Of Love Medicine By Louise Erdrich

Love Medicine: Native American Culture through the Generations Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich is a novel depicting Native American culture over a span of fifty years. This novel does a phenomenal job of showing the transformation of Native American culture over the years 1934-1984. The book has many themes that are very relevant to Native American heritage, assimilation, and survival.
One of the major themes of the novel, of course, is Native American heritage.Throughout the novel; Erdrich disproves the idea that Native Americans have to assimilate to be part of American life. She creates characters that live by their traditional values each day. Lulu does not conform to the stereotype of Native Americans rediscovering their culture through

Lulu and Nector both were sent to government boarding schools outside the reservation, but both return to the reservation rather than conforming to the western lifestyle that has been forced upon them, often through harsh means. Their education did not teach them to assimilate, but it gave them the desire to raise large families that would carry on the traditions of Native Americans.
Marie changes tremendously throughout the novel. She looks white and aspires to live a life with the nuns in order to reject her Native American heritage. By the end of the novel, she has completely accepted the Chippewa way of life, so much that she is considered one of the “traditionals.” She often speaks the language, and is motivated by how the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) and Catholicism have failed her children. She embraces her heritage to create a better future for her children.
Lyman seems to have fully assimilated to western culture. He works for the BIA and owns a factory that makes Chippewa trinkets. When his factory fails, he opens a casino, which will enable him to use the laws of the federal government to their