Love Medicine Sparknotes

Charles Kirsch 1/20/23 Ms. Rodriguez English 10-4 A Woman’s Right to Choose: The Effects of Systemic Prejudice in There, There There, There by Tommy Orange tells the interconnected stories of several Native American people who live (or end up living) in Oakland, California. Jacquie Red Feather, part of a family line that ends up tying together many of the characters, is a very recently recovering alcoholic who works as a substance abuse counselor. She has suffered many traumas ranging from rape to the suicide of her daughter, and, in the first chapter narrated by her in the book, is finding her path to sobriety and responsibility. Growing up as a Native American girl made Jacquie especially vulnerable to societal and interpersonal oppression,

I believe Erdrich book moves away from stereotypes and describes nineteenth-century Native Americans as individuals with rich traditions and customs. Erdrich is able to describe the Native American culture during the Westward Expansion of the United States in a realistic and sympathetic way through the eyes of an Ojibwa Indian girl. She also personalizes this story with her own drawings as a testimony of her Native American family roots.

The award winning novel Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich contains various viewpoints from Native Americans of the Chippewa tribe. Many of the stories in this book contain some sort of heartache or struggle due to an affair or some external source, but interestingly there is one relationship that is not strained in that way. Instead, it is the conflicting ideas of a mother-daughter relationship. Even though Zelda Kashpaw and her daughter Albertine Johnson at first seem to be a living dichotomy, they realize the need for each other. Zelda Kashpaw is a Chippewa and aligns herself to the traditions of her family and tribe, except for one major decision.

The primal instinct of human beings is still felt unconsciously in modern day. The inner workings of modern society’s human psyche and the tribal mentality of the early colonial Native Americans, clash and create conflict. The tribal mentality that Sebastian Junger describes in his novel Tribe seems to be inescapable once experienced. Junger explores the mindset of the Native American and portrays it as irresistible.

The arrival of European explorers and colonizers had a profound impact on the indigenous peoples of North America east of the Mississippi. The dramatic social changes that Native Americans faced after European contact created a world that was entirely new to them. Colin Calloway's book, "The World Turned Upside Down," provides insight into the complex processes of cultural, social, economic, and political change that Native Americans experienced during this period. In this essay, I will examine the ways in which Native Americans participated and coped with these developments, the various roles they played in this process, and how they attempted to preserve their culture.

The build up of these colonial stances and its subsequent mistreatments led to increased political, economic, and social challenges towards Indigenous communities, such as poverty and loss of land, that overall puts the Native Americans in a bad spot with less to no advantages at rebuilding these descriptions from European-centered writers. Unlike his derogatory language, James criticized “friend of the Indian” philanthropy for efforts attempting to “civilize” Native Americans and suggested listening and learning from the Indigenous communities instead. In the same line, Vizenor speaks on how the Federal Indian Policy should be created upon a foundation of respect to Native Americans’ histories and cultures molded by the insider experiences, eventually helping to provide an alternative approach that honors the Native American identity, unlike archival writings such as Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner (Vizenor,

Louise Erdrich's contemporary short story cycle, Tracks, illustrates the ways of the Native American Anishinaabe (Chippewa) in the 1900s through two first-person narrators. Arguably two of the three main characters, Nanapush and Pauline Puyat, share information about the characters, traditions, beliefs and changes in culture from their own intrapersonal explanations. Erdrich chooses to write her story from the perspective of not only two different genders, but also two completely opposite states of mind. Although both Nanapush and Pauline tell two necessary sides of the same connected story and their emotions impact the way they disclose the tale of the North Dakota Chippewa, Pauline's inability to separate her emotions from truth creates a

(Baigell, 3) The clashes between Natives and settlers and enormous consequences, including bloodshed, the forced removal of Natives from their lands, and the establishment of settler dominance. (John P, 6) This exploring of history in a made-up story gave good understanding of how things that happened and the relationships between the groups changed what each group thought over many years. By following the stories of specific people across many generations, readers could really understand in a deep and human way the difficult, long-going conflict that lasted for centuries.

In the novel “The Round House '' Erdrich displays a narrative that denounces how Native communities face many hardships due to lack of outside support. Erdrich expresses these ideas through innumerable characters throughout the novel. The acts of the novel are sparked by the horrific rape of Geraldine, a Chippewa woman. This event heavily implicates others around Geraldine including her family.

”1 This quote brings us up to date on the unruly horrors many indigenous women faced when their lands were invaded, or they were forced into foreign territory. Not having a choice in the matter, they succumbed to the men who stole them, and their foreign culture, religion, and one

She wanted the readers to be aware of how and why colonialism causes trauma. She wanted to showcase the devastating effects of colonialism from the side of the Native Americans as that is where the effects can be shown the most prominently. Louise is expressing to us readers how colonialism can cause severe trauma to people and that people can respond to that trauma in many different ways. A major point that Louise wants us to understand is that not only is colonialism this group versus this group, but we can also see members of a group turn against each other like we saw Pauline did. Colonialism can make both the lives of a demographic worse by the discrimination but it can also turn friends into enemies very easily depending on how they cope with the inflicted wounds upon their people.

I was impressed by the way the author addressed cultural erasure and the long-lasting effects of colonization while shedding light on the difficulties faced by Indigenous communities. I had a better understanding of their perspectives and

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.

She shows how the legacy of colonization, forced assimilation, and the destruction of Native American cultures has left deep scars that continue to impact the lives of Native Americans today. This trauma has made Native American women particularly vulnerable to sexual violence, as they often face multiple layers of discrimination and marginalization such as: Tto seek police assistance for an Indian woman was almost sure to put her in the wrong. No matter what happened, she would be the one blamed and punished. Erdrich shows how the loss of traditional cultural practices, language, and land has eroded the social and economic structures that once protected Indigenous women and created a climate of vulnerability. "Violence is so much a part of life that it is barely noticed.

In her essay, “Where I Came from is Like This,” the author Paula Gunn Allen effectively utilizes ethos, logos, and pathos to convince her audience, women studies and ethnic scholars, of her claim that the struggles of American Indian women have had with their identities. Gunn Allen uses all three modes of persuasion to describe the struggles of American Indian women. She uses ethos to strengthen her credibility, logos to logically explain the issue, and pathos to emotionally explain the struggles of American Indian women have had with their identities. With ethos she tells us where she is from and how she got her information, which makes her more trustworthy and believable.