Analysis Of Agnes In The Last Report On The Miracles At Little No Horse

In the novel The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse, author Louise Erdrich presents the experiences of Agnes as she assumes different identities throughout the course of her life. Often, these identities leave her struggling to exist in a borderland created by the socially constructed expectations of her multiple identities. Although she begins her life as Agnes DeWitt, she soon transforms to Sister Cecilia, then reverts back to Agnes, and finally adopts the identity of Father Damien. Depending upon the identity she assumes, it is either Agnes’ religious affiliations or gender which forces her into a borderland state of existence. In attempting to navigate her place in the borderlands, Agnes essentially defies traditional gender

In this position, Agnes must follow her duties to God as a nun while also behaving as a proper young lady under the authority of the Mother Superior. These two roles, however, confine Agnes to a strict borderland in which she attempts to push the boundaries through two mediums: music and sex. Cecilia’s passion with which she plays the piano is threatening to the Mother Superior, who believes that “ it was the very devil who had managed to find a way to Cecilia’s soul through the flashing doors of the sixteenth notes” (Erdrich 16). Agnes defies God through her piano playing, performing what appears to be the work of the devil. Her music is so powerful that it even causes the Mother Superior to grow “in her heart, a weed of rage all day against the God who took a mother from a seven-year-old child” (Erdrich 15). Agnes’ piano playing undermines her responsibility as a nun to uphold God’s authority, instead making even the strongest believer question her faith. Cecilia further undermines her devotion to God through her perverse idolatry of Chopin. In a conversation with the Mother Superior before leaving the convent, Cecilia says that “‘He wouldn’t want me to go out unprotected.’” Although the Mother Superior believes the ‘he’ to be God, Cecilia clarifies that she means “Chopin” (Erdrich 17). As a follower of God, Cecilia’s worship of Chopin is significantly

Agnes’ relationship with Berndt shows, however, that Agnes often defies the standards set forth for her as a woman. When Berndt notices that Agnes has stopped binding her breasts, he hopes that she will resume doing it occasionally, “just for him,” but realizes that “it was a wan hope. She looked so comfortable, so free” (Erdrich 19). Even though Berndt still has a tendency to view Agnes as an object of sexual desire, he also recognizes her agency and refusal to comply with standards set for her by others. Even bartering with Agnes for her hand in marriage in exchange for the piano she asks him to buy fails, as the “worry that she might leave him that finally caused him to agree” (Erdrich 20). Agnes’ refusal to get married not only challenges the societal expectation that women define themselves through marriage, but also shows that she has the power in her relationship with Berndt to get what she wants without having to concede any of her freedoms. Although it seems like Agnes DeWitt is the truest, most liberating identity that Agnes adopts, she realizes later in her life that “both Sister Cecilia and then Agnes were as heavily manufactured of gesture and pose as was Father Damien” and questions “Within this, what sifting of identity was she?” (Erdrich 76). After Berndt’s death, it