ipl-logo

Louise Erdrich Tracks Sparknotes

2774 Words12 Pages

In the novel Tracks by Louise Erdrich (1968-present), she writes about the many different ways characters may respond to trauma caused by colonialism. The author Louise is a member of the Turtle Mountain band of Ojibwe. Her father is of German-American descent and her mother is of Chippewa descent so she was exposed to both white culture and Native American culture. She has won numerous awards for her various books. In this novel, she writes about the members of the Chippewa Tribe and how they have had to live and adapt to this new environment caused by colonialism. Lousie integrates this idea of colonialism and change by turning it into trauma for many of the characters in the book and each character she writes about has a different response …show more content…

She wrote these different responses and assigned them to characters with different circumstances compared to others. For example, Nanapush was an elder so he displayed resistance because he felt like it was his responsibility as an elder to preserve the culture of his tribe. Pauline wanted to feel powerful and wanted attention so she assimilated into the more dominant and favored culture because she felt like she had a greater chance of being accepted. Fleur responded in violence because of the atrocious acts that happened to her. Louise wants the readers to take away that colonialism is not simply just one nation taking over another nation. 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. Colonization showcases that throughout history people have only cared about themselves and what they want and we should learn from the mistakes that people throughout history have

Show More
Related

Analysis Of King Phillip's War By Virginia Dejohn Anderson

803 Words | 4 Pages

She argues that the settlers imposed unfair laws on the natives regarding what they can and cannot do with their livestock. For example, under the guise of reducing the theft of the colonists’ animals, the courts ruled that all English livestock must have their ears marked. At the same time the courts also forbid the Indians from marking the ears of their animals. This created a compound problem, because when the Indians wanted to sell meat in the coastal towns (particularly Boston), they needed to provide the unmarked ears of the animal before the meat could be legally sold. Yet, if they wanted to purchase an animal from the settlers it would already have marked ears and bring unfair suspicion onto the Indian.

Read More

Identity In The Marrow Thieves By Cherie Dimalina

648 Words | 3 Pages

The objective of Story is to remind indigenous youth to grow by being given specific information in crucial periods in time of North American Indigenous history, and having the duty of passing on those stories to others when they reach adulthood. Cherie Dimaline employs oral history to relate the storyline to real-life events. “ We suffered there. We almost lost our languages. Many lost their innocence, their laughter, their lives.

Read More

Analysis Of Birdie By Tracey Lindberg

1802 Words | 8 Pages

Tracey Lindberg’s novel Birdie is narratively constructed in a contorting and poetic manner yet illustrates the seriousness of violence experience by Indigenous females. The novel is about a young Cree woman Bernice Meetoos (Birdie) recalling her devasting past and visionary journey to places she has lived and the search for home and family. Lindberg captures Bernice’s internal therapeutic journey to recover from childhood traumas of incest, sexual abuse, and social dysfunctions. She also presents Bernice’s self-determination to achieve a standard of good health and well-being. The narrative presents Bernice for the most part lying in bed and reflecting on her dark life in the form of dreams.

Read More

Helen Hunt Jackson Ramona Sparknotes

562 Words | 3 Pages

While reading “Ramona” one of the overarching themes in the novel is the mistreatment of Native Americans. The reason that Helen Hunt Jackson was able to write so much on this subject without having people criticize her for a biased view, is because the story of “Ramona” is based on the treatment of Native Americans. The prejudices that affected them in the 1800’s was horrific. The Native American were moved off their homelands, forced into a situation of being put into camps, and a lack of rights. This lack of rights is where Helen Hunt Jackson attempt to expose this mistreatment and abuse to the light.

Read More

Intergenerational Trauma In Eden Robinson's Queen Of The North

1434 Words | 6 Pages

Monkey Beach is an adaptation of “Queen of the North,” both written by Eden Robinson. The texts both touch on the theme of intergenerational trauma within Indigenous communities. Through the lens of different main characters, however, Monkey Beach approaches the topic differently through its portrayal of the transmission of trauma. In “Queen of the North,” the transmission of intergenerational trauma is most clearly seen through Josh reenacting trauma onto Adelaine. In contrast, as a novel, Monkey Beach offers a more nuanced depiction of the methods of intergenerational trauma transmission, such as the loss of Lisamarie's cultural identity.

Read More

Summary Of Tracks By Louise Erdrich

768 Words | 4 Pages

Two topics in this story are very apparent. The more critical topic—as in Erdrich's more drawn out fiction—concerns the courses in which Native Americans must battle to survive and keep up their own particular societies. Erdrich is a writer of associations pounding, survival, and understandings for both characters of the Fleur and Pauline. The second

Read More

Symbolism In The Red Convertible By Louise Erdrich

1024 Words | 5 Pages

Louise Erdrich, author of “The Red Convertible,” is the daughter of a German-American father and a Chippewa Indian mother. They were both employed at the Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school and from an early age, Louise was encouraged by her father to write stories. She says that “my father used to give me a nickel for every story I wrote” (Madden 241). After years of writing, Louise received the National Book Award for Fiction in 2012 for her novel “The Round House.” “The Red Convertible” follows the brotherhood of Lyman Lamartine and Henry Junior and illustrates the symbolization of the red convertible.

Read More

Cultural Identity In Erdrich's Tracks

106 Words | 1 Pages

Erdrich’s Tracks is a novel of reconstructing the native’s losing cultural identity. Catherine Rainwater remarks that “Erdrich seems deliberately to cultivate a general readership by crafting multiple points of entry into her texts, then proceeding to educate the audience more specifically in particulars of American Indian history, culture, cosmology, and epistemology” (2005: 273). It is a literature of survival and resistance in the face of cultural hegemony and all crises of the Native Americans. The struggle to preserve the Chippewa culture from being assimilated to the mainstream American culture is clearly presented through the characters Nanapush and Fleur. Erdrich depicts how many ways the native revive

Read More

Compare And Contrast English And Spanish Colonization

1265 Words | 6 Pages

As many people know, the world we live in is huge. Many have tried and succeeded to colonize some parts of the world. Two of the biggest colorizations that happen in past are between the English and Spanish. At the same time, both would be fighting and taking over the Native Americans and disrespected them. From both colonization, many settlers have died from starving, the harsh weather, and from fighting each other.

Read More

Exile In Brave New World

620 Words | 3 Pages

While in exile Linda’s experience is alienating, but also enriching and helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole. The inhabitants of the savage reservation were thought to be uncivilized. They had marriage, religion, and natural births, all of which were a thing of the past in “civilized” culture. Linda was forced

Read More

Louise Erdrich Round House Analysis

1124 Words | 5 Pages

You see the ripple effect of the family falling apart without Geraldine Coutts, Joe cannot stand to see his once beautiful strong mother drift away from reality after the attack. Louise Erdrich shed light to a grim reality for Native Woman. If reading off the statics does not enrage you then reading the “Round House” will. Here are some of the statistics concerning Native Woman to the US Department of Justice: American Indian women residing on Indian reservations

Read More

Mary Rowlandson Sovereignty And Goodness Of God Analysis

1879 Words | 8 Pages

The captivity and savage behavior forced upon her makes her gradually alter her Puritan view of the world, ultimately dissolving the barrier between the two clashing ideologies. As Rowlandson forges a strong connection with the natural world of the Native Americans, she suggests that, at a fundamental level, both cultures and ideologies share many

Read More

Impact Of Hawaiian Imperialism

1733 Words | 7 Pages

For instance, in Frantz Fanon’s book, The Wretched Earth (pg.747), he states that colonizers will always be frowned upon and “laughed at” for the programs they enforce onto the natives because it always ends with someone getting the short end of the stick, which in this case were the natives. The lack of courtesy and consideration for the native’s culture, history, and way of life is the main reason why conflicts arise between the natives and colonizers. It is this selfishness that continues the endless cycle of violence and hatred. Especially, in this case, the Native Hawaiian people have every right to be furious at the U.S., they were stripped of their culture and soon later their sovereignty the main reason being that their land would be useful in fighting against the Spanish-American War, and all the U.S. had to offer was a written apology basically saying sorry for taking your land 100 years after the annexation took place (Cole and Symons, 2017). This kind of treatment and lack of common decency is why imperialism is a frowned upon in many colonized cultures because of the injustice it brings along with

Read More

Louise Erdrich's Tracks Analysis

576 Words | 3 Pages

Louise Erdrich’s novel Tracks, serves as a tool to awaken the past of the people that have been forgotten, and their culture that is no longer thought about or misconstrued. This novel offers insight and powerful knowledge into the rich lives of Native Americans. Erdrich uses specific characters in her novel to show the culture and religion of one specific group of Native Americans. Tracks connects the reader to the lives and struggles of Ojibwa people by telling the story of three main characters, Nanapush, Fleur, and Pauline, as they fight against modern colonialism. Nanapush and Fleur demonstrate their adherence to traditional Ojibwa religion and culture by doing traditional forms of medicine and connecting as one with the land, while Pauline demonstrates her rejection to Ojibwa religion and culture by denying her Native American religion and

Read More

In Search Of April Raintree Analysis

1394 Words | 6 Pages

For Cheryl, she embraces her Metis culture and heritage. “‘I wish we were whole Indians’” (40). Throughout her time at school, Cheryl reads history books about Metis people and historical figures such as Louis Riel. She would also passionately write on what she thinks about the Metis people. At university, she writes a piece which points about the crucial effects white people have brought along in North America.

Read More

More about Louise Erdrich Tracks Sparknotes

Related Topics

Open Document