In the short story The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich the author uses symbolism to reflect the relationship between the two brothers and the conflict of the story. In the story the red convertible is a symbol for the bond between Lyman and Henry how close this they were. In the story Henry and Lyman use their hard earn money to pay for the red convertible they do everything together and the car is always there. This show how they were willing to share the responsibility of the car together. When they decided to take this long unplanned trip together it’s show how much of a strong bond these two brothers have.
In her novel Tracks, Louise Erdrich shows the lives of a small group of Anishinaabe people. Two different narrator’s Pauline and Nanapush, the tribe elder, tell the story of the woman Fleur Pillager. They tell this collection of short stories through the years about Fleur to her daughter Lulu. Fleur Pillager is a very curious and mysterious character. She was found nearing death in the beginning of the book by Nanapush in a house where her family members were already dead.
The Strength of One’s Love for Their Family Legend, by Marie Lu is about two teenagers, June and Day. Both of their motives to fight harder, love longer, and remember more deeply, are driven from the paramount love they have for their families. June is determined to seek justice for her murdered brother, Metias, and Day is focused on giving his family a better life than his own. The major themes and personalities of the book are best portrayed in chapter 4 In this chapter, June’s relentless desire to get revenge for her brother’s murder is introduced through Metias’ death.
In schools across the world, children learn that, despite rampant injustice committed by a few, there is still good in the honorable majority of mankind and the promise of righteousness under the law. These children mature idolizing both superheroes in society and those existing on the big screen, teaching that right will trump wrong and that good will prevail over evil. Unfortunately, however, this is not an all-encompassing theme outside of the fictional realm. In Louise Erdrich’s The Round House, Geraldine Coutts, a rape victim on a Native American reservation, finds only injustice in the very judicial system that sought to protect her.
In 1973, Clifford Geertz- an American anthropologist- authored The Interpretation of Cultures, in which he defines culture as a context that behaviors and processes can be described from. His work, particularly this one, has come to be fundamental in the anthropological field, especially for symbolic anthropology-study of the role of symbols in a society- and an understanding of “thick description”-human behavior described such that it has meaning to an outsider of the community it originated. Alice Goffman is an American sociologist and ethnographer widely-known for her work, On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City (2015). In this work, she relays how for her undergraduate and doctoral research project, she immersed herself in a predominately African-American community of Philadelphia as a white, privileged woman. Goffman goes on the explain how the frequent policing and incarceration of young, black men from this neighborhood affects the entire community and even affected Goffman herself.
The skepticism of Aanakwad led the father to believe that he “saw Aanakwad swing the girl lightly out over the side of the wagon” (Erdrich 393). Louise Erdrich plays with the reader’s assumptions to prove a point; there is more to a story than stated. “The Shawl” portrays traumatic family issues originating from the narrator’s grandparents. Erdrich shows the parting by describing the lasting and detrimental effects on the family each generation.
A Red Convertible with Many Meanings Throughout the course of a given year, approximately 5.2 million people are affected by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Nearly 7.8% of the United States population will experience PTSD in their lifetime, and 3.6% of adults ages eighteen to fifty-four will experience PTSD (“What is PTSD?”). Henry is one of these people. Using symbolism and foreshadowing within the story, “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich portrays a few motifs throughout the story and these include the bond of brotherhood, sacrifice, and the effects of war.
Going through a traumatizing event such as rape may alter a victim 's life, including those of their family. To recover from such an incident finding justice can be the best resort. Geraldine the victim in “The Round House” was raped and found covered in blood. Life on the reservation means that Geraldine will never be able to seek justice against her rapist. Her son, Joe, the protagonist in the novel further explains how he feels at the young age of thirteen.
The coming of age of a person could be at the age of twelve, or twenty, or forty – it all depends on each person’s ability to reach a certain level of maturity – not necessarily meaning when one is independent, but rather when one seems sensible and reliable. In terms of maturity, humans have different levels of development some mature faster, while others develop quite gradually. Most of the time, the experiences that one goes through determines the speed of the rate of the maturity of that person because past experiences affect the way that we make decisions that benefit ourselves, and the people around us. Louise Erdrich’s The Round House is a coming-of-age story about Joe Coutts, a thirteen-year-old Native American, who is thrust into adulthood
A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its women are on the ground. Then it is done. No matter how brave its warriors or how strong its weapons.- Cheyenne Proverb. In “Round House” this quote was fitting because the sexual assault on the mother nearly destroyed her and the family.
The excerpt from Louise Erdrich’s novel, The Beet Queen, tells the story of two siblings arriving in an unfamiliar town. The excerpt depicts the different reactions of the siblings to their situation. The imagery of the excerpt conveys the state of the unfamiliar environment. The selection of detail in the excerpt reveals the impact that the environment has on the children. In the excerpt from Louise Erdrich’s novel, The Beet Queen, Erdrich uses imagery and selection of detail to depict the impact of the environment on the two children.
“Here I am, where I ought to be. A writer must have a place where he or she feels this, a place to love and be irritated with,” (Wong 49). Louise Erdrich has a very cultural background. Her mother is Native American and her father is German. With her ancestry being Native American, Louise Erdrich writes award winning poems and novels that are based around the folklore of Native Americans.
Captivity is defined as the state of being imprisoned or confined. A tragic experience is given a whole new perspective from Louise Erdrich 's poem, “Captivity”. Through descriptive imagery and a melancholic tone, we can see the poem and theme develop in her words. Erdrich takes a quote from Mary Rowlandson’s narrative about her imprisonment by the Native Americans and her response to this brings readers a different story based off of the epigraph. Louise Erdrich compiles various literary devices to convey her theme of sympathy, and her poem “Captivity” through specific and descriptive language brings a whole new meaning to Mary Rowlandson’s narrative.
The the book “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, has lots of challenges and conflicts throughout the whole story. Two hunters are on a yacht in the Caribbean Sea, when one falls off and washes up on an island. There, he meets General Zaroff, a man with only one desire. To hunt humans. He makes Rainsford (the man from the shipwreck), go loose on the island in order to hunt him.
“I Was Sleeping Where the Black Oaks Move” written by Louise Erdrich focuses on a child and a grandfather horrifically observing a flood consuming their entire village and the surrounding trees, obliterating the nests of the herons that had lived there. In the future they remember back to the day when they started cleaning up after the flood, when they notice the herons without their habitat “dancing” in the sky. According to the poet’s biographical context, many of the poems the poet had wrote themselves were a metaphor. There could be many viable explanations and themes to this fascinating poem, and the main literary devices that constitute this poem are imagery, personification, and a metaphor.
