Love Medicine

Louise Erdrich’s writing gives readers a glimpse into the Native American world. Erdrich utilizes the traditions and history of her people to portray Native American life on a reservation. Her insider perspective adds authenticity, but it is her unique writing style that illustrates more detail to the reader. Her writing style is influenced by her heritage, and in this way sets her apart from other writers both in subject and in her entire approach to conveying her stories.

In the article “Introduction to American Indian Literatures,” A. Lavonne Brown Ruoff discusses the difference between Native American and typical Western style writing and story telling. Ruoff explains, “breath, speech and verbal art are so closely linked to each other that in many oral cultures they are often signified by the same word (185).” Erdrich writes her stories as if they are being spoken out loud to the reader, in a dialect that seems familiar. When the reader is introduced to Lipsha Morrissey, we learn of his special talents. “I know the tricks of mind and body inside out without ever having trained for it, because I got the touch. It’s a thing you got to be born with. I got secrets in my hands that nobody ever knew to ask. (231)” The grammar she uses here is incorrect, yet she uses it as a tool to make Lipsha seem more authentic. Lipsha is a character that never to school outside the reservation, therefore his language skills are evident of his lack of formal education. His tone also seems as if he is talking right to the reader, almost whispering a story in their ear, rather than having a story written about a fictional character.

Erdrich uses the art of the written word as a canvas to share her culture. Whereas in Native American culture, oral tradition is a big part of their history; modern America has devalued oral tradition and placed more emphasis on the written word. In order to transition over, Erdrich writes in the same cryptic style, as an elder Native American would tell a story to younger generations. She uses metaphors, and conflicting points of view to influence writing with her background. When the character Lyman Lamartine begins to tell his story, she utilizes her unique style to introduce him. He tells, “We owned it together until his boots filled with water on a windy night and he bought out my share. Now Henry owns the whole car, and his younger brother Lyman (that’s myself), Lyman walks everywhere he goes. (181)” Erdrich’s story telling ability is enhanced by her ability to become a character, instead of just writing about one.

Another Native American author, Simon Ortiz Acoma elaborates on the Native American oral tradition. He explains, “The oral tradition is not just speaking and listening, because what it means to me and other people who have grown up in that tradition is that whole process…of that society in terms of its history, its culture, its language, its values, and subsequently its literature. (184)” Louise Erdrich is a skilled author, who delivers beautiful prose to readers, illustrating the unfamiliar world of Native Americans.

Word count: 524

Works cited:
Ruoff, A. Lavonne Brown. “Introduction to American Indian Literatures.”
Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. New York: Harper Collins. 1984.

Breath, Eyes, Memory

In “Breath, Eyes, Memory” Edwidge Danticat gives the reader a glimpse into the horrors that have been happening in Haiti for over 200 years. After a slave rebellion in 1804, Haiti became the first independent state in Latin America. But independence did not lead to better times for the Haitian people. Haiti suffered under a wide range of violent dictators, enduring poverty, coups, and random acts of violence. In the book, there are a few scenes in which Danticat illustrates the fear and horror of life in Haiti.
On the day that Sophie is supposed to fly to America, there is a riot going on near the airport. Students were throwing rocks at soldiers, and “They scurried to avoid the tear gas and the round of bullets that the soldiers shot back at them. (34)” One of the students ran down the hill and grabbed a soldier, he “raised his pistol and pounded it on top of her head. She fell to the ground, her face covered in her own blood. (34)” This awful scene, witnessed by young Sophie, was not uncommon for Haiti. They have been through over 30 government coups, and some of the most brutal dictatorships in history. This violence against civilians, and the rioting of the students were spurned by the government instability, and the dire economic status of the country.
When Sophie goes back to Haiti to visit her grandmother, she accompanies her to the market. Here, they encounter Tonton-Macoutes, or national security volunteers, a semi militia set up by Francis Duvalier to protect himself from a military overthrow. These Macoutes carried weapons and would inflict violence on innocent people for any reason. In the market, one macoute yells to a vendor, “My foot, you see, you stepped on it! (118)” He then “rammed the back of his machine gun into the coal vendor’s ribs. (118)” Eventually the coal vendor was killed when more macoutes joined in. This passage is an example of the constant fear the people lived in of being killed or injured for any reason, or no reason at all.
One of the worst problems brought on by the political turmoil and the creation of the Tonton-Macoutes was the random rapes of women. Sophie tells the reader that regular criminals disguise themselves in the night, “But the macoutes, they did not hide. When they entered a house, they asked to be fed, demanded the woman of the house, and forced her into her own bedroom. (139)” Sophie and her family were directly affected by this, as her own mother was raped, most likely by a macoute. The rape shattered her mother. She attempted to kill herself multiple times during pregnancy and right after, and eventually leading to her suicide later in life.
In “Breath, Eyes, Memory,” Danticat doesn’t focus the main story on the horrors of living in Haiti, yet all of her characters are definitely scarred and affected for their entire lives. Today, there is still conflict going on in Haiti, and many Haitians come to the U.S. just as Sophie and her mother did, to escape all of the violence, poverty, and uncertainty of living in an unstable country.
Sources:
“Haiti.” Flashpoints: Guide to World Conflict.

Rourke, John T. “Continued Violence and Conflict in Haiti: The link between poverty and security” McGraw-Hill Higher Education. 2005.
word count: 529