Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine

In Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich, the characters all face societal expectations that shape their identities and actions, including ideas about their lives as Native Americans and as women. One character who encounters these expectations is Lulu Lamartine, who experiences shaming because of her traditionalist view of Chippewa life, relationships with multiple men, and children with different fathers. However, she is fueled by love and her heritage as a Chippewa, which guide her to contradict the assumptions about her life, often directly and in the face of gossip. In the course of the novel, Lulu defies expectations in her reactions to the government’s purchase of their land, her defiance of the community’s shaming of her many romantic relationships, and the leadership of her children.

“Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely” (Unknown). People change and grow because of the challenges and conflicts they have in life. A person I know that has changed and grown a lot from a conflict is my mom because a couple years ago she ripped a tendon in her back, and she had to get many surgeries and wasn’t able to walk for a while. She grew a lot from that experience and now she can walk and is still getting better. In “The Street” by Richard Wright the young boy narrator has to overcome his fears and fight some thugs in order to buy his mom groceries. He faces an incredible challenge that makes him have to change extremely quickly. In “First Love” by Judith Ortiz Cofer the girl narrator has a crush on a boy that is a couple

Literary elements appear in all exceptional literature, they are what helps build a strong story. There are many literary elements visible in Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich. In the novel there are elements such as foreshadowing, tone, several examples of symbolism, and several major themes.

snap shot of Bull's views on his life. It is written as a stream of

Happiness is a euphoric state, it is the light at the end of the tunnel, it is what individuals seek to achieve. Human beings inherently want to be happy. Happiness is unique because it has seven billion different definitions. In his book Immune to Reality, Daniel Gilbert argues that individuals are only as happy as the subconscious function of their brain allows them to be. Additionally, he questions the state of happiness by citing the psychological immune system. The psychological immune system is a subconscious process of the human brain, which favorably rationalizes human decisions whether they were right or not, regardless of outcome it always finds something favorable to take away. In Barbara Fredrickson’s Love 2.0, she introduces the vagus nerve as a biological apparatus to increase loving potential; Fredrickson links higher levels of loving potential to increased overall health. Most importantly, Fredrickson establishes the relationship between love and happiness as an interdependent one, “Having at least one close relationship like this is vital to your health and happiness” (108). Fredrickson believes that humans have the power within them to biologically alter themselves and to shape their own identity. Inversely, Malcolm Gladwell proclaims that human identity is shaped by the environment an individual is subject to in his book The Power of Context. Gladwell affirms that humans have the power to shape their identity, however only by changing the

In the novels Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich and The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday, the reader gains views of Native American culture, both past and present, through two disparate means of delivery. Both authors provide immensely rich portrayals through varying literary devices in efforts to bring about a better understanding of problems contemporary Native Americans face, especially regarding their own self-identity.

During the medieval times, Marie de France, unlike the male writers of her time, wrote courtly stories that depicted women who were predominantly featured in the primary roles with empathy and questioned the sexist predicaments women were often subjected to. Women often times struggled to find their voice, but her stories told the perseverance and progress within those constraints. Instead, she wrote of men idealizing wealthy, powerful, independent, beautiful women. She inserts the thoughts and feelings from a woman’s perspective. In a sense, giving women the voice they strived to have heard in a male dominated time period. As Damon stated in the article “Marie de France: Psychologist of Courtly Love,” “Contemporary readers might have noted that the characters departed occasionally from the established laws of courtly conduct; none the less, as all such departures were towards reality, they were welcomed.” She opened the door for women’s self-expression and individual achievement. Marie de France’s popular adulterous love stories bring about many fascinating ethical questions.

In “Love Medicine”, family is of major importance. Before the book even starts, there is

Laura Kipnis’s “Against Love”, and Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love” ,brings up the issue of what is the definition of love and is love what we think it is. Love has changed in comparison to what it once was, and we now loosely use the term, but what does it truly mean, and why do we buy in to it. Kipnis’s essay develops the idea that this “mature love” is when someone can love and be loved, and she takes the position that this does not happen. Although Kipnis believes mature love is neither a realistic expectation nor a good thing to have, I claim that the idea of mature love is not bogus, because even though it is rare to find, and may even take a few tries, I believe it is possible for people to have this mature love. Unlike Kipnis too, I believe mature love can take on different forms, and doesn’t have to just be so black and white like Kipnis explains it as.

There are many powerful women in Erdrich’s novel Love Medicine that play crucial roles in the function and development of the story. They shape the lives of not only their children but also their men, some of whom are leaders of the reservation they call home. There are three particular women that stand out due to their immense strength, struggling pasts, and family roles: Marie, Rushes Bear, and Lulu. These women independently raise their families with little to no help from the men in their lives. First of these three to share her story is Marie.

The short story “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich is a story the author uses to shed light on the effects of mental illness on Vietnam era returning combat veterans. The story includes the effects not just on the veterans, also on their family and community. The acceptance and treatment of mental illness in veterans takes on new meaning with the recent increase in veterans returning from extended periods of service suffering from the disease of mental illness. The treatment for mental illness in earlier times such as lobotomies and electroshock therapy caused more harm than good, the medical profession lacked the knowledge and resources at the time to understand the disease. The central idea of this story is the

She allows men to control every aspect of her life, from her income to her activities. In the beginning of the first chapter, June is on her way back to the reservation, however, she sees a man in a bar who, “rapped at her from inside the window” (1) and “hooked his arm, inviting her to enter” (1). The ease of which he convinces her to come into the bar demonstrates how little she respects herself. June’s lack of self-respect evokes pity from the reader, as it comes from her lack of self-confidence and lack of self-esteem. This image is furthered when she allows Andy, the man at the bar, to have sex with her because she thought “he could be different” (3), despite the fact that he doesn’t know her name, and has no regard for her. Again, her lack of self-esteem develops pity and sympathy for her character as she walks to her own death.

Many brothers can relate the importance of brotherhood to each other in their household. In the short story, “The Red Convertible” by Louise Erdrich is about how two brothers, Henry and Lyman, relationship changes after the war. The story is at the point of view of Lyman and shows the transformation of both characters. In the “The Red Convertible” the author values brotherhood because of the relationship the brothers have throughout the story. I have a younger brother, which makes me value the same belief as Louise; that brotherhood is what helps us get through the difficult times.

In the novel “Love Medicine” written by Louise Erdrich, Erdrich covers multiple stories, and her main focus on the story “The Red Convertible” is to reveal her style in writing after being part German and Native American. Louise was born to her father Ralph Erdrich which told many stories throughout her childhood which pushed her into becoming the writer she is today. Where storytelling had become an important part of her life style. Her mother Rita Erdrich came from the indigenous group, the Ojibwe which was a huge influence on her life. Her mother and her grandmother also played a role in making her the writer she is today giving her the inspiration to write about the reservation life as she does in her novel. In her academic career, Lousie Erdrich attended Dartmouth College and received her master’s Degree at Johns Hopkins University. Louise pursued her interest in storytelling and wrote stories that many readers believed were not hers to

In the excerpt from “Love 2.0” by Barbara Fredrickson, the feeling of love is explained to be more biological in nature. Love is often seen as an intense emotion that connects two or more people through trust and communication. It can click into place after a lengthy conversation or just a shared glance. While this may seem dramatic, Fredrickson offers her own biological perspective to explain these phenomena in a more grounded sense. These biological reasonings aide her in proving that love is not unconditional or exclusive, but rather shared with all that give off a positive resonance. It is also made possible through the synchronized flow of the two people’s brains, the release of the hormone, oxytocin, and the healthy control of the vagal. The combination of these parts enables a person to experience this feeling of love and receive it from others as well. It is important to understand these scientific reasonings because they show how people can obtain this deep love with multiple people by just listening to their bodies. The different biological processes enable people to love better by creating a deeper connection in conversation, a strong sense of trust, and providing the skills people need to acquire the love their bodies crave.