28 pages • 56 minutes read
Louise ErdrichA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Content Warning: This section contains references to war-related trauma.
The narrator’s full knowledge of the story allows for him to forecast events and shifts in mood. The most striking example is Henry’s boots. In the first paragraph, the narrator says his “boots filled with water on a windy night” when he bought out Lyman’s share (177). The strange detail is colorful but isn’t yet loaded with meaning; the reference is also somewhat hidden in the middle of a sentence. At the end of the story, the image returns in Henry’s last words, highlighted by their presence on their own line in quotation marks. The words make literal sense in the context of the final scene, but the déjà vu adds a level of strangeness. The boots are made both strange and familiar with their use in and out of context.
Subtler forms of foreshadowing underscore this strangeness and familiarity. Susy’s hair buns—the first thing Lyman notices about her—become her sweeping hair a page later when the brothers are saying goodbye, revisiting her lovely strangeness. Although Henry is smiling in the photograph, Lyman comes to see it as a dark and hollow expression, one that looks “like it might have hurt his face” (186).
By Louise Erdrich
Antelope Woman
Antelope Woman
Louise Erdrich
Fleur
Fleur
Louise Erdrich
Future Home of the Living God
Future Home of the Living God
Louise Erdrich
LaRose
LaRose
Louise Erdrich
Love Medicine
Love Medicine
Louise Erdrich
Shadow Tag
Shadow Tag
Louise Erdrich
The Beet Queen
The Beet Queen
Louise Erdrich
The Bingo Palace
The Bingo Palace
Louise Erdrich
The Birchbark House
The Birchbark House
Louise Erdrich
The Game of Silence
The Game of Silence
Louise Erdrich
The Leap
The Leap
Louise Erdrich
The Master Butchers Singing Club
The Master Butchers Singing Club
Louise Erdrich
The Mighty Red
The Mighty Red
Louise Erdrich
The Night Watchman
The Night Watchman
Louise Erdrich
The Painted Drum
The Painted Drum
Louise Erdrich
The Plague Of Doves
The Plague Of Doves
Louise Erdrich
The Round House
The Round House
Louise Erdrich
The Sentence
The Sentence
Louise Erdrich
The Shawl
The Shawl
Louise Erdrich
Tracks
Tracks
Louise Erdrich