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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page research paper and analysis of Louise Erdrich's novel Tracks. The writer discusses the role that Chippewa culture plays this novel and argues that it is the cultural "glue" that provides support for members of the tribe, both as individuals and as a group. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_kherdtra.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
in the face of outside pressure and hardship. An examination of Tracks reveals that the main method of cultural transferal from one generation to the next is via storytelling, which
provides a cultural "glue" that provides support for members of the tribe, both as individuals and as a group. Tracks is set in the 1920s, and record the
experience of an Anishinabe community (the Anishinabe are part of a larger demographic group, the Chippewa) in North Dakota and their struggle to hold onto their land and their
traditions in the face of formal US government policy. The narrative is told by Nanapush, a tribal elder, and Pauline Puyat, a member of the tribe who has a mixed
heritage. The importance of Chippewa culture and the primacy of storytelling is dramatized, to a large extent, through these two characters, with Pauline representing one end of the spectrum and
Nanapush at the other. Pauline rejects her heritage, and declines into a destructive asceticism. She refuses to speak the native language (Erdrich 14), and she takes her repressed racism
out on her own body. In contrast to this, according to Kate McCafferty, Nanapush can be seen as a Chippewa priest of the old tradition (732). He follows tradition when
he blackens his face, seeks counsel in dreams, and draws on a broad repertoire of power songs to "sing a burnt child back to health" (McCafferty 732). Leslie Gregory points
out that humor plays a powerful role in the novel and the Chippewa culture. While the ability to use humor as a means to handle adversity is certainly not limited
to the Chippewa, this factor is an intrinsic quality in Native American life and prevalent in their storytelling. Gregory asserts that this aspect of Chippewa culture should be described as
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