Leap Louise Erdrich

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How far would a mother go for her daughter? In the story “Leap” by Louise Erdrich the daughter describes numerous sacrifices her mother made in order to get the daughter to where she is now. On a shallow analysis, the story is about how the daughter is grateful for her mother. On a deeper analysis, the story expresses how in moments of decision in the characters lives one can choose to change their succession through life. For the duration of the story the daughter tells us how the mother withstood troublesome times and how she managed. Amidst the characterization, Irony and foreshadowing, and mood the the theme is eminently evident. These literary elements show us the theme that in order to overcome your fears you have to face them and ‘leap’ …show more content…

To elaborate, the daughter says ``My mother once said that I’d be amazed at how many things a person can do within the act of falling``. This instance of foreshadowing lets the reader know how the characters point of view about life is. As well, the daughter is giving us a hint when she says ``That is the debt we take for granted since none of us asks for life. It is only once we have it that we hang on so dearly``. She is referring to the end of the story when she is holding on to her mother as they are both falling down into the firefighters net. Both these examples refer to falling, and in both a figurative and literary way. The author could be referring to falling down from somewhere, however in a profound meaning it is meant to refer to times when you are feeling low or having the belief that things could not get any worse. The significance of this is how you have time to think and bounce back. Subsequently, it is quite ironic how the first time she leaps to save a life the daughter in which she is pregnant with at the time passes away. In contrast when she leaps the second time to save a life she actually saves her second daughter's life. This pattern is critical in order to display the mothers fearless determination even though the last time an event like this occur it did not turn ot as well as she wanted it to turn out. Overall, we can see how irony and …show more content…

The mood and tone of the story are extremely strong because of the way the story is written and the words used. Even though there are numerous occasions where the characters go through rough times, somehow the story is still light hearted. The author used examples such as ``They dropped gracefully from nowhere, like two sparkling birds`` and ``It was the friendliest tap, a bit tentative, as if she was afraid she had arrived too early at a friends house``. These quotes and many others in the story use generally positive words even though they are setting the scene for an incident. The message the author is giving the reader is that there is always something positive to look forward to even if you are going through hard times. In like manner, the author describes the activities the characters in the story do in order to get past what they have been through. For example, when the daughter says ``She finally learned to read and write, as a way of overcoming boredom and depression of those weeks, and it was my father who insisted on teaching her, ``. Correspondingly, even though her husband passed away in the circus, she went to the hospital where she fell in love all over again. It was the incident in the circus that brought the daughters parents together, which the daughter is clearly grateful for as well when she says ``I owe my existence, the second time then, to the two of them and the hospital that brought

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