Louise Erdrich’s novel Love Medicine, is a series of connected stories told from the viewpoints of several characters. All of these characters are presented with conflicts throughout their lives, and one character in particular that stood out was Nector Kashpaw. The conflicts he faces in his life are unfolded and further explained over the course of the novel, from his easy beginnings to his accidental death.
Nector Kashpaw was accustomed to an easy life as he recounts in “The Plunge of the Brave.” In this section of the novel, the tall and handsome Kashpaw tells of the many offers he received for various reasons, including job offers for a role in a Hollywood film, modeling for a soon-to-be famous portrait, and of course, easy women that gave him “sweet candy between the bedcovers” (Erdrich, 121). However, his troubles soon appear after he meets Marie Lazarre running down the hill with an injured hand. Even though he was in love with Lulu Lamartine, Nector left the river with Marie and eventually married her. It is not until after aging and years of married life and routine with Marie that Nector starts to realize that he is
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Her apparent lack of interest in Nector initially leaves him feeling desperate and as if his attempts at reconnecting with her are dwindling as je states “I understand that this is useless” (Erdrich, 126). However, when she begins making the advances, he turns shy and even states “I’ve got to get home with this butter” (Erdrich, 127). While Nector is toiling inside about his feelings and where they will take him, Lulu seems to have coolly devised a plan this entire time to strike up an affair with Nector. This affair with Lulu seems, at first, to resolve his conflict of missing his chance with her when he was younger. However, as the novel continues we learn that Nector’s conflicts only increase over
The Red Convertible by Louise Erdrich (Erdrich 134-140) is a story of lost youth and innocence told through the eyes of a brother powerless to help. The title itself invokes imagery of youth and freedom. In the beginning one might think that this story is about Lyman, the narrator, who tells this story in the first person point of view. However, as the story unfolds the reader is allowed to see that the focus is not truly Lyman (himself), but the loss and struggle of his older brother, Henry Junior. Like Lyman, Henry begins a happy, carefree young man. Nevertheless, we see him transform into a beaten man with no hope. This is done mostly through the author’s use of symbolic imagery of the “The Red Convertible”.
In Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk about When We Talk about Love,” Mel McGinnis’ occupation as a cardiologist, a physician that mends broken hearts, stands in stark contradiction to his claim to understanding the workings of the heart as it pertains to loving and being loved. The discord between healing his patient’s hearts and his inability to recognize his own malady of heart is exaggerated by how he deals with the relationship of Ed and Terri, as well as that of the elderly accident victims and his ex-wife Marjorie.
The Pericardium of the coquette’s heart guards her emotions from the extravagant and gregarious life she lived. Upon inspection of this case, the group of observers find it covered in countless tiny scars of points, darts, and arrows, but not one of them “had entered and pierced the inward Substance.” By the sheer multitude of scars that attempted to pierce her heart, it seems reasonable to conclude that this woman served
Truly great literature appeals to emotions in order to be most effective. If the novel does not resound with the reader’s heart and soul, they will have no incentive to care or relate to the story. Thus, love and empathy for a character’s personality makes them infinitely more real. During the 1900s, ethically controversial studies were being carried out in the name of scientific progress. Rebecca Skloot investigates the thought process of the researchers and patients involved in these studies and brings a sense of humanity to their actions. In “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, Rebecca Skloot compels a sense of compassion far more effectively through pathos than she does through either ethos or logos. The author manages to bring Henrietta Lack’s personality to life through her motivations and goals, whereas Skloot’s credibility in the subject is weaker and the facts presented are not
Kristof talks about a man named Fanha Konah, Konah lost all of their fingers and toes to leprosy but he managed to become a wood carver. Also, he talks about a 18 year old girl who has never received schooling, but built a three-foot electrical fan out of cardboard and scraps. Kristof uses inspiring stories like these to show that all hope is not lost for people who come across unfortunate circumstance. There is progress that is made by people who survived and live with these disease. This kind of attitude makes the reader have a different outlook and judgment on situations such as these. By telling stories such as these he reminds the reader that this one story can reflect whole millions of stories. Kristof is trying to persuade his audience to care about people as a
Marie Lazarre importance in the story was to bring out two different relationships between her lover and her friend through a love triangle which effected a lot of the characters. The adultery changed Marie’s relationship with both Nector and Lulu. Erdrich made a point in making the affair an important part of the novel. She used the infidelity to search the changes in her characters. Mainly, Erdrich showed different sides of Marie to build Marie’s character and eventually have Marie be the person to bridge different relationships between the two people who hurt and changed her the most. In the end, love and friendship overcome any types of hatred or jealously, and Marie’s changes during the infidelity help her reach a better goal in reuniting
Vampirism is not an author’s imagination, or terminology, but for some category of people; it is a life dogma and path they willfully and viciously want to follow. According to Foster, vampirism is about selfishness, and denying other people’s rights to live in order to meet one’s own demands. The unusual vampirism, through the detailed description, complex syntax, and unusual diction, demonstrates the destructive consequences of violence on human beings leading the lives of the victims as well as their families to be shed into pieces.
The story of Amy Foster presents an incredible mystery about the love between a dull woman and a foreign man. Even with the aid of an extremely helpful analysis of love by Joseph Campbell, it remains unclear why Amy acts the way she does as Yanko lies on his deathbed. Does Amy feel an immense love for Yanko or does she fail to love him at all? Whatever the reason may be, it is clear that she expresses throughout the story many of the differing types of love along with their implications discussed in Campbell's essay, The Mythology of Love.
Within the novel “Delirium” written by Lauren Oliver, there was a girl by the name of Magdalena (Lena) Haloway. She existed within a society where love was considered a deadly disease, and upon reaching the age of 18 it was mandatory you were ‘cured’ of it. Most accepted this fate, as it guaranteed you a life without the inconvenience love may bring. But those with the illness did not want to live without it. Despite their wishes, not a single citizen had a choice in the matter. Each and every citizen was forced to receive “The Cure”.
In the story, “Loves Executioner”, Yalom treats and old woman named “Thelma” that is overly obsessed with a man named Matthew, her former therapist from ten years ago. Yalom feeling though that he is drawn to the facets of her dilemma decides to do everything he can to empower Thelma move past the obsessions that had been wrecking havoc on her mental health. Although Thelma’s love obsession with her therapist, and her subjective experiences on life of what is preventing her from living in the present, Yalom attempts to treat a 70-year-old woman only to learn that being love executioner more complicated as he had anticipated.
In Lousie Erdrich short story, “Saint Marie” (1934), she makes a very clear point that even the most loyal and well-disciplined can become corrupt. In this chapter from the book Love Medicine, Marie is young 14 year old girl. The young girl has been born and raised into the Catholic faith. Marie has gone to the convent for Sunday school for several years. With years in the making, she decided to join the Sacred Heart Convent. There were many nuns at the convent but one stood out the most. This nun was Sister Leopolda. Sister Leopolda was a violent, evil, and Satan-obsessed. Many had hatred for her; although, some found her quite pleasant. However, one day, Marie has a vision of the devil that causes her to smile. That smile
Hence, The Wenders’ determination to protect their daughter in a hostile society, Uncle Axel’s willingness to love and guide his insecure nephew, and the telepaths’ devotion to their closely-knitted group remind us that no matter how corrupt the majority of society becomes, there will always be those who will keep alive the beautiful qualities that make us human. Thus, it is clear that Wyndham purposely incorporated loving relationships in the midst of suffering to keep alive our hope in the human race. Love is an unique quality that can emerge through hardships. The Chrysalids is meant to remind us that the power of this emotion can overcome despair.
"The Red Convertible," a short story written by Louise Erdrich's, she writes about the travesties of war that impose on the relationship of two brothers, Henry and Lyman. The author uses symbolism to unveil the troubles brought home by Henry after he leaves the battlefields of Vietnam. The story emphasized difficulties Lyman was forced to Handel the separation from his brother. The goal of Erdrich writing the "The Red Convertible" was to communicate the emotional stresses war creates for a soldier and how that stress affects relationships with there families.
The characters in this novel are impacted by the conditions of the Chippewa Reservation in North Dakota on which they live. The issues of domestic violence and poverty continually plague the characters in this novel, as they do in real life. Along with conflict, traditional customs and beliefs unite the characters in the novel Love Medicine. For example, the death of June Morrissey, Albertine’s aunt, brings the Kashpaw and Lamartine families together, all back onto the Reservation. On the night of this gathering, King attempts to drown his wife Lynette, who’s white, in the kitchen sink (Erdrich 41). Albertine hurries form where she is outside to see what’s going on and she tries to pull King off of Lynette but isn’t strong enough ( 41). She eventually bites King’s ear and he releases his grip on Lynette (41). The fact that King was horribly drunk caused this incident, he’s usually quite drunk. As a result of this chaos, the pies that had been made for the next day had been destroyed and Albertine describes her attempt to put them back together, “I worked carefully for over an hour. But once they smash there is no way to put them right.” (Erdrich 42). This symbolism represents the hopelessness that many people feel when destruction occurs. They don’t feel that
In the story, “Loves Executioner”, Yalom treats and old woman named “Thelma” that is overly obsessed with her a former therapist from ten years ago named Matthew. Yalom feeling though that he is drawn to the facets of her dilemma decides to do everything he can to empower Thelma move past the obsessions that had been wrecking havoc on her mental health. Although Thelma’s love obsession with her therapist, and her subjective experiences on life of what is preventing her from living in the present, Yalom attempts to treat a 70-year-old woman only to learn that being love executioner more complicated as he had anticipated.