Love Medicine
“Marie’s Individuality” What is Love medicine? Love Medicine is a fiction novel by Louise Erdrich. The book is based on Native American stories, which cover three generations, fifty years, several families, and there are many relationships. Love Medicine is a collection of short fiction stories of “people that are living on Chippewa reservation in North Dakota”. Louise Erdrich makes the story with use of flashback. Love Medicine is not on particularly one theme but there are some stories on other themes such as, true identity, religion, family, love etc. Love Medicine is the creative formation of stories and characters which allow for the original creation of love. Each character exposes his or her individuality different than the other characters and their beliefs. There are many internal and external conflicts between characters. The characters and relationships of conflicts make this story very effective. Louise Erdrich uses protagonist and antagonist characters too. There are many characters but I enjoy Marie Kashpaw is character the most. In my opinion, “Marie Kashpaw is the most powerful and positive character in comparison with other characters in Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich, because Marie is ambitious, brave, wise wife and good person”. In the book, many characters are not sympathetic such as Lulu, Nector but Marie is a sympathetic character. First, Marie Kashpaw was Marie Lazzare before marrying Nector Kashpaw. Many people have ambitions for their career, money, education, luxuries life but Marie is none of this. Marie is the person who has ambitions to have a better identity than her family has. Marie’s family is known for alcoholisms, idleness and horse thieves, but Marie knows from a young age that she wants a different kind of life. She sets out determined to make a name for herself, despite the limit placed on her by having a poor family background. Marie is beginning to define herself; she
Cited: Erdrich Lousie. Love Medicine. New York: Henry Hold And Company, Inc, 1984. Print.