The Leap

In the short story "The Leap" author Louise Erdrich provides her readers with an intriguing story about a daughters courageous mother, whos risk taking experiences changed her life. Erdrich wants her readers to understand that you cant take everything in life for granted, because in a spilt second you might lost it all. In order to lead readers to discover this meaning Erdrich uses charcterization, allowing the reader to get a true feeling of Anna Avalon through her actions, the way she speaks and from what the narrator says about her.Throughtout the story the narrator points our strenghts and weakness about Anna allowing the reader to develop more about Anna's character. " Anna was pregnant at the time.seven months and hardly showing..." (pg 191 para. 3) "...It seems incredible that she would work high above the ground when anything fall could be so dangerous." (pg 191 para. 4) With this the narrator is pointing out how brave Anna is and how she is taking a huge risk well knowing it could change her entire life. The narrator and the readers then learn that one risk in Anna's life really did change everything about her life. As we read on the narrator tells us of how Anna is faced with another challenge where she must risk it all. "Once there,swaying, she stood and balanced. There were plenty of people in the crowd and many who still remember or think they do my mothers leap through the ice-dark air toward the thinnest extention..." (pg. 195 para. 3)
Because of Erdrichs use of characterization we see that through Anna's actions when faced with a risking challenge Anna would risk it all full knowing of every that could change in a split second.
Readers would have not been able to understand Anna's full character if it wasn't for the authors use of characterization. Without the narrator providing us information about Anna past and present we as readers would have not understood why Anna took so many life threating risks