The Antelope Wife (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Louise Erdrich
- First Published: 1998
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: 1862 to the late twentieth century
- Setting: Largely Minnesota
- Principal Characters: Blue Prairie Woman, Scranton Roy, Matilda Roy, Augustus Roy, Zosie Showano Roy and Mary Showano, Rozina (Rozin) Roy Whiteheart Beads, Richard Whiteheart Beads, Cally and Deanna Whiteheart Beads, Frank Showano, Klaus Showano, Sweetheart Calico
- Genres: Long fiction, Historical fiction
- Subjects: Family or family life, North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Mothers, Parents and children, Love or romance, Midwest, Native Americans or American Indians, Adoption or adopted children, Life and death, Cannibalism, Minnesota
- Locales: Minnesota
In her seventh novel, Louise Erdrich uses as a historical backdrop the 1862 uprising of the Dakota (Eastern Sioux) people at a time when starvation stalked the reservation. However, her characters actually belong to the Ojibwa tribe, also known as the Chippewa. A young U.S. Cavalry private, Scranton Roy, is sent with his company to quell the Dakota rebellion but mistakenly stumbles into a neutral Ojibwa village and attacks the inhabitants instead. Sickened by guilt, he captures an Indian dog that is fleeing with an infant strapped to its back, names the baby Matilda and rears her as his...
[The entire page is 1844 words long]
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