not romanticize the past; she presents it with realism, acknowledging the loss of certain traditions while highlighting the resilience of others. The contrasting lives of Lulu Lamartine and June Morrissey illustrate shifting attitudes toward relationships and familial responsibilities. The novel addresses the Vietnam War's devastating effects on Native American soldiers, further exploring themes of displacement and identity.

Setting and Atmosphere

The novel's setting is as crucial as its characters, rooted in the rural expanse of North Dakota near the Canadian border. The Kashpaw land serves as a gathering place, a physical embodiment of family history and cultural legacy. Despite minimal description, the setting captures the blend of modernity and tradition, reflecting the characters' internal and external conflicts.

Humor and Perspective

Interwoven with themes of survival and struggle is a rich layer of humor, often derived from sharp observations of human nature and cultural contrasts. Characters like Eli, who humorously equates hunting songs with romantic pursuits, and Lipsha, who muses on the divine's fading responsiveness, provide moments of levity that enrich the narrative. This humor serves as a lens through which readers can better understand and appreciate the Chippewa perspective.

Identity and Belonging

In Love Medicine, identity is portrayed as both ancestral and personal. Characters navigate the complexities of interracial heritage, with some embracing their Indian identity despite external appearances or societal labels. Erdrich illustrates that being Indian transcends genetic makeup, rooted instead in a shared cultural consciousness and communal memory.

Ultimately, Love Medicine is a powerful exploration of the human spirit, anchored in the rich cultural landscape of the Chippewa people. Erdrich's deft narrative weaves together humor, pathos, and profound insight, offering readers a glimpse into a world that is at once familiar and extraordinary.

Throughout history, the Chippewa, also known as the Ojibwa, have navigated a dynamic and often challenging landscape. From their early days near the Upper Great Lakes to their forced relocations and the struggles faced during the westward expansion of the United States, the Chippewa have continually adapted. Today, while many challenges remain, there are also significant efforts to preserve and bolster their cultural and social identity.

The Journey of the Chippewa

The Chippewa, or Ojibwa, were first encountered by seventeenth-century French explorers in Canada. Living in small villages around the Upper Great Lakes, they were skilled fur traders and craftsmen, particularly known for their expertise in constructing birchbark canoes. As their prosperity and territorial reach grew, they developed more structured tribal customs and rituals, including the establishment of the Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society. Over time, the Chippewa expanded their territory, pushing other tribes such as the Iroquois out of areas like Ontario by the late 1700s. In the United States, they became known as the Chippewa, inhabiting regions across North Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, and beyond. The fictional Kashpaws and Lamartines in Louise Erdrich's "Love Medicine" are portrayed as descendants of these resilient people.

Impact of Westward Expansion

As American settlers moved westward in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the U.S. government enacted policies that drastically altered the lives of many Native American tribes. Laws such as the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Indian Intercourse Act of 1834 led to significant displacement, confining Native Americans to designated Indian Territory, which included areas like Oklahoma and the Dakotas. This displacement forced tribes, including the Chippewa, to adapt from their traditional roles as hunters and fishermen to becoming farmers in unfamiliar lands.

Life on Indian Reservations

Designated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian reservations became the new homes for displaced tribes. From 1830 to 1840, over 70,000 members of the "Five Civilized Tribes" were moved onto reservations. The Kashpaws and Lamartines in "Love Medicine" are depicted as living on Turtle Mountain Reservation, reflecting real historical events where many Native Americans resisted resettlement, leading to conflicts known as the Indian Wars.

The Role of the Bureau of Indian Affairs

Created in 1824 within the War Department, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) continues to administer Indian affairs, now under the Department of the Interior. Although initially part of military operations, the BIA evolved to manage various tribal programs, including education, social services, and land management. Louise Erdrich’s portrayal of Native American life in "Love Medicine" resonates with her family’s personal history of involvement with the BIA, where both her parents served as teachers.

Legislative Changes and Tribal Land Rights

The introduction of the Dawes Act aimed to encourage individual land ownership among Native Americans, inadvertently leading to significant land losses to white settlers. The 1934 Wheeler-Howard Indian Reorganization Act sought to reverse these effects, allowing tribes to reclaim land ownership and self-governance, working in tandem with the BIA to enhance resource management and program development.

Challenges and Advocacy in the Mid-20th Century

In the 1950s, federal policies aimed at assimilating Native Americans into white society resulted in economic hardships and were met with significant opposition. By the mid-1960s, these policies were largely retracted, though issues persisted. Native Americans, feeling underrepresented, voiced their concerns through groups like the American Indian Movement, advocating for greater recognition of their rights and needs.

Contemporary Social Challenges and Resilience

Even today, Native Americans face numerous challenges, from limited education opportunities to high rates of unemployment and social issues such as alcoholism. Those who leave reservations often struggle to adapt to urban life, sometimes returning due to lack of skills and support. Despite these hurdles, many Native Americans are making strides toward improvement. Tribal colleges and initiatives on reservations, as well as employment opportunities in industries such as gaming, are fostering a more optimistic future.

Efforts Toward a Brighter Future

Recent years have seen increased efforts to address the needs of Native American communities. The Office of Tribal Justice, established in 1995, plays a critical role in mediating between state and tribal jurisdictions, safeguarding Native American interests. While the past has been fraught with challenges, the ongoing advocacy and resilience of Native American communities are paving the way for a more equitable and prosperous future.

Delving into "Love Medicine," one is immediately struck by Louise Erdrich's masterful weaving of varied perspectives, lush poetic language, and authentic dialogue. Through interconnected stories, she illuminates the complexity of Native American lives on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation. This multifaceted approach invites readers into a world rich with cultural nuances and personal histories.

Point of View

The narrative perspective in "Love Medicine" shifts among its characters, delivering a mosaic of first-person and third-person accounts. Each story unfolds through the voices of members from five families—the Kashpaws, Lazarres, Lamartines, Nanapushes, and Morrisseys—offering multiple angles on recurring events. For instance, Nector and Marie's shared experience on the hill below the convent is recounted from both of their perspectives. This storytelling technique is lauded by many critics for providing a holistic view, yet some argue it can create confusion, necessitating a deeper engagement from readers to discern the interwoven relationships.

Structure

Erdrich's structural choices further enhance the narrative's complexity. Critics praise the fragmented yet cohesive nature of the storytelling, which mirrors the fragmented reality of contemporary Native American life. Harriett Gilbert, writing for the New Statesman, observed how Erdrich's prose moves "backward and forward" through time, capturing decades of emotional and cultural evolution. However, some, like Gene Lyons in Newsweek, challenge this approach, suggesting that the lack of a singular, unifying action blurs the narrative, making it difficult to distinguish between voices and story arcs.

Setting

Set primarily on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation in North Dakota, "Love Medicine" spans fifty years from 1934 to 1984. This setting not only grounds the narrative but also offers readers an intimate look at a world often alien to them. The depiction of life on the reservation underscores recurring themes of struggle, resilience, and cultural displacement. Robert Towers of the New York Review of Books highlights this portrayal as an "irrefutable indictment" of historical injustices faced by the Chippewas, whose traditional lifestyles were disrupted by forced assimilation and relocation.

Poetic License

Erdrich's departure from conventional storytelling is evident in her use of poetic license. Her narrative defies linear progression, and her prose carries a lyrical quality that echoes her poetic roots. This skillful manipulation of language allows her to convey profound meaning with brevity and depth. D. J. R. Bruckner of the New York Times notes that many of Erdrich's narratives have the "structure and lyric voice of ballads," enhancing their emotional resonance.

Dialogue

The authenticity of Erdrich's dialogue is particularly celebrated among Native American readers who recognize and appreciate the genuine representation of their speech patterns. The dialogue in "Love Medicine" is an amalgamation of various linguistic influences, blending verbs from Chippewa with French nouns and incorporating elements from other Native American and European languages. This rich tapestry of language not only reflects the cultural syncretism of the characters' lives but also establishes a distinct voice that resonates with the lived experiences of Indigenous communities.

• 1830s: The Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the Indian Intercourse Act of 1834 forcibly relocated Indian tribes to reservations in areas now known as Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas.
• 1850s: The Kansas-Nebraska Act further confined Native Americans to what is now Oklahoma.
• 1860s: Native Americans residing in Oklahoma were compelled to relinquish the western half of their land.
• Late 1800s and early 1900s: The Dawes Act, also called the General Allotment Act, permitted the division of tribal lands into individual allotments, leading to extensive sales of these lands to white settlers.
• 1930s: The Wheeler-Howard Indian Reorganization Act restored tribal ownership of reservation lands, reversing the 1887 General Allotment (Dawes) Act. This act also granted limited self-governing powers and provided assistance with land and resource management.
• 1950s: Federal policies terminated special programs and trust agreements with Native Americans.
• 1960s: The termination policy of the 1950s was abandoned.
• 1970s: Native American groups became more assertive in reclaiming their rights. The Supreme Court upheld claims from the Narragansett, Dakota, Oneida, and other tribes, granting them fishing, water, and mining rights, among others.
• 1990s: Native Americans continued to reclaim their rights. Legislation passed in 1990 protected Indian gravesites and allowed for the return of remains. In 1991, Chippewa Indians gained the rights to hunt, fish, and gather plants on reservations in Wisconsin.

In Love Medicine, a novel composed of interconnected short stories, there are many gaps in the action that a narrator would typically summarize. James Joyce employed a similar technique in his novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), where he left gaps in scenes, time, and place. This approach compels readers to make thematic and emotional connections between scenes. Erdrich uses a comparable method in Love Medicine. Even if one were to arrange the narrative chronologically and focus on characters appearing in multiple stories, significant gaps remain in the actions of major characters like Nector, Marie, and Lulu, as well as younger characters like Henry Lamartine, Lipsha Morrissey, Gerry Nanapush, and Albertine Johnson. By starting her first story in 1981 and then shifting to events from 1934 to 1984, Erdrich creates mysteries about the past and future, much like Conrad does in Nostromo (1904). These intentional gaps require readers to piece together relationships and the significance of events. Given that the book presents a culture unfamiliar to many readers, this method effectively encourages us to learn about these people.

The narrative point of view operates similarly. The most common perspective is retrospective first person, often with the narrator also being the protagonist or a major character. Third-person omniscient narration appears occasionally but usually only when first-person narration is impractical—such as during June's walk to her death in a snowstorm. The subjective nature of the first-person narrators often requires readers to question their reliability. For example, Lulu's account of her husband's death by a Northern Pacific train downplays her role in his likely suicidal depression. Sometimes, different first-person narrators describe the same event; for instance, Lulu, Marie, and Nector each offer their perspectives on Nector's affair with Lulu. This raises the question of who to believe. Dramatic irony and humor often arise when innocent narrators like Lipsha recount events without judgment. These narrative techniques engage readers, encouraging active participation in interpreting the text.

Many readers are captivated by Erdrich's use of figurative language in Love Medicine and her subsequent novels. Short stories often feature more vivid figurative language than novels because their form lies somewhere between a novel and a lyric poem. Love Medicine is abundant with striking images and symbols. At the very start, June and an oil worker share eggs in a bar; June, wearing a shell, feels as though she is about to crack when she is drunk and unwell. Later, Marie scrubs and waxes her kitchen floor, using the labor to distract herself from the pain caused by Nector's note regarding his affair with Lulu. When Nector arrives with one of his daughters, Marie extends her hand to him across her gleaming floor, reminiscent of Christ reaching out to a disciple attempting to walk on water. June's beads, which evoke both the rosary and Native American myths, carry dual meanings. She leaves these beads, the sole remnant of her past life, with Marie before moving in with Eli. These symbolic actions or images often appear at critical moments in the stories, such as climaxes or conclusions, making them linger more powerfully in our minds. For instance, in “Crossing the Water,” the crossing is both literal and psychological for Lipsha at the novel’s end.

These narrative techniques contribute to the potent artistry of Love Medicine, allowing the book to withstand multiple readings. The dilemmas faced by the characters, which present complex choices, often seem more significant than the choices themselves. This complexity prevents easy closure, compelling readers to repeatedly reflect on the actions of Erdrich's intricately developed characters.

Erdrich's poetry and its symbolic approach have influenced Love Medicine. Thirteen of the stories were published in magazines before the novel's release, albeit in modified versions. Similar to Faulkner's realization, Erdrich recognized that stories need one form for magazines and another when compiled into a cohesive novel. This insight is evident in Love Medicine.

Erdrich's novel Tales of Burning Love (1996) continues from an episode in Love Medicine. In this episode, June leaves a man she met in a bar and ventures into a blizzard, ultimately freezing to death. Tales of Burning Love follows this man, Jack Mausser, over two decades and through four marriages. The story starts in 1994, with Jack married to Dot Nanapush from The Beet Queen (1986), but still fixated on his first wife. Eventually, the four wives, en route to Jack's funeral, find themselves trapped in a North Dakota blizzard similar to the one that claimed June's life. To stave off freezing, they share tales of burning love, discovering along the way the healing power of love.

• Love Medicine is narrated by Erdrich and her husband and collaborator, Michael Dorris, in this 180-minute abridged audio version. It is available at Audiobooks.com.
• An audiocassette version of Love Medicine, along with The Beet Queen, can be purchased from Amazon.com. Titled The Beet Queen: Love Medicine (Excerpt E), this audiotape is priced at $13.95.

Sources
Bruckner, D. J. R. Review of Love Medicine. In New York Times, December 20, 1984, p. C21.

Erdrich, Louise. “Scales.” In Love Medicine. New York: HarperFlamingo, 1998, pp. 43, 201-202, 366.

Gilbert, Harriett. “Mixed Feelings.” In New Statesman, Vol. 109, No. 2812, February 8, 1985, p. 31.

Kessler, Jascha. “Louise Erdrich: Love Medicine.” In a radio broadcast on KUSC-FM—Los Angeles, CA, January 1985.

Kinney, Jeanne. Review of Love Medicine. In Best Sellers, Vol. 44, No. 9, December 1984, pp. 324-25.

Kooi, Cynthia. Review of Love Medicine. In Booklist, Vol. 81, No. 1, September 1, 1984, p. 24.

Lyons, Gene. “In Indian Territory.” In Newsweek, Vol. CV, No. 6, February 11, 1985, pp. 70-71.

Portales, Marco. “People with Holes in Their Lives.” In New York Times Book Review, December 23, 1984, p. 6.

Schumacher, Michael. Interview in Writer's Digest, June 1991, pp. 28-31.

Towers, Robert. “Uprooted.” In New York Review of Books, Vol. XXXII, No. 6, April 11, 1985, pp. 36-37.

For Further Study
Berkley, Miriam. Interview in Publishers Weekly, August 15, 1986, pp. 58-59. Erdrich explains to Berkley how her various jobs have offered rich experiences that help her create authentic characters and their stories.

Bly, Robert. Review of Love Medicine. In New York Times Book Review, August 31, 1982, p. 2. Poet Bly highlights Erdrich's distinctive method of storytelling through characters who narrate at any moment and in any setting.

Brehm, Victoria. “The Metamorphoses of an Ojibwa Manido.” In American Literature: A Journal of Literary History, Criticism, and Bibliography, Vol. 68, No. 4, December 1996, pp. 677-706. Brehm explores Erdrich's use of Native American mythology, particularly focusing on the water deity, Micipijiu.

Bruckner, D. J. R. Review of Love Medicine. In New York Times, December 20, 1984, p. C21. Bruckner praises the poetic nature of Love Medicine and Erdrich's well-developed characters.

Chavkin, Allan, and Nancy Feyl Chavkin, eds. Conversations with Louise Erdrich and Michael Dorris. University Press of Mississippi, 1993. This collection of 25 interviews with Erdrich and Dorris includes insights into their unique collaborative relationship.

Davis, Mary B., ed. Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia. Garland Publishing, 1994. This alphabetized reference encompasses works by Native Americans and other experts addressing Native American life in the twentieth century.

Downes, Margaret J. “Narrativity, Myth, and Metaphor: Louise Erdrich and Raymond Carver Talk about Love.” In MELUS: The Journal of the Society for the Study of Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, Vol. 21, No. 2, Summer 1996, pp. 49-61. Downes compares two novels about love, Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine and Raymond Carver's What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, finding Erdrich's novel more fulfilling due to its characters' belief in and use of myth and storytelling.

Erdrich, Louise. The Blue Jay's Dance. HarperCollins, 1995. In this book, Erdrich recounts her child's birth and first year of life, delving into the daily balancing act faced by working parents.

Pasquaretta, Paul. “Sacred Chance Gambling and the Contemporary Native American Indian Novel.” In MELUS: The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, Vol. 21, No. 2, Summer 1996, pp. 21-33. This article examines the gambling narratives in the works of three Native American authors. Pasquaretta argues that these stories function as a ceremonial space to challenge the influences of corruption and assimilation.

Pittman, Barbara L. “Cross-Cultural Reading and Generic Transformations: The Chronotope of the Road in Erdrich's Love Medicine.” In American Literature: A Journal of Literary History, Criticism, and Bibliography, Vol. 67, No. 4, December 1995, pp. 777-92. This study explores the road motif in Love Medicine. Pittman interprets the motif as a bridge between Euro-American and Native American cultural traditions within the novel.

Rainwater, Catherine. “Reading Between Worlds' Narrativity in the Fiction of Louise Erdrich.” In American Literature: A Journal of Literary History, Criticism, and Bibliography, Vol. 62, No. 3, September 1990, pp. 405-22. Rainwater examines the various conflicting codes in Love Medicine. She asserts that these codes disrupt readers' expectations, thereby enhancing the narrative's impact.

Schumacher, Michael. Interview in Writer's Digest, June 1991, pp. 28-31. In this interview, Erdrich discusses how her childhood experiences and cultural heritage have shaped her writing.

Velie, Alan. “The Trickster Novel.” In Narrative Chance: Postmodern Discourse on Native American Indian Literatures. Edited by Gerald Vizenor. University of New Mexico Press, 1989, pp. 55-6. This piece analyzes the novel through the lens of the picaresque, or trickster, genre.