Discussion Topic
Examples and analysis of figurative language in Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
Summary:
In Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich, figurative language is abundant. Examples include metaphors like comparing the characters' lives to tangled roots, symbolizing their complex relationships and heritage. Similes are also used, such as describing emotions "like a storm," highlighting their intensity. These literary devices enrich the narrative by providing deeper insight into the characters' experiences and cultural background.
List examples of figurative language in chapter 11 of Love Medicine.
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich is an interesting novel because each chapter focuses on some crisis, and chapter eleven is no exception. Gordie Kashpaw is wrestling with his conscience (and with alcohol).
One example of figurative language is the deer as a symbol of June, Gordie's dead wife. The deer is literal, but in Gordie's distraught and hallucinating mind, she becomes his wife. A deer has the quality of being an innocent creature, and we have several sayings which support that. Caught like a deer in the headlights, of course, refers to an innocent who is frightened or intimidated by someone. This is Janie in reference to Gordie. A Chinese expressions says, “point to a deer and call it a horse," which is quite apt for Gordie's hallucinating about June and the deer.
Also part of the deer imagery is what Gordie sees (or thinks he sees) in the deer's eyes. he says of the deer,...
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which he sees as June:
She saw how he’d woven his own crown of thorns. She saw how although he was not worthy he’d jammed this relief on his brow.
This metaphor refers to the self-punishment Gordie has inflicted upon himself to somehow atone for his guilt over killing June (at least indirectly).
Another metaphor is the description of Gordie's guilt as a "burden." When he confesses his sins to the nun (rather than to a priest), the author aptly describes it this way:
telling her had removed some of the burden from him already.
One final form of figurative language is metonymy, in which a smaller part or attribute serves for a larger part or attribute. When Gordie leaves Sister Mary Martin at the end of the chapter, Erdrich says he runs back to
“reservation grass and woods."
Here, grass and woods are representative of the entire reservation.
As in most novels, there is plenty of figurative language which is generally helpful to enhance the readers' appreciation and understanding of the work; chapter eleven of this novel is no exception, and you will undoubtedly find many other examples as you start reading.
Analyze the figurative language in chapter thirteen of Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich.
There are several kinds of figurative language in chapter thirteen of Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich, and the most obvious example in this chapter is metaphor.
One of the pervasive metaphors in this chapter is a smokescreen. This is the metaphor for the things both Grandpa Nector Kashpaw and Lipsha Morrissey use to hide behind when they need or want time and space to think. Nector sings songs out loud in the middle of mass and tells the same stories repeatedly, among other things, which make people believe he has gone crazy. These are part of the smokescreen he has put up between himself and the world, giving himself time to think. Lipsha says he understands because he puts up his own smokescreens, at times.
A related metaphor is "second childhood," which is another excuse for Nector's foolish behavior. It seems to be connected to his diabetes, but calling it his second childhood makes it a metaphor.
He would stand in the woods and cry at the top of his shirt. It scared me, you scared everyone.... Grandpa has done things that just distract people to the point they want to throw him in the cookie jar where they keep the mentally insane.
A second major metaphor in the chapter is Lipsha's "gift." That is a metaphor for the special inherited ability he has to understand and heal people. He touches people and "they feel much better." A related metaphor is the term for which this book and this title are named is "love medicine." Love medicine is using power-containing objects, tokens, or talismen to induce love in people. It is not real, as evidenced, by the events which happen in this chapter; however, the thought of it seems to have a positive effect, as it does on Grandma Kashpaw.
The entire book is quite poetic and contains many other forms of figurative language, as well.
Analyze the plot in chapter 13 of Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich.
Chapter thirteen of Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich is told from the point of view of Lipsha Morrissey; he was adopted by the Kashpaws, whom he calls grandma and grandpa and whom he loves.
We learn that Lipsha has a special ability. He says,
...I got the touch. It's a secret you got to be born with. I got secrets in my hands that nobody ever knew to ask.
This gift is apparently part of his family heritage. This gift inexplicably works on everyone but his grandfather, Nector Kashpaw, as much because Lipsha is hesitant to try it on him as anything else.
Nector is suffering from diabetes and sneaks over to Lulu Nanapush Lamartine's apartment (who is now living in the same nursing home Nector and Marie Lazarre Kashpaw live in) for sweets--and a little more. They are having an affair.
Lipsha is not yet twenty years old when his grandmother asks him to use his gift on Nector, incorporating a tradition known as "love medicine." This is an ancient art which utilizes talismen and tokens to effect a healing change. Lipsha agrees (mostly out of guilt) but says this gift cannot be used without caution and planning. He and Marie devise a plan which he thinks will work.
Both Nector and Marie must eat a goose heart; Lipsha chooses a goose because geese mate for life and, more than anything, Marie wants Nector to be faithful to her. Marie knows this might not work, but she casually assumes that, even if it does not work, no harm can come of it.
Lipsha tries to shoot a pair of geese but is unable to do so; instead he buys frozen turkey hearts from the store. Though he tries to believe they will be the an equal substitute, he knows they will not be. He tries to get the turkey hearts blessed, but no one will do it.
Marie eagerly eats what she thinks is a raw female goose heart, but Nector refuses the male heart. In fact, he mocks his wife by putting the goose heart in his mouth but refusing to swallow it.
Marie is outraged and thumps her husband on the shoulder blades, hoping this will make him swallow it. Instead, Nector chokes to death on the goose heart. Lipsha tries to use the healing in his hands to revive his grandfather, but he is unsuccessful. From then on, Lipsha's gift is gone.
Marie barely survives the shock. But, after the funeral, she tells Lipsha that Nector has returned from beyond to get her; he comes and sits on her bed. She believes the love medicine was so strong that her husband could not bear to leave this world without her by his side. Lipsha also senses his grandfather's presence and tells Nector he must leave, and it seems to work.
Lipsha finally confesses his trickery to his grandmother. He assures her that Nector must have come back because he truly loved her, since the love medicine was not real. Grandma Kashpaw gives Lipsha some beads which she once received from her adopted daughter June (June is Lipsha's mother).