is it a physical place, and how does Erdrich use the concept metaphorically?
The essays by James Ruppert, Mark Shackleton, and the third section of
essays in Hertha D. Sweet Wong’s book provide various perspectives on this
topic, as does Lorena L. Stookey’s discussion in her second chapter. For a
different approach, students might consider how the larger story—the larger
history—of losing the tribal land connects to the concept of home. Erdrich’s
own essay, “Where I Ought to Be: A Writer’s Sense of Place,” originally
published in The New York Times Book Review in 1985 and reprinted in
Wong, will be helpful.
- Students might consider the title, Love Medicine, in its many and varied impli-
cations. What does the term suggest when broken into its two parts, and what
does it suggest as a phrase, both in Native and non-Native contexts? Why
does the chapter “Love Medicine” share its title with the book? In what ways
might this novel be considered an example of love medicine? Is it something
that heals? Students will find widely divergent views as to whether the end of
the novel and the idea of “love medicine” offers redemption or resonates with
the failure to save June and the land or to overcome religious and cultural
oppression, alcoholism, and poverty. Advocate for one or the other point of
view. Articles by Karen Jane McKinney, Lissa Schneider, John S. Slack, and the
chapter by Ruppert offer entries into the debate.
- Several critics have commented on the powerful women in this novel. What
kind of power do these female characters wield? How does this affect their
relationships with men? With other women? What does the older genera-
tion of women pass on to the younger? Students could consult Susan Cas-
tillo, Karen Castellucci Cox, Michelle Pacht, Kristan Sarvé-Gorham, Karah
Stokes, and the essay by Annette Van Dyke, “Of Vision Quests and Spirit
Guardians: Female Power in the Novels of Louise Erdrich,” found in Allan
Chavkin’s Chippewa Landscape. Alternately, students might wish to explore
the kinds of power wielded by the men of Love Medicine, and their relation-
ship to power.
- Love Medicine offers humor, sometimes even in the face of the most tragic
circumstances. What kinds of humor can be found in the novel? Erdrich has
described it as “survival humor”—what does she mean by that description? In
what ways might it make a political or social statement? How are tricksters
related to humor? Claudia Gutwirth and Slack, among others, discuss the role
of tricksters in Erdrich’s fiction.
- Students interested in matters of form will find many promising avenues for
analysis in Love Medicine. For instance, what is the impact of having so many
different narrators? What techniques does Erdrich use to make each voice
distinctive—are they in fact distinctive? What does the presence of several
different voices as opposed to a single narrator accomplish? What implications
does this have for thematic and social issues in the novel? Lydia A. Schultz and
Schneider will be helpful in approaching these questions. Or one could explore
the lyricism that characterizes Erdrich’s prose or analyze her use of metaphor
and other poetic techniques. You might consider how the novel blends the
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