CharlieBailey
The University
of Georgia
Project
Rationale:I
compiled an annotated bibliography of five critical sources that discuss
religion in Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine. In addition to listing
sources, I assessed and explained the content of each citation.Annotated
bibliographies such as this are the first step in writing a solid research
paper.
Findings:The
dynamic relationship between Catholicism and Chippewa folk beliefs in Louise
Erdrich’s Love Medicine is paramount in understanding the state of Chippewa
culture.A long history and many
factors have contributed to the development of the Chippewa culture since
the Europeans arrived.The question
of religion is one of the most important aspects of this situation.Because
humans generally identify notions of right thought, right behavior, and
right action with religious beliefs, when a certain religion is dominant,
that certain beliefs about behaviors are dominant, and therefore the culture
shapes itself around such factors.
Conclusion:The
problem of religion becomes even more difficult to deal with when the population
concerned attempts to blend multiple religions into one that can be practiced.It
then becomes necessary to reconcile certain differences existing between
the religions.As a result, confusion
over right thought, behavior, and action in such a culture becomes a certainty.The
Chippewa culture portrayed in Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine faces
this dilemma as evidenced in the differing views on miracles, gambling,
forgiveness, and questions of the spirit.The
essays noted in this bibliography explore these points with different styles
but with the same focus of investigating religion in the Chippewa culture.
|
|
|
One:
The Catholic Church in terms of its multi-ethnic heritage
|
|
Two:
Myth in Chippewa Culture
|
|
Three:
Mistakes of the Catholic Church in Chippewa dealings
|
|
Four:
The notion of forgiveness in Chippewa folk belief
|
|
Five:
The failure of both Catholic belief and Chippewa folk belief
|
Liptak,
Dolores.“Introduction.”A
Church of Many Cultures: Selected Historical Essays on Ethnic American
Catholicism.New York: Garland,
1988.2-15.
Liptak holds that the American “Catholic Church can only be understood in terms of its multi-ethnic heritage” (1). This heritage embodies one of the noble aspects of Christ’s envisioned church—one that saw no differences in its children.Scholars and journalists did not always view ethnicity’s role in the American Catholic Church in this light. In the 1950s, discussions of about ethnicity “were done more to explain the political or social problems that arose within the dominant Catholic culture than to suggest ethnicity as an essential characteristic of the ongoing identity of American Catholics” (2).In America, however, “multicultural development has allowed the Church to mirror the universality of the Roman Catholic Church perhaps better than the Church in any other contemporary setting” (2).The ability of the Catholic Church to recognize this attribute and promote it speaks to the growth of the Church as an institution.Such behaviors are a far cry from the days when French Catholic Missionaries were attempting to convert the Chippewa Indians.This essay illustrates a stark change from the Catholic Church spoken of in some of the other essays.
Downes,
Margaret J.“Narrativity, Myth,
and Metaphor: Louise Erdrich and Raymond Carver Talk About Love.”Melus:
The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature
of the United States 21.2 (1996): 49-61.
In
writing this essay, Margaret Downes mainly attempts to show how these two
novels discuss and reconcile the question of love.In
her argument, however, she speaks to Chippewa myth and the influence it
holds in the Chippewa people’s lives.Downes
states that “the Chippewa in Love Medicineare
supported by an age-old network of vital and therefore flexible myth;
their lives are permeated by the mythological way of their people, and
they are both fed by this and feed it by constantly reforming its contours”
(50).If the Chippewa myth or folk
belief holds this much authority in the people’s lives, then, undoubtedly,
their beliefs and actions are shaped dramatically by said system.The
flexibility in the myth system also would be a more appealing alternative
to the strict doctrine of the Catholic Church.In
general, people prefer more flexibility in work schedules and requirements.This
human attribute would naturally hold true for a majority of the people
interested in a religion.Folk belief
or myth pervades the lives of the people in Love Medicine, and consequently
must be considered a force in determining the right thought and behavior
of the Chippewa people.
McKinney,
Janet.“False Miracles and Failed
Vision in Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine.”Critique:
Studies in Contemporary Fiction 40.2 (1999): 152-160.
This
essay shows a very different Catholic Church than what is generally seen
today.McKinney writes of how the
Catholic Jesuits converted many American Indians by faking miracles and
forcing baptisms—actions that both run completely contrary to basic Christian
theology.The Catholic missionaries
did also help the Native Americans by bringing food, clothes, and medicine.This
aspect of the conversions was left out of McKinney’s argument, and therefore
her argument could be considered one-sided, nevertheless, the positive
part does not erase the fact that “the Jesuits used the idea of miracles
to inspire fear and awe in the Native Americans, often taking credit for
natural phenomena” (157).Through
McKinney’s explanation, one can identify from where Lipsha’s bitterness
stems.Such practices by the Catholic
Church built a loyalty to the Church in the natives through fear and deceit,
rather goodwill and faith, thus contributing to tearing down a culture
rather than enriching one.A religious
system built in such a fashion loses credibility over time, and thus its
opinions concerning right though and behavior are taken less seriously.
Schneider,
Lisa.“Love Medicine: A Metaphor
for Forgiveness.”Studies in
American Indian
Literatures: The Journal of the Association for the Study of American Indian
Literatures
4.1 (1992): 1-13.
While
ultimately concerned with the concept of forgiveness portrayed in a variety
of metaphors in Love Medicine, this essay first illustrates the
role folk belief serves in forming an idea of forgiveness.As
mentioned previously, storytelling is directly tied to Chippewa folk belief—stories
are the scripture.Through the reading
of this scripture, “storytelling…becomes a spiritual act, a means of achieving
transformation, transcendence, and forgiveness” (1).Being
that forgiveness is a cornerstone of Catholic dogma, in this aspect, folk
belief provides an alternative to Catholicism, in the Chippewa people’s
minds, by addressing a main tenant of Catholicism from a different perspective.As
a result, Chippewa folk belief questions the credibility of and need for
Catholicism, further confusing the idea of right thought and behavior.
Van
Dyke, Annette.“Questions of the
Spirit: Bloodlines in Louise Erdrich’s Chippewa Landscape.”Studies
in American Indian Literature: The Journal of the Association for the Study
of American Indian Literatures 4.1 (1992): 15-67.
This
essay addresses the blending of Catholicism and Chippewa folk belief most
directly.By the time Love Medicine
takes place, in the latter half of the twentieth century, “the characters
seldom display outright knowledge of the old ways—traditional ways have
become bound up with Catholicism and Euro-American ways” (23).Some
of the Chippewa people have forgone both praying to the Christian God and
beseeching the Chippewa spirits, as both practices hold in common the idea
of “begging” (23).The beliefs held
and stances taken by both Catholicism and Chippewa myth are indiscernible
enough that a Chippewa cannot point to one or the other as a basis for
faith or a guide in life.The two
religions come to a point where they essentially cancel each other out.Neither
one maintains a moral authority, or can distinguish itself.The
Chippewa people lose out in this situation, for they are left rudderless
and without direction, morally speaking.