Analysis Of The Leap Louise Erdrich

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“The leap” is a short story by Louise Erdrich which is about the narrator that says that she owes to her mother, Anna Avalon, “her existence three times” because thanks to her she is where she is now. The narrator as well starts to talk about one of the three leaps that has gotten her to where she is. Anna, the mother, is described at first as very coordinated because although she is blind, she doesn’t stumble with anything and leaves the house spotless. The cause of her being so coordinated and having a “catlike precision” is because of her amazing past in the circus. The narrator throughout the story has flashbacks of the past and remembers certain tragedies that her mother was in. The narrator tells the story of the act where Anna and …show more content…

They lived in a farmhouse close to the cemetery where Anna’s first husband was buried. This didn’t bother Anna but on the contraire. One night while the parents of the narrator were out having dinner the farmhouse caught on fire. The babysitter that was sleeping there noticed the fire too late and the stairs leading to the baby’s (narrator’s) room were completely destroyed by the fire. The babysitter runs out of the house and the parents arrive. The mother, Anna when she sees this she takes off her dress and climbs a tree next to the baby’s window to the room. In the same moment firemen arrive. In this part we can see Anna give anything so she doesn’t lose another daughter or loved one. She taps on her daughter’s bedroom window and tells her to come towards her. Then the baby child jumps out the window and into the firemen’s net. Anna has lived a happy life but she gets sad because of her blindness and because of her husband’s death. The daughter (narrator) moves in with her. Since she went blind she can’t read or write and that is one of the hardest things that she had to adjust to. She is lonely and the only things she can actually see are her memories and while some of them good in this cases evils overcomes good. Although she had a great and happy life but she ended up depressed until her daughter

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