An Analysis Of American Horse, By Louise Erdrich

Nobody likes being uncomfortable, right? Many people stuff their feelings deep down inside themselves. A good example of this is myself, when I get frustrated, mad, or sad I don’t talk; instead, I keep all of my thoughts and feelings inside. Many times people get nervous or feel uncomfortable and push it down inside of themselves. This discomfort is just what Louise Erdrich portrays in her short story “American Horse,” through the police and social worker when they create a stressful and uncomfortable atmosphere.o This stressful and uncomfortable atmosphere is created through the house search, when Koob and Officer Brackett flirt with each other, and Koob’s sweat.*
During the house search Koob and the police men find many things, one thing they find is that there is very little food in the fridge. Koob notes this in her “perfect-bound notebook” (22) which in some ways makes her seem serious and knowledgeable about her job. Nothing escapes Koob’s eyes, she notes many small things like the “cupboard that held only . . . flour and coffee” (22). She observes the “unsanitary tin oil drum . . . full of empty surplus pork cans and beer bottles” (22). Koob takes the investigation a little too far when she writes in her notebook that there are “benchmarks of alcoholic dependency within the . . . family” (22). Koob comes to this assumption from inspecting

They create an unprofessional and uncomfortable environment when they flirt with each other. The main sources of the uncomfortable atmosphere is Koob suppressing her feelings resulting in excess sweat which makes everyone uncomfortable. Koob is altogether a walking source of buried feelings and stress, and makes for Buddy and the reader too, often feel that stress. One should never push his/her feelings inside of themselves because no one likes being