The Beet Queen By Louise Erdrich Analysis

In the excerpt from The Beet Queen ,by Louise Erdrich, two children arrive in the town of Argus through the only means of transportation, a train. Once the pair arrive the environment immediately impacts them and is described through careful word choice and visual descriptions when mentioning what the town and children are like. As well as comparisons between between the the two children.  Which all contribute to create an atmospheric feeling about the town that only Mary can endure.

The careful word choice is present in the beginning when mentioning the arrival of the two as an “addition and a subtraction” which can be puzzling to the reader as to what the phrase is implying. Later on the author explains how Karl left while Mary stayed. This allows the reader to distinguish Mary as the addition and Karl as the subtraction. Also the author

describes Karl’s encounter with the only  as having his arms out like a sleepwalker and in once long transfixed motion he floated and this helps the reader realize how mesmerized by the blossoms Karl was with the usage of ordinary words like transfixed and sleep walker depicting the effects of the environment.
Erdrich’s word choice also takes part in creating strong word images in the excerpt like when the two children are being described. We get the image of a tall sensitive gentle boy and his sister being an ordinary girl The strong description of the rather  bland and lifeless town we are introduced to as Karl and Mary look for the butcher shop to fit Mary’s description of being ordinary. Which explains why she payed no attention to a scratch of light against the gray of everything else meanwhile  Karl was immediately attracted to the one beautiful thing they have seen in t town. This shows the reader the difference between the two kids and how Mary fits into the town while her brother seems to suffer from being in such a dull place by  reacting to the blossoms how he did.
The word choice in combination with strong visual descriptions help give the town its atmospheric feeling which seems almost lifeless or dull.

The mentioning of there being only bare horizon between buildings and the farming characteristics help determine the town is what is usually pictured as a small farming town, The road they walk on is dirt, the guilt letters on the bank, and the string of houses with the weathered grey or peeling paint almost represents a lifeless area with little to nothing occurring there  and being affected by the dog and the whole situation and how it leads to the trees death eliminates any positive vibes in the town.

Erdrich depicts how the environment impact the two children with two different characteristics  in different ways. He does this by utilizing specific word choices in certain situations to create a strong meaning or feeling as well as a strong visual descriptions to help the reader  characterize the children and the town. The two literary devices then contribute to the overall depiction of the town and how dull it is affecting the two children by making on stay and one run

away.