The Theme Of Tracks By Louise Erdrich's Tracks

In her novel Tracks, Louise Erdrich voices the story of a Chipewyan tribe in the early twentieth century in their struggle to preserve their identity and survive. The Europeans quest to drain people of their land, culture, language and spiritual practices provides the basis to the question of identity seen among characters presented throughout the novel. However, it is primarily through Nanapush’s attempt to maintain the Chipewyan identity through his role as both an elder and trickster, his interplay with Christianity and the Europeans, as well as his art of storytelling that he, his family and their traditions are able to survive the vile hardships put forth by the European settlers in order to transmit their culture forward.

Within Chipewyan

The first Nanapush stole fire. You will steal hearts” (Erdrich, 33). By naming him as he does, Nanapush’s father predestines some of the circumstances of his son’s life. It is in fact through Nanapush’s air of being a trickster that he is able to refuse the imposed ways of the European settlers and preserve the notions of his tribe’s identity. This is depicted through the humor and mockery that he imposes upon Pauline, as well as his disbelief and mocking of the church. Through his role as a trickster, Nanapush attempts to reconcile Pauline with herself in order to guide her back to her place within the tribe and end her persistent practice of self-destruction. Further, Nanapush’s trickster characteristics are depicted when he steals a wire from Father Damien’s piano to snare Lazarre and Morrissey as an act of revenge for cutting Margaret’s braid. Following such, he confesses his sins to Father Damien in a manner that is noted as being very trickster-like, “You can have the wire back, I said. We had only used one long strand. I also agreed that I would never gain use my snares on humans, an

Lazarre was already caught” (124). On the other hand, Nanapush is also considered a wise man whose experience allows him to heal and teach the members of his tribe. Nanapush’s role as a healer is first seen when he saves Fleur from sickness and freezing to death in the Pillager’s home near Matchimanito Lake where her parents, younger brother and two sisters had already perished. Later, after Nanapush regains his strength, he returns to the Pillagers with Edgar Pukwan to ensure that Fleur’s family receives a traditional burial in which he carves out their clan markers, which are “four crosshatched bears and a marten and settles them near their graves” (5), thus allowing the mark of their tribe, the Bear Clan, to remain. Likewise, Nanapush’s role as a healer proves to be heroic when he uses traditional remedies and rejects the Doctor in order to heal Lulu after her feet are frostbitten from wearing patent leather shoes, a gift from Eli which was bought from the Europeans, over her traditional moccasins. Nanapush’s elder qualities are further depicted when he and Eli