On the Subject Of…

Erdrich's Mythic Women

In fashioning Fleur, Antelope Wife, and Windigo Dog, Erdrich becomes a mythmaker like her characters who stand as symbols of the possibility that the unknown spirit world can still assert itself in the lives of her contemporary Chippewa people. When Fleur brings the great powers of the spirit bear and Misshepeshu into the lives of her people, she exemplifies the possibility of living in right relationship to the spirits. Chippewa people regularly used to seek access to manito powers through the Midéwewin ceremonies, and this relationship remains available, even in modern times, to those willing to seek it. [.…] The possibility and probability of a continued relationship with the manitos exist through several community members by the end of the North Dakota novels: Shawnee Ray knows how to talk sweetly to the spirits, and her uncle Xavier Toose serves...