The story "Fleur", by Louise Erdrich was rather confusing upon first glance. Fleur Pillager was a Chippewa woman believed to possess magical powers, and was the main topic of controversy among the villagers. She was thought to be cursed after the men who had saved her from drowning went missing, as well as George Many Women who later drowned in his bathtub. So naturally, I was convinced that this story was about a girl with "supernatural" powers who would curse the likes of men. However, after finishing the story, I believe that she was actually a normal girl that was given a false attire. Since a Chippewa cannot survive death by drowning and because she had cheated death twice, the villagers began to believe that she was different from everyone else. This would be where the story of the water monster Misshepeshu comes into play. The people from her reservation back in Lake Turcot were convinced that she was connected in some way to Misshepeshu that they in turn thought she was evil. They had demonstrated the term "scotoma", which means that the mind sees what it chooses to see. The villagers had been blinded by this myth that they envisioned Fleur as some sort of an "animal."

Fleur later gives birth to a child at the end of the story. The child was described as having green eyes and copper skin, which was the same as the water monster Misshepeshu. Again, this I believe is a coincidence in contributing to her "animal" appearance. The people had seen her as a monster so therefore, they will continue to see her as a monster until proven otherwise. Still, the father of the child is unknown making my assumption less valid. However, it is possible that the father was one of the Native Americans from Lake Turcot, and she could have traveled to Argus in order to get away because perhaps the father was a bad man.
(David Roberts, Post 1)