Fleur's Magical Powers

In the story “Fleur”, by Louise Erdrich, the main character, Fleur, is believed to have some sort of magical powers by her tribe members. They become suspicious of her when she survives drowning twice, and by the fact that the men who helped her both times die. The tribe members began to speculate as to why she has survived drowning twice, when, because she is Chippewa, she shouldn’t have survived the first.

I don’t believe that Fleur actually has any magical powers. I think that Fleur made the other tribe members nervous, and they started to tell of her “powers” and possible relationship with the water man, Misshepeshu, to warn others, possibly the younger members, of how “dangerous” she is. Fleur doesn’t act like the other members at all. She is “strong and daring”, just the type Misshepeshu is attracted to. Fleur also disrespected her elders by laughing at their at their advice, she dressed like a man, dabbled in half-forgotten medicine, and “studied ways we shouldn’t talk about”, which is not at all how a young woman should be acting. The other tribe members wanted to make a kind of example out of this girl, encouraging others to stay away and never to act like her.

I believe the way that Erdrich wrote this section of the story lends itself to the theory that the tribe members are making up stories of Fleur having powers. The section involving Misshepeshu reads like a compilation of warning tales mothers would tell their daughters. The fact that Erdrich lists all of the different things that he is, what he is made of, and what he will do to seduce a young girl suggests several different versions of the same story to me. These mothers are warning their daughters to not be like Fleur in order to not attract the attentions of the water man.

The same is true of the section that describes Fleur. Erdrich lists all of Fleur’s negative qualities and actions quickly, with several different examples in one sentence, which makes it read like it was several different versions being exaggerated with each telling. She starts off with the unsavory things that Fleur has done, like laughing at the elders’ advice, and then goes on to say that she carries a child’s finger around in her pocket, wears powdered unborn rabbits around her neck, and goes hunting at night, but in a non-human body. The stories get more and more far-fetched as it goes on, much like a “big fish” story does with each telling.

(Sarah Jaworowicz, Post 1)

The Effects of War...

When I started reading about the trips that Marty and Stephen were taking together it showed me how strong their relationship was and the fun they had together. The fact that they could go to so many places together and not get sick of each other. You really got to know the real Stephen. The Stephen that Marty loved and loved spending time with. They had so much fun together, especially when Susy let down her hair and Stephen was pretending he had long, beautiful hair. After reading this, its hard to understand what had changed Stephen so drastically. The war definitely changed Stephen and the boys' relationship.

You never really get to understand exactly what happened in Vietnam that had changed Stephen so much. Whether it was a fellow marine who was killed or even if it was a innocent civilian that was killed. Unfortuneatly, whatever it may have been it was what had really ruined a lot in Stephen's life. He not only became very anxious and nervous but also his comical side was killed. They no longer had fun. Even when they took that last trip to the river, Marty mentions how they didn't laugh or even joke on the war there but Stephen did look more peaceful. This story was really sad in the essence of how Stephen really did actually "die" after the war. He was alive but dead inside. At the river, even though, he felt peaceful on the ride he never really felt alive. Although, before he jumped into the river, he became "alive." His brother kind of woke him up from where he was and he turned back into himself.

The Red Convertable

One thing that i really took out of this story is that the red convertible was much more than just a car to these two brothers. I feel like the car brought a strong bond between the two brothers in the beginning of the story. They both pitch in and buy the car and go on a road trip to various states throughout the whole summer. When Stephan leaves for the Army he gives the car to Marty. When Stephan comes back from war about two years later he is a very changed person. Marty sees this change as a bad thing as well as the rest of the family. I believe that the car being destroyed by Marty really is what brought the two brothers back to being so close.
Stephan begins vigorously trying to fix the car and in the end he is successful and makes the car look as good as new. When this happens I think Stephan's mood really changed and it helped him go back to his past and go back to being his normal self and the great friendship between him and his brother is restored. Stephan is now a much more calm person than he had been since he came home from the war. Once again the two brothers go on a road trip to a river. They get into a fight here over the car, I feel they got into a fight because Marty still wanted Stephan to have the car because that was the reason he went back to his normal self but Stephan wanted Marty to have the car at the same time. After this Stephan jumps into the river and drowns. Marty then puts the car in gear and lets it fall into the river. I believe that this has a very strong sentimental meaning. I think that it meant that Marty seen how happy the car made Stephan and he wanted him to be happy where he rested in his afterlife so he was sort of giving the car to Stephan. The reason i believe he did this was so that he could feel that him and his brother still had the very strong bond that this car both brought to them and was restored between them after the car was fixed even after Stephan had passed away.

Anthony DiChristopher
Blog 1

Red Convertable

This story made more sense to me than "Fleur" various ways. Looking in depth to the story, there is different themes to the story such as friendship and loyalty that I observed. After Stephan came home from the army, Marty was there to greet him with open arms, but it was obvious that Stephan had changed. It still didn't change the way Marty felt about him. He tried to get Stephan to remember the gold old days where they use to laugh and have unforgettable times together which shows a great sense of friendship and loyalty to Stephan because he never gave up on him. Stephan eventually came around a little and became more outgoing and speaking more which was a good sign in their friendship because it wasn't completely lost. Being away from a friend for a few years is really tough, but to maintain that frienship when they are reunited shows how strong their friendship really is.

The red convertible was something that Marty and Stephan both owned. It was a part of them that they shared. I believe it was a bond that brought them closer together from the beginning of the story right to the very end. They had a great summer with it and when Stephan came home from the army it was what got them to become close again. After Marty had basically destroyed the car, Stephan liked it so much that he fixed it and wanted to take it out for a spin. It was then when they got into a fight and then laughed about it and drank beers like they use to. Soon after though Stephan decided to jump into the river where the current was strong and high and drifted away. Marty realizing this decides to drive the convertible in the river as well which symbolizes that they may not be together anymore, but they will always have the convertible that brought them together, that their friendship is still there, which is why marty drove it into the river as well. (Mason Post2)

Suggestion For Blog Post Titles

Hi everyone,

I notice that many of you have simply been using your names as the titles of your blog posts. I think it would be far more useful/interesting if you titled your posts in relation to the topics you are blogging about each week.

Remember that the blog is a place for you to be creative and to practice your reading and writing skills in a more relaxed setting, so feel free to experiment and come up with fun, creative titles for your posts.

Best,
--JI

Kevin

After reading "Fluer" I was a bit confused at the beginning with Fluer surviving both drowning accidents. This made me think that she was witch because instead of her dying the people who helped her died instead. When Pauline mentioned the water man it also brought a new idea to my mind that instead of her being a witch he could have had some kind of spell put on her that made her only his. He possible could have put some kind of spell or curse that if another man helped her or hurt her bad things would happen to them in turn and in turn would keep them away from her. This could be why she kept going to the water to drown herself because she could not swim to get away from the water man. The fact that because of the men being killed on the reservation due to her also the stories people said about her probably helped with making her move off of the reservation. Even though she moved to Argus the spell or curse did not go away or wear off in my mind atleast. When the men lost the poker game no matter what they did to her, whether it be beat her or raped her the curse came back and ruined the meat store they had with a tornado.
When it comes to dealing with Pauline and how she followed Fluer around it gave me mixed signals of Pauline seeing her as a role model, being afraid of her, and also being like everyone else and telling her own story. After our discussion on this topic on Wednesday though it made me see Pauline view Fluer as a role model and an older sister a little bit. I thought this because when Fluer needed change to play poker with the guys Fluer asked Pauline for hers and like an older sister would do she gave Pauline the money back and also gave her 5 times as much back. Another thing I noticed was that even though others in class thought that she was going back and forth telling people stories about her after everything had happened I don't think she did. The reason I believe this is because even though she started to become more of her own character as the story went along I think that at the end she went back to being what she was before Fluer, which was just being in the midst of things just nobody paid attention to her, and she was just listening to the different stories people continued to say about her. Pauline was the only one to visit Fluer after she had her baby, which I believe to be from the night she won the poker game and Lily and all the men beating her and what I believe to have happened was her being raped.
1

Of Native American legends

When reading the story Fleur, one thing that struck me is that some passages were written almost as legends or mythology: especially when dealing with Misshepeshu. It also strucks me how precise the legend is compared with what happens, the ressemblence between the water man and the child in the end. It is almost as if the legend was based on the story; however the last two paragraphs, when the narrator states "Power travels in the blood line, handed out before birth", it appears to me that this may have had a previous occurence, which was the origin of the legend.

The story never makes it clear if Fleur does have supernatural "powers" or if she just happens to be "lucky". the first page tells us of the two "drownings" and the ensuing curse, implying that it involved supernatural abilities, especially for the second one. The "voice" of the storm is more like an interpretation by Pauline; it seems to me that she wanted to take revenge on the men, and that she felt guilty for not helping Fleur, she convinced herself that Fleur was talking to her through the storm. A detail that caught my attention is that you don't know what happened to Fleur after the event in the barn. this may lead to think that she is the storm, if one was enclined to believe in her supernatural power.

Romain Dahan, Post 1