In Louse Erdrich’s novel Tracks,[1]
one could argue the Catholic Church’s mission to convert the Chippewa as
oppressive; however, the argument is significantly more complex. Throughout
the novel, the reader receives no direct evidence linking the missionary work
of the church with official government agencies. Beyond the mandate regarding
children’s education off of reservations (of which Jesuits took part), there
are no implications that religion has been legally sanctioning for the purposes
of converting and subjugating Indians. Therefore, one can deduce that the
government was not conspiratorially in league with the church in an effort to
strip lands from Native American peoples. However, though the church and
philanthropic organizations attempted a benevolent assimilation of Native
American peoples into the mainstream Caucasian culture (in order to save them),
ignorance and racial prejudice prevented any chance for equality or justice. This
was not exclusive to the Catholic Church, but the end result was unwittingly
the same. By encouraging Western religion (instead of land and animal spirits),
providing food (unintentionally replacing reliance on the land for sustenance),
and supporting governmental regulations requiring burial underground (in lieu
of tree burial), the Native American pagan beliefs and unwavering attachment to
sacred land is almost inadvertently obliterated by Catholicism.
Nevertheless,
clarification is required to ensure understanding; intentional and malicious oppression
did not originate from the Catholic Church in Erdrich’s representation of the
organization; rather, the government, “liquor and the dollar bill” are to blame
(Erdrich 4). Because the Native American concept of land ownership and
leadership is different from the Caucasian majority, Indians are consequently
considered savages with no true claim to reservation lands previously promised
by government treaty. Allotments for land pass from the tribe to individual families,
and from the family to the heads of households; then, taxation begins. Many
families are unable to earn the exorbitant allotment fees, and lands are foreclosed
upon as a result. This amputation of family ties to the land allows the
government (and subsequently immigrant pioneers and Western businessmen - like
railroad robber barons) to obtain Native American property through
approximately 40 treaties. Meanwhile, Native Americans face internal struggles
of guilt, self-doubt, and fear of the unknown in addition to external forces of
politics, sickness, environmental demands, and religious pressure.
Religion, like a
knife, is a tool that can be wielded for the benefit of associated parties, or
it can be used in a maleficent manner to cause harm. The difference is in the
intent of the tool user. From Father Damien’s well-intended interference, to
Pauline’s harmfully antagonistic behavior, the Catholic
Church’s impact on characters in Tracks is not uniform; it varies per
character and involves individual choice. Biblically, free will to choose was
obtained by mankind in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were allegedly deceived
by the serpent and ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Alter
25). Then, Cain chose to murder his
brother (Alter 30), and Abraham chose
to bed his wife’s servant to produce an heir (Alter 77). The earliest humans and patriarchs of the Torah[2]
also made questionable choices in their lives, often with religious
implications. However, their decisions do not warrant negative judgment against
the religions to follow (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), just as the actions
of the characters in Tracks do not support a blanket judgment against
the Catholic Church’s mission to convert the Ojibwe.
As ancestors and
animal spirits, the lake god Misshepeshu, and the Chippewa
afterlife are replaced with the resurrected dead (Jesus) of Christianity, Erdrich immerses the reader in the death
throes of the tribe’s cultural identity. During this evolution, two characters
portray opposite sides of the metamorphosis. Father Damien and Pauline Poyat make
choices throughout the novel that demonstrate Catholicism’s impact on their
lives, and in turn, the lives of those around them. Although these decisions help
to create the portrait of each character individually, they cannot logically be
the cornerstone from which a case against the Catholic Church can be built. Conversely, Erdrich uses Damien and Pauline to illustrate
the positive and negative effects of Western religion and the power of choice
to do (or not do) based on each character’s individual judgment and moral code.
In Argus, 300
people are served by three churches, three priests, and three faiths: Lutheran,
Episcopalian, and Catholic, with the latter’s basement serving as a safe haven for
town residents during the tornado. Also within the diocese is a convent, from
whence good works originate for the surrounding community; for example, “The
nuns at the Mission lived off only bread. What they saved was given to the
children whose parents carried them to Holy Mass” (Erdrich 125). Many of the
novel’s supporting characters are also of the faith; Nector serves mass, Peter
Kozka reads the New Testament, and Margaret not only drags Nanapush (who was
educated by Jesuits) to mass, but she chastises him for teasing Pauline “on
church matters in her vicinity” (Erdrich 144).
Tending a flock of
an unspecified number, the lone Father Damien (a Catholic priest) arrives on
the reservation to serve the indigenous souls therein after his predecessor succumbed
to consumption (Erdrich 2). He baptizes Lulu, offers to marry Nanapush and
Margaret, and assists with Sophie’s catatonic state. The priest does not notify
the authorities after Nanapush confesses to stealing the church’s piano wires,
and he courageously attempts to rescue Pauline from potential drowning after
she launches an unseaworthy vessel onto the lake. He encourages Nanapush toward
civic leadership, and provides a recommendation in writing, which allows the
tribal elder to petition for the return of Lulu at the novel’s conclusion. As
portrayed by Erdrich, Damien represents the positive face of Catholicism, and
he exemplifies the morality one may choose to emulate from biblical teachings.
Practicing what he
preaches, the priest chooses to adhere to God’s command found in Deuteronomy
15:11, “You shall surely open your hand to your brother, to your poor, and to
your pauper in your land” (Alter 956). The most touching of these selfless acts
takes place as the allotment fee payment is counted, and “Father Damien … added
the final quarter from his own pocket” (Erdrich 191). After hearing of Lulu’s
hypothermia and frostbite, the priest also follows Luke 10:34, The Parable of
the Good Samaritan, “He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and
wine.”[3]
Nanapush relays that, “Father Damien heard of our troubles and brought some
butter,” which was spread on Lulu’s frostbitten cheeks (Erdrich 167). Though declined
by Nanapush, Damien also uses his influence as a priest to solicit the
assistance of the off-reservation physician. Further, the priest continues to
follow scripture in positive ways by sharing knowledge of the allotment map
with Nanapush and his family, “Then he pulled out the annual fee lists and
foreclosure notices sent by the Agent and showed us how most families … were
behind in what they owed, how some had lost their allotments…We watched as
Damien unfolded and smoothed the map flat upon the table…His troubled eyes were
trained on the map” (Erdrich 172-173). As stated in Proverbs 20:15, “Gold there
is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel.”[4]
One specific set
of falsely flapping lips (that speak anything but knowledge) belong to the
novel’s unreliable second narrator, who Erdrich uses to illustrate the darker
side of Catholicism. Pauline Puyat has contempt for her own culture and
believes that it is doomed and weak. She therefore goes south to Argus (to
learn the lace-making trade from the nuns) but ends up sweeping floors and
babysitting her cousin. Her clan possesses an unofficial outcaste status, due
to their work with animal skins and the dead, but it is Pauline’s narcissistic choices
and deceitful behavior that truly alienate her. As relayed by Nanapush, “once
her mouth opened and she started to wag her tongue… she was given to improving
truth” (Erdrich 39). Fleur simply states, “Uncle, the Puyat lies” (Erdrich 39).
For an individual who frequently quotes scripture and believes Jesus has chosen
her for an important mission, Pauline habitually ignores God’s command found in
Leviticus 19:11, “You shall not dissemble and you shall not lie” (Alter 626).
She further
perverts religion with numerous self-rationalizations regarding charity and
false pride. In order to justify her choice to accept Bernadette’s generosity,
Pauline’s internal monolog rationalizes, “She offered pure charity, but I
accepted. I would not have false pride and obstruct the reward that Bernadette
would eventually receive from God” (Erdrich 64). This warped view of religion (in
order to justify improvement of her own circumstances) continues with Mother
Superior’s blanket. “She gave me her own thin blanket… If she did toss, seeking
warmth, it would have been a terrible penance for my sake … my preservation was
worth [her] discomfort” (Erdrich 139). Even Superior’s rations are not excluded
from Pauline’s twisting, as the novice nun humbly reports, “I … took only the
thinnest crust of bread unless Superior forced hers on me. I could not refuse
her gift and thereby steal a jewel from the kingdom of her soul” (Erdrich 152).
Despite the
absence of any scriptural evidence supporting atonement through penance in the
Bible,[5] self-punishment
through discomfort becomes yet another negative character trait for Pauline. She
allows herself to visit the latrine only twice daily, and she puts pins in her
headdress in an imitation of the crown of thorns worn by Jesus. Other plants
are also used to cause irritation, from “burrs in the armpits … screwgrass in …
stockings and nettles in [her] neckband,” Pauline uses any torture she can
imagine. Her shoes are on the wrong foot, and overgrown toenails make walking
painful as well. As a constant reminder of Christ’s suffering, she refuses to bathe
or touch herself in any way. When questioned, she tells Nanapush, “I suffer for
His sake as He did for yours” (Erdrich 146). Sanctimonious delusions intensify
throughout Pauline’s time as a novice nun.
After already betrothing
herself to God, the allegedly faithful servant of the Lord chooses to commit her
second mortal sin, the first being multiple homicides by freezer in Argus. Premeditated
attempts to abort her unborn child, by starvation and blunt force trauma,
somehow do not warrant eternal damnation as punishment for Pauline as they would
for any other Catholic (Erdrich 131). Additionally, in order to prevent
original sin with the first breath, she also tries to kill herself and the
child, whom she feels is “already fallen, a dark thing” and “marked by the
devil’s thumbs,” by refusing to push during labor (Erdrich 135-136). A third
mortal sin occurs with the murder (by rosary) of Napoleon, which Pauline
rationalizes by convincing herself that Satan chose that form for their epic battle
of good versus evil (Erdrich 202). Witchcraft and dark magic are used in the
seduction of Eli with Sophie as the bait, which even a bad Catholic would
recognize as taboo from Revelation 21:8, “But cowards, unbelievers, the
corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol
worshipers, and all liars–their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
This is the second death.”[6] In
fact, Galatians 5:19-21 contains a list of offenses Pauline has committed
against her beloved betrothed, Jesus: "adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lewdness,… sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath,
selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders... those who practice
such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.."[7]
Interestingly,
even the Lord himself is not safe from Pauline’s negative choices and opinions.
She calls Him weak, “a tame newcomer in this country… [of] devils… with no sway
in this land, or no mercy for the just” (Erdrich 192). God is addressed by the
novice nun as the “Lord and Author of all Lies” (Erdrich 158), and she even blames
the Catholic Church for the entire story at the beginning of the novel (Erdrich
13). Pauline chooses to pass death to others as her purpose (68), and she decides
on her role as “His champion, His savior too” (Erdrich 195). The newly named Sister
Leopolda is sent to teach mathematics in Argus, and (true of those with a God
complex) she plans to “mold” the children into her “own image” and not that of
Christ’s (Erdrich 205).
Throughout Tracks,
Erdrich uses religion is a gauge with which one can measure the progress of
the Chippewa Tribe’s assimilation into mainstream Western culture. With new
religion comes literal death by disease and through unaffiliated government
involvement. As the traditional Ojibwe religion passes into memory, ties to the
land decompose, and the culture of the Chippewa joins the ancestors in the
afterlife. However, one cannot be converted against their will, and free will
equates to choice. One must choose to believe, choose to abandon old gods for
new, choose to follow new rituals and traditions instead of those passed down.
While some of the Native American members of the Western religious community display
questionable behavior (including but not limited to Margaret and Nector’s
allotment fee deception), those character do not represent the church as a
religious institution. In fact, only the nuns at the mission and Father Damien
are able to act in an official capacity - until Pauline takes her vows at the
novel’s conclusion. Therefore, the behaviors and good works relayed by Erdrich
do not condemn the Catholic Church as being oppressive in their mission to
convert the Chippewa. Conversely, Father Damien provides priceless assistance
to Nanapush and his family, even though Nanapush and Fleur remain pagan. In
this way, Erdrich teaches that Father Damien’s genuinely good heart and best
intentions exemplify Western religion at its finest. The priest teaches by
example, encourages knowledge as the preferred weapon against adversity, and consistently
chooses to do the right thing. Father Damien lives by the scriptures he teaches,
and through him, Erdrich encourages, The Golden Rule. No matter race, color, or
religion, as stated in Luke 6:31, “Do to others
as you would have them do to you.”[8]
[1] Erdrich, Louise. Tracks. HarperCollins, 1988.
[2] Alter, Robert. The Five Books of
Moses. W.W. Norton & Company, 2004.
[3] "Luke 10:25-37 NIV." Bible Study Tools.
biblestudytools.com/luke/passage/?q=luke+10:25-37. Accessed 29 May, 2017.
[4] “Bible Verses about Knowledge” Bible Study Tools.
biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-knowledge/.
Accessed 29 May, 2017.
[5] “Is Penance Mentioned in the Bible?” gotQuestions.org.
gotquestions.org/penance-Bible.html. Accessed 29 May, 2017.
[6] “Witchcraft.” Biblereasons.com. biblereasons.com/witchcraft/
Accessed 29 May, 2017.
[7] "Galatians 5:19-21." Bible.com.
bible.com/bible/114/GAL.5.19-21.nkjv. Accessed 29 May, 2017.
[8] “Luke 6:31.” BibleGateway.
biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+6:31. Accessed 29 May, 2017.
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