Four Souls Literary Elements

literary fiction

beginning of the 20th century, Minneapolis

Three main characters as narrators: Nanapush, Polly Elizabeth, Margaret
Point of view: first person

Tone: direct, contemplating
Mood: gloomy, humorous

Protagonist: a young Native American woman called Fleur or Four Souls; Antagonist: John Mauser, the man Fleur set out to take revenge on for the stolen land of her people.

A young Native American woman called Fleur sets out to take revenge on a man who'd stolen the land of her people and built his home upon it. She starts working as a maid in that home.

Fleur finally comes back home to her aunt and uncle, wins back the land of her ancestor in a gambling game, with the help of her son and cleanses herself from the influences of the world oppressed by the white man.

"Onrushing, inevitable, carried like a leaf, Fleur fooled herself in thinking she could choose her direction."-foreshadowing of the drastic change of Fleur's plans.

"I have come here to kill you."
"What took you so long," said Mauser.
-Fleur finally decides to go through with her revenge and kill Mauser, unknowing that he already expected it, aware of his wrongdoings in the past.

n/a

"I am the sound that the wind used to make in a thousand needles of pine. I am the quiet at the root."
-Auditory imagery of Fleur introducing herself to Mauser as a bearer of pain of her ancestors and tool of their revenge.

"She had caught him in her sleep." -Nanapush, "Medicine"

"We grew hard, We became impenetrable, sparing of our pity." -Nanapush, "Medicine"

"For what is a man, what are we all, but bits of time caught for a moment in a tangle of blood, bones, skin, and brain? -Nanapush, "Medicine"

"So the name was going to do what it wanted with Fleur Pillager. From the beginning, she did not own it. Once she took it, the name owned her." -Nanapush, "Under the Ground"