Marie Kashpaw - Seeking Identity Anonymous College

In the book "Love Medicine," Louise Erdrich transcribes about the lives of Native American families and relationships during the period between 1934 and 1983. The story is set on an unnamed Native American reservation of the Chippewa tribe in North Dakota. The story follows multiple characters throughout their lives while they encounter new experiences and people. The novel introduces the main character Marie Lazarre as a youth and follows her life through marriage and old age. The focus of this paper will be to study the character of Marie Lazarre (later Marie Kashpaw). Marie is in search of her identity as she is a mixed blood in a Native American family. The study focuses on her early life, her religious beliefs throughout her life, her experiences in the convent and later her marriage to Nector Kashpaw and her relationship with her family.

The novel suggests that Marie Lazarre was born in the 1920s; she is born a mixed blood, as her father is white. She is raised by Sophie and Izear Lazarre who are her supposed family, her mother Sophie is said to be an old drunk. She is a child of the Lazarre family which has a bad reputation and she is also considered a lowlife because of her half white descent. Marie is raised on the...