Dueling Narrators: Exploring Narrative Distance in Tracks Anonymous College

For a novel rife with references often complicated for non-native readers to understand, the narrative discord created within Tracks between Pauline and Nanapush only complicates the reading further. The variations in distance between the narrators and the characters, the narrators and the reader, and the narrators themselves work to create a dynamic that encourages the reader to favor one narrator’s account over the other. Both narrators exemplify narrative distance or closeness in terms of intellect, emotion, and temporality in relation to the other characters, and this in turn impacts the reader’s relationship to each narrator. When such narrative distance is analyzed, Nanapush can be favored as the most reliable and likeable narrator, despite his trickster nature and his discord with Pauline.

The existence of Pauline as a dual narrator-character evokes an emotional and intellectual distance between herself and the other characters. Her self-imposed martyrdom for the Catholic Church allows Pauline to extend herself past the troubles found in her Ojibwa community and escape from its emotional consequences. Although it provides a fascinating psychological break for the reader from the government imposed strife rupturing the...