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A review by abbie_ohara
The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich
5.0
“I want to lean into her the way when leans into the wind, but instead I walk upstairs and lie down in my bed alone.”
I will be leaving a brief summary of Snider Larson's literary review of the Native American literary canon here in case any avid lovers of Erdrich haven't read up on the constructions and intentions of Native American literature - it will bring so much insight to your next reading experience with Erdrich! Silko is another vey central writer to the canon that i recommend.
- just a few central themes are community, family, heritage, ancestry, identity race, territory, ethnicity, and history.
-there is an importance to Native American writing that focuses on revision of Western writing techniques and rhetoric; this helps the genre take on a more postcolonial tone that is critical of the white-washing of history and the settler colonialism that even today continues to violently oppress and erase the existence of Native Americans. (*although, it is important to keep in mind as readers that the novel is a western invention and any western dialogue or narrative is difficult to challenge within the confines of its own historical and intellectual mode of thinking - this makes the Native American literary canon an interesting point of study within postcolonial thinking - we must remember a famous quote by Audre Lorde, Harlem Renaissance poet and feminist, in her book Sister Outsider For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master's house as their only source of support.")
- another central theme is the impact of acculturation (continuing and embracing pre colonial Native American tradition and culture) versus the effects and impacts of assimilation (leaving behind pre colonial traditions and moving more towards white customs and culture, typically a means of survival for many communities facing the violence of white supremacy)
- A quote by Larson now "Native American people are in the process of identifying or re-identifying features that distinguish them as individuals and in relationship to others. In doing so, they are tied to elements of history, property, and identity. At the present time, Native Americans are a minority defined by the majority culture and as a result they are dependent on notions of identity developed by others. This is in direct opposition to their former historical, place-oriented notion of themselves."
- Larson then explains and deconstructs the long and violent implications of Land-Claim lawsuits filed by the East coast Indians in the late 1960s and 70s - the cases did NOT seek to settle land disputes, but rather became focused on defining what Native American identity is. This is problematic because this happened by white judges and juries, in a white system of law that is very much constructed by the west and whites and oriented to serve the narrative of white supremacy (anyone interested in the colonialism and racism of US law can read George Jackson Blood in My Eye). The definition negatively impacted the course of being for Native Americans and made it very hard for them to keep their land, something essential to identity. Not only were their rights even more stripped away by these definitions, but their sense of community and self were challenged and fractured.
- many authors such as Erdrich and Silko write to reclaim and redefine their identity in this contemporary world, one that is very much so a post-apocolyptic one for Native Americans who have suffered through a genocide and cultural erasure.
- this can be seen in the Beet Queen most strickingly in its fractured narrative. All the characters seem very much isolated from one another in how they see themselves and others. They feel disconnected from each other in this narrative move that Erdrich makes. "Fractured narration" is a very common theme throughout Native American literature
- another prominent theme is the shadow of history that can be taken away from each character's story. Just one example of this is Russell: many native Americans were drafted to fight in US wars, even though Native Americans are supposedly citizens of sovereign nations and not US citizens. They have been historically drafted at higher rates per capita than white people. Because white people killed all the native Americans, there communities are very small, but what is left of their communities have been exploited by the American military industrial complex. Native American men were more likely to have served in the war than white American men. They also were more likely to be killed in action or injured in these wars because they, along with African American males, were placed on the front lines. So, we can see how the most disenfranchised groups in America are ironically forced to fight for the "liberties" and "freedoms" of the American public. Then they do not receive any liberties or freedoms themselves, but return to their communities handicapped, impoverished, and oppressed. This is just one example of the kind of historical allusions present in the Beet Queen.
I will be leaving a brief summary of Snider Larson's literary review of the Native American literary canon here in case any avid lovers of Erdrich haven't read up on the constructions and intentions of Native American literature - it will bring so much insight to your next reading experience with Erdrich! Silko is another vey central writer to the canon that i recommend.
- just a few central themes are community, family, heritage, ancestry, identity race, territory, ethnicity, and history.
-there is an importance to Native American writing that focuses on revision of Western writing techniques and rhetoric; this helps the genre take on a more postcolonial tone that is critical of the white-washing of history and the settler colonialism that even today continues to violently oppress and erase the existence of Native Americans. (*although, it is important to keep in mind as readers that the novel is a western invention and any western dialogue or narrative is difficult to challenge within the confines of its own historical and intellectual mode of thinking - this makes the Native American literary canon an interesting point of study within postcolonial thinking - we must remember a famous quote by Audre Lorde, Harlem Renaissance poet and feminist, in her book Sister Outsider For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master's house as their only source of support.")
- another central theme is the impact of acculturation (continuing and embracing pre colonial Native American tradition and culture) versus the effects and impacts of assimilation (leaving behind pre colonial traditions and moving more towards white customs and culture, typically a means of survival for many communities facing the violence of white supremacy)
- A quote by Larson now "Native American people are in the process of identifying or re-identifying features that distinguish them as individuals and in relationship to others. In doing so, they are tied to elements of history, property, and identity. At the present time, Native Americans are a minority defined by the majority culture and as a result they are dependent on notions of identity developed by others. This is in direct opposition to their former historical, place-oriented notion of themselves."
- Larson then explains and deconstructs the long and violent implications of Land-Claim lawsuits filed by the East coast Indians in the late 1960s and 70s - the cases did NOT seek to settle land disputes, but rather became focused on defining what Native American identity is. This is problematic because this happened by white judges and juries, in a white system of law that is very much constructed by the west and whites and oriented to serve the narrative of white supremacy (anyone interested in the colonialism and racism of US law can read George Jackson Blood in My Eye). The definition negatively impacted the course of being for Native Americans and made it very hard for them to keep their land, something essential to identity. Not only were their rights even more stripped away by these definitions, but their sense of community and self were challenged and fractured.
- many authors such as Erdrich and Silko write to reclaim and redefine their identity in this contemporary world, one that is very much so a post-apocolyptic one for Native Americans who have suffered through a genocide and cultural erasure.
- this can be seen in the Beet Queen most strickingly in its fractured narrative. All the characters seem very much isolated from one another in how they see themselves and others. They feel disconnected from each other in this narrative move that Erdrich makes. "Fractured narration" is a very common theme throughout Native American literature
- another prominent theme is the shadow of history that can be taken away from each character's story. Just one example of this is Russell: many native Americans were drafted to fight in US wars, even though Native Americans are supposedly citizens of sovereign nations and not US citizens. They have been historically drafted at higher rates per capita than white people. Because white people killed all the native Americans, there communities are very small, but what is left of their communities have been exploited by the American military industrial complex. Native American men were more likely to have served in the war than white American men. They also were more likely to be killed in action or injured in these wars because they, along with African American males, were placed on the front lines. So, we can see how the most disenfranchised groups in America are ironically forced to fight for the "liberties" and "freedoms" of the American public. Then they do not receive any liberties or freedoms themselves, but return to their communities handicapped, impoverished, and oppressed. This is just one example of the kind of historical allusions present in the Beet Queen.