Winter in the Blood An Analysis
Winter in the Blood, a Native American novel written by James Welch, takes place on a cattle ranch in Montana, around 1970. On the surface, this is a story of a Blackfoot Indian sleepwalking through his life, tormented by visions, in search of a connection to his heritage. Welch's language is, at once, blunt and poetic, and the pictures it conjures are dreamlike and disquieting. Furthermore, the narrator of the novel is disheartened by the loss of his brother, Mose, and his father, First Raise - the two most cherished people in his life. After struggling with guilt, sorrow, and alcoholism, the narrator overcomes these down falls through re-identifying with himself and his culture- specifically through the help of his grandfather, Yellow Calf. In the opening line of the novel, the narrator provides a vivid description of the his decaying surroundings: "In the tall weeds of the borrow pit, I took a leak and watched the sorrel mare, her colt beside her, walk through burnt grass to the shady side of the long-and-mud cabin . . . . The roof had fallen in and the mud between the logs had fallen out in chunks, leaving a bare gray skeleton, home only to mice and insects. Tumbleweeds, stark as bone, rocked in a hot wind
While taking a bath, Welch illustrates the transition that has taken place by the narrator, "Music filled the kitchen as I ran the soapy washrag over my body. It was good to be home. The weariness I had felt earlier vanished from my bones (133)." Again, the narrator's compassion and real feelings awaken to the surface. "shared this secret in the presence of ghosts, in wind that called forth the Welch opens the story with this line to show a relationship between the narrator's feelings of worthlessness and the worthlessness of his environment. In addition, the author melodically begins the novel in a somber manner - so the reader may immediately adjust to the tone encompassing the story. It is then that the narrator completely absorbs the teachings from Yellow Calf, and allows his life to come full circle. "I had enough of Havre, enough of town, of walking home, hung over, beaten up, It was on his journey home, after another encounter with his girlfriend, that the narrator came to this realization:
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1554
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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