Captivity
Louise Erdrich, the author of the famous poem titled Captivity, tells a story about a married mother who has been held captive by a tribe of Indians. The poem uses a wide variety of literary elements such as sympathy, guilt, submissiveness, and tentativeness. The two main themes of this first person, six-stanza poem, are love and fear. Erdrich also uses tricksters, which are supernatural characters found in the folklores of various primitive peoples. They often function as culture heroes who are given acts of sly deception. In this poem, the narrator's captor takes on the role of a trickster. In most of Erdrich's writings, she uses multiple characters as tricksters and this reflects on her Native American Heritage (Smith 23).One of Erdrich's main writing tactics is the use of "historical 'captivity narratives'" (Wilson and Jason 2716). One of the interesting facts about this poem is that it is based upon a true story. Erdrich gives us that feeling of truth and captivity before the poem begins. "He (my captor) gave me a bisquit, which I had put in my pocket, and not daring to eat it, buried it under a log, fearing he had put something in it to make me love him," (Erdrich, 26). This quote came "from the narrative of th
The last two stanzas take place at her house later in her life after being held captive. This indicates that the climax of the poem is in the fourth stanza. Although she is home and doing well, the element of guilt is present when she longs for her captive experience and her husband. She also does not feel at home when she says that she sees, "no truth in things," even though she has food for her child (Wilson and Jason 2715). The narrator says, "'I lay myself to sleep' and 'I lay to sleep', two lines that echo the prayer taught to children," (Wilson and Jason 2715). In the last stanza, she is perhaps in a dream taking her back to her captivity with the Indian tribe. She feels that she is "outside their circle," however she then finds herself as a part of their chants and lives (Erdrich 27). "And he led his company into the noise/... I could no longer bear the thought of how I was./ I stripped a branch and struck the earth/ To admit to me/ And feed me honey from the rock," (Erdrich 27). The first stanza brings a strong feeling of some sort of imprisonment or captivity. "But he dragged me by the ends of my hair," (Erdrich 26). The narrator at this point is experiencing fear from her captor, however she also feels passion and love when she looks into his face. "I could distinguish it from the others... I feared I understood his language, which was not human," (Erdrich 26). Also, there is irony in this stanza when her captor saves her from the cold waters of the stream (Wilson and Jason 2715). In the second stanza, the tribe
Some common words found in the essay are:
Wilson Jason, Mary Rowlandson, Louise Erdrich, Lancaster Massachusetts, Fiction Inbetweenness, Heritage Smith, erdrich 26, Rowlandson Erdrich, wilson jason, jason 2715, wilson jason 2715, erdrich 27, Claudia Egerer, louise erdrich, held captive, Indian Tribe, 'i lay sleep', 'i lay, food hands, indian tribe, stanza narrator, jason 2715 stanza, erdrich 26 narrator,
Approximate Word count = 1043
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
