The novel Tracks by Louise Erdrich is a story written but of oral tradition in the classic Native American way. The novel is narrated by two characters Pauline and Nanapush. In this story there is much symbolism and trickery. A trickster character is one who can take various forms such as animal and human or play tricks with their words using them as a form of verbal torture or trickery. A few characters in Tracks could be considered as trickster characters such as Nanapush, a Native American man who plays a more traditional character and Pauline the other narrator of the story.
Pauline comes off as a trickster character to me because she seems to lie not only to others but also to herself. Pauline comes off as a narrator you can not trust to be fully accurate or truthful about events. Part of the reason I feel Pauline fills the part of a trickster character is with her lying, but I feel she does this in part because she is unsure of her place in this world. She does not fully fit into the white world or Native American world. Pauline is stuck in between two races, two cultures and she tends to identify more with the whites and their ways.
Pauline becomes very into the white religion of Christianity. Pauline in part hates her Native American side and those associated with it, such as Fleur, but yet is fascinated with her at the same time. Pauline rejected the many Native American ways, “she would not speak our language” (14. ) showing how she rejects this part of herself. Pauline ends up very religious and feels Jesus is talking to her, and tells her she is not Indian. When Fleur is raped Pauline is too timid to do anything to help her, but later locks the men who committed the offense in the meat locker.
Many had thought Fleur had killed them but in fact is was Pauline’s act that did it. Pauline implies it was because she felt compelled to do so because of Fleur’s magic. Weather this is an excuse or her being delusional it is hard to say. Nanapush is the part of a trickster figure as he can fight using his words vs. using physical strength. Nanapush has the power of a verbal weapon using his quick tongue to put people in their place thinking fast on his feet. Nanapush can use his words to humiliate people.
Nanapush used his words as a weapon by telling stories, and using his words to humiliate or trick people, one way he did this was when a priest came to baptize Fleur’s baby, Nanapush tells him the baby is his, “There were so many tales, so many possibilities, so many lies. The waters were so muddy I thought I’d give them another stir. ” Nanapush also uses written documents to later get Fleur’s child back because he had the written proof to do so, even though he didn’t trust the white man’s way of writing things down, believing that each time your name is written it loses power.
Another way Erdrich paints Nanapush as a trickster character is when Nanapush states “Talk is an old man’s last vice. I opened my mouth and wore out the boy’s ears, but that is not my fault. I shouldn’t have been caused to live so long, shown so much of death, had to squeeze so many stories in the corners of my brain. They’re all attached, and once I start there is no end to telling because they’re hooked from one side to the other, mouth to tail,” this is just another exasample of how trickster characters are clever with word play.
