Chapter 16: Step-and-a-Half

Well, we have reached the end of our novel, and what a fascinating end it is. We find ourselves reading a very detailed description of the town pariah, Step-and-a-Half; a very strange and seemingly anti-social person who collects literally everything she can get her hands on. Yet perhaps the most interesting thing about her is that she knows everything about everyone in town; she knows people’s dirty habits, their secrets, and their shames. Most important of all, she holds the key to the mystery of Delphine’s mother, Minnie. And when we find out that she is in fact Minnie, the love of Roy’s life, it seems that the lid is blown wide open. But there is more, it seems: not only is Minnie not Delphine’s mother, she had found Delphine abandoned in an outhouse by her mother, who is none other than Mrs. Shimek, Mazarine’s mother. In perhaps not the best state of mind, Minnie took the baby to Roy’s house and left her there, and that is where she stayed. I think, in the end, it all comes down to the tremendous responsibility of life, and what one does with it. Both Roy and Mrs. Shimek chose not to accept certain responsibilities, but life went on, forever echoing the consequences of those decisions. I don’t think that Louise meant us to be angry over this, however, but simply to accept that yes, this is the way life is; it is wild and unpredictable and we often don’t know where we come from or like Minnie, where we are going. And that’s okay, because like Delphine, we will be okay no matter what. It is a testament to human capability, and human fault.

Chapter 15 Cont.

True to all the foreboding signs, Fidelis continues to decline in health. "The tiredness was bewildering--it had come upon him gradually and now it was beyond his control...When Franz had come home only to fade from life in bewildered anger, part of Fidelis had gone out raging with him" (Erdrich 377). All of the events of his life for the past ten years have been slowly but surely draining him of energy and the will to live. He has lost two of his sons, experienced many heartbreaking events, and continued to abuse his body to show his strength in the face of them; but as life was becoming too much to handle, his body was similarly showing signs of distress and wear. Suddenly, not a moment after stepping foot on American soil, he collapses, slowly watching everything around him fade, listening to soft music playing in the background, seeing Delphine's face blurring in front of him, ready to take care of him as she had been since the beginning. I thought it was interesting that he compares himself dying with being led to the slaughter, and whoever took care of him at the end was "carrying out death's chores." Yet, he is also hearing a familiar sound of music around him; two things that were always the most important things in his life: his love of music and his profession. It is the way he found himself when he was alive and now he will be led out of this world in the only way that is fitting to him.

Chapter 15: The Master Butcher's Singing Club

As we near the end of the book, World War II is ending as well. They are permitted to return to Germany, and Erich is set free from the prison camp. Delphine and Fidelis plan a large trip to Germany as a sort of delayed honeymoon, but "Fidelis had suffered mysterious pains on the way across, and an X ray told them of an enlarged liver and a threatened heart" (Erdrich 374). With this bittersweet news, and with the tedious isolation that she was experiencing, it was no wonder that Delphine felt helpless and bewildered. She hears knocking in her dreams and knows that it is Eva coming to ask for Fidelis; she understands that he is dying and she must let go of him soon. The same knocking had occurred when Eva was dying all those years ago. I personally think that it is Delphine's own fears manifesting themselves, and the fact that she will be alone once again when she finally returns home from a strange land is almost too much to bear for her. But, we do not really need to hear any more about Delphine, because we know that no matter what she will be alright. She has experienced so much for someone so young: heartache and intense joy and pain, the loss of important people, and the return of other important people, that we have plenty of confidence in her.

Chapter 14 Cont.

Things seem to be going good for awhile: Markus fails his eye test and takes a desk job, Franz and Mazarine reunite and consummate their love, resulting in a future addition to the family, and Markus discovers that there is a man in an American prison camp named Waldvogel who can sing like an angel; everyone is shocked and excited. In perhaps the saddest twist of events that I could have imagined, the family soon realizes that "Erich's fanaticism was that of the culturally insecure...Erich's new father was a boundary on a map, a feeling for a certain song, a scrap of forest, a street" (Erdrich 364). They go to see him at the prison camp, but he walks right past them as if they were ghosts. He thinks that he has no family, and indeed perhaps he doesn't anymore. His twin brother was killed right at the start of the war, and he has nothing left to identify himself with; being German is no longer a good thing where he is, but he has worked so hard to become so that he runs the risk of losing himself entirely if he cannot let it go. What so many failed to realize, including Fidelis, was that although Erich was German by blood when he was born, he was culturally American, and thus had no idea what was accepted or cool in Germany. He was singled out and people were confused by him. He was German, spoke German with an American accent, was raised in Germany, but unable to forget his American childhood as well. It does not help with the pain of the loss of Erich that soon after Franz is gravely injured in a freak collision with a heavy steel cable.

Chapter 14: The Army of the Silver Firs

By now the war is full fledged and the only people left at the house are Delphine and Fidelis. Perhaps the most difficult thing for both of them to handle is that two of their sons are fighting on the American side (well Markus is not fighting, but he is in the military), and two are on the German side. This type of thing is what made that era so confusing for so many. There were tons of German and polish and all sorts of other immigrants living in the United States with loyalties to both their own countries and America. They will have family living in both countries, be familiar with both cultures, etc. How does one transcend the political and social implications of this and worry about his sons perhaps killing each other or dying at the hands of either Americans or Germans? This must have been a difficult thing for everyone involved. Even Erich had completely forgotten his upbringing in America, and experienced something that I think could easily have happened to anyone in his situation, especially with nationalism running so high in those days: he became a Nazi. "That is, he'd replaced the childhood with a new wash of purity. Belief, death loyalty, hatred of the weak. He lived simply, by one great consuming oath" (Erdrich 352).

Chapter 13 Cont.

Another significant event for Delphine takes place in this chapter that is somewhat life-changing and somewhat expected. She has been wondering, as I was, for quite some time about her relationship with Fidelis. They had both left it to simmer for awhile, and now the time had come to figure out whether they were ever going to marry. Whenever Delphine becomes comfortable with the way her life is going, she is very hesitant to change it, and rightly so. Although at this point she has been using the books that she found at the courthouse to read and escape from her life. "That she kept her father drugged on his bed next to the kitchen stove, that she was childless and husbandless and poor meant less once she picked up a book. Her mistakes disappeared into it" (Erdrich 301).
It is during one of these book reading sessions that Fidelis comes a-knocking and begins a rather flirtatious and off-putting pursuit of her hand in marriage. Delphine does not know what to make of this new electric attraction that has taken hold of both of them, and spends most of the time leading up to the wedding ignoring him, but as the case seems to be with them, there were many other important things to worry about: Roy's impending death, Franz's decision to enlist in the air force in preparation for the war, Cyprian's return to town just after Delphine and Fidelis are married, and Roy' admittance to knowing a bit more about the Chavers family's deaths than he had originally let on. Eventually all of her fears get the better of her and she dreams: "You are alone, the snake child mocked, more alone than you know. Your husband's from a foreign country and you haven't got a child. your father's dying and you don't know the face of your mother..." (Erdrich 329).

Chapter 13: The Snake People

The time has come for Delphine, along with most people living through the great depression, to go job searching. Needless to say, she needs to give off something that other people don't have, since the competition is heavy. However, all of it goes to naught when she discovers that her father has been drinking, and even more frightening, has to chase him all over town naked one evening in her respectable clothing. I think this is a very significant event for Delphine, because she is realizing that no matter what she does, her father will never change, and if she bases her happiness around him being sober, that is not being fair to herself. Perhaps this was a good experience in the end, because it forced her to put things into perspective and to face the truth of what was happening to her father. She knows that people would help her because they are nice, but also that sometimes who she is will get in the way of that. But I think that the more she remembers that, the more likely she is to avoid negativity in her life, and she does just that and settles into a comfortable sleepy routine of work and taking care of her father.

Chapter 12 Cont.

Now, Delphine is always at the house, but it is true that she rarely puts herself in the path of Fidelis. There is something ominous between them, and no one seems to be able to figure out what that is. Suddenly, while walking in Chicago without Tante and the boys for a few minutes, they find themselves face-to-face with the issue. Fidelis, however, thinks that he will not be permitted to marry Delphine and feels indebted to Cyprian for rescuing Markus that night that he was stuck inside the hill. Finally, after Markus' sudden illness, they are allowed a small time to talk on the car ride back to Argus. As Delphine tries to hash out the situation in her head, "For if he'd held himself back because of Cyprian, it must mean that he had feelings for her by the very definition of his resolve. And yet, too, the possibility of Cyprian could be the excuse Fidelis had for not acting toward her as in fact he did not want to" (Erdrich 286). At this point we know that Fidelis does have feelings for Delphine, but it is not entirely clear to me what Delphine's feelings are. I am left wondering if her approval of the situation is solely because of the boys, or does she feel good about what is "shivering between them" too? In any case it is clear to me that they need each other, because of both Eva and the boys, and that a union between them seems quite inevitable.

Chapter 12: Traumfeuer

As the Great Depression wears on, it is becoming increasingly obvious that raising four boys will prove to be difficult, even for the Master Butcher. Tante wants to take them all back to Germany where they will be cared for by the grandmother, and where she will be able to feel more comfortable with her new reputation as a seamstress/carer for children. But as Delphine stands in the kitchen with Markus one day, she realizes that she cannot bear to part with him. He is too special to her, because he is the closest one spiritually to Eva. He talks about everything with Delphine, especially his mother, which is good for both of them and allows them to heal. She decides that no matter what, Markus is not going to leave her, and that she will never allow it to happen; Markus decides exactly the same thing in his head after their talk. However, Delphine knows that if they stay, they will be very poor and perhaps in Germany they will enjoy themselves and stay out of trouble. Although, there is the impending war to think of and rise of Nazi Germany. Will the boys be able to ever come back, and if so, who will they be when they do? Fidelis believes that the Nazis are going to steer the country toward peace, but even he does not guess at the terrible war that is going to change all of their lives very soon.

Chapter 11 Cont.

As Clarisse is making plans to escape Argus for good, Cyprian is dealing with his own long-standing issues. In a last ditch attempt at hooking Delphine for good, he has proposed to her with a lovely ring. However, both of them know that the answer was no a long time ago and that unfortunately for Cyprian, it still is. Delphine is much too independent for him, and needs something more than he can offer her. Of course, this does not change the fact that Cyprian had found the one person who knew about him, yet still accepted him; and I am sure in those days he was not too eager to tell too many other people his little secret. This was a big wake-up call for him. If anything, it made him realize just how trapped he was in his situation, and that only he had placed himself there. He was entirely dependent on Delphine for his stability, his nutrition, and he had no idea how to live without her. In his mind, they were already a family, but in hers they could never be family in the way that a man and woman who weren't already related should be. Thus, Cyprian runs to Clarisse with his tail between his legs and his head full of foolish anger, and the two of them run off to God-knows-where, leaving Delphine with still less people in her life.

Chapter 11: The Christmas Sun

It is Christmas in Argus and with it come some interesting events. So far little has been mentioned about Sheriff Hock's longstanding obsession with Delphine's best friend Clarisse, but in this chapter it comes to a shocking head. As the pressure of his obsession for her becomes too much to bear, she finds him standing on her doorstep with a request to search her house in relation to the murders. She knows that he will find something to implicate her, because he is a desperate man in love; he knows the only way to possess Clarisse is to make her choose between him or prison. But when his intrusion on her privacy makes her feel too uncomfortable for words, she begins to feel her sanity slipping. Using a large kitchen knife and her knowledge of anatomy, she murders Sheriff Hock as he's pleading for her love. It is too late for him, however, as his unbearable psychological abuse of her becomes too much and she is consumed by years of pent-up rage. Their relationship is an interesting one, and it speaks to all of the women who have felt the invasive control of a man, particularly one who has no right to exercise such power over them. And, as often happens, the desire to take back their power leads them to take desperate measures. Faced with murder charges and a whole mess in front of her, Clarisse calmly makes preparations to leave Argus (and poor Delphine) behind.

Chapter 10: Earth Sickness

As Markus is rediscovering life after coming so close to joining his mother, Franz is having some serious girl trouble. He is old enough to know the difference between right and wrong, but instead of going with Mazarine as he wants to, he lets his foolish fear that being with her was what almost killed his brother get the better of him. Instead he goes out with Betty, and locks eyes with Mazarine as they pass her on the street in Betty's car. For a moment, it is confusion and then pain for both of them, as their first experience with love gone wrong begins to take affect. Franz, like every young person in love who does something stupid, knows he is terribly wrong, but thinks nothing of the betrayal that Mazarine must feel. However, even though it is bad now, I think Erdrich is trying to reminds us that we all need to, have done, something like this in our brash, youthful way; perhaps simply to remind ourselves that we can do these things, even if we shouldn't.

Chapter 9 Cont.

I am beginning to see an interesting change taking place now; where before the family moved together as a unit, they are now becoming individuals. That is to say, they are beginning to focus on their own personal needs, and that is the beginning to the end of the grieving process. While Markus is coming to terms with his mother's death, Franz is focusing on his first and only love, and Cyprian and Fidelis are hashing out their differences in a physical way. Although they think they are fighting because of their feelings about the war, it is obvious that they are taking out their manly frustrations over their "claims" to Delphine on each other. It seems that all of the pent up frustration over Delphine saying no to him and the realization that her place is more with Fidelis and his children than it is with him has caused him to lash out at his perceived "enemy." In reality, however, the enemy may very well be himself for refusing to consider that things are working out this way for a reason. He also is not accepting himself for who he is as a homosexual man. He cannot love Delphine the way that Fidelis can, but he does need her to feel complete and it is very hard for him to deal with that fact on his own. Perhaps the thought of her seemingly inevitable marriage to Fidelis and desertion of him when he has no one else is too much to bear at this point in his life. Whatever the case, it is obviously time for someone to move on, and it may as well be him.

Chapter 9: The Room in the Earth

Chapter 9 shifts our attention the personal grieving processes that are being experienced by Eva's children. Markus in particular seems unable to let her go, and with a boy's determination, sets all of his energy to pursuing something that comforts him, while at the same time reminding him of his mother. "In his thoughts she was more powerful than ever, and stubbornly, he nursed words and pictures and spoke of her to himself" (Erdrich 202). He seems to be experiencing a child's own private rebellion when something he has loved so deeply has been taken away and forgotten. No child wants to forget their mother, and it seems he is being denied a healthy reminder or two from his father, who has chosen to focus his attentions on other things. It is difficult for him, because each member of the family has their own grieving process and his is not being catered to. However, he finds solace laying beneath the cool, comfortable earth that he held over his mother's grave not that long ago. He had not been able to let go of the dirt to throw upon her grave as a final farewell, as he had not been able to let go of her; now he has found a way to be a part of her again by joining her, as I think he means to do when he curls up underground to sleep.

Chapter 8 Cont.

Whenever there is a life-changing event, we as humans know that we must cope with it in our own private way. We also know that at some point another event has to happen for us to come to terms with it, and that is exactly what "The Burning of the Mutts" is for Fidelis. It happens when a pack of feral dogs tears to shreds the only living remnant of Eva's time on earth: the family of chinchillas that she purchased for the boys. Inspired by some deep feeling of revenge, Fidelis patiently sets a trap and waits for them in the dark, picking them off one by one with a former sniper's deadly skill. It is a perfectly appropriate symbolic end to something that had been gnawing at everyone for so long. As the dogs charred bodies smoldered in the fire Fidelis had lit, a peace seems to settle over the family, and tired, they all went to bed satisfied. It seems like a simple thing, but to them it must have been a pivotal move for Fidelis to make. Life had been sorely taking advantage of them, and now they experienced the power to take back control in their own lives. Delphine, however, appreciates the idea that one dog could escape Fidelis, because, unlike him at this point, she has the capacity to appreciate the untamed world. At the end of the chapter, we see their relationship taking on a new dimension as unspoken-but-known feelings linger between them, biding their time until they are ready to progress into unknown territory.

Chapter 8: The Burning of the Mutts

At this point, Delphine has consented to return to work for Fidelis and continues caring for the boys, and her constant worrying has left little time to consider the private direction her life might take. However, when she finds that her relationship with Cyprian might take a different direction, perhaps toward an altar of some sort, she finds herself completely and utterly incapable of saying yes. Something has happened to her in those seemingly endless months and days that has transformed her private wishes into impossible fantasies. She realizes the futility, the complete emptiness that marrying Cyprian would bring, because her life is different now; what she chooses to identify herself with is different. She has become such a part of the Waldvogel existence that her life with Cyprian has been put on the back burner in her mind. And, although he is shocked into reality by her response, it is not surprising. I found that even as the reader it is impossible to entertain the idea of her marrying Cyprian. What is left now is the question of what will become of Cyprian, and also will Delphine choose to take Eva's place in the family permanently? She is so independent and powerful a figure that it is hard to make such a prediction. However, it has been hinted at and no doubt we will see a resolution very shortly.

Chapter 7 Cont.

Now that Eva has passed, life begins to progress again and everyone lets out a breath. But it is the breath of change, this time. It seems that everyone has been startled into a keen awareness of life brought about by Eva's death. It is a phenomenon felt by everyone in the town, particularly in those who had not experienced a change in quite some time. Even Roy has begun to sober up and exert whatever energy he has toward improving his homestead. This is a fascinating change in character for one who's obsession with escaping reality knows no boundaries. Arguably one of the most difficult characters to assess, Roy seems to be full of surprise and mystery. For the first time in his life, he seems to have been shocked into sobriety by a horrifying and inescapable reality. And he is not the only one who feels it, it is felt by everyone. Everyone has finally devoted themselves to bringing a much needed peacefulness and comfort that only death can inspire apparently.

Chapter 7: The Paper Heart

Delphine was now "...in the other world of the two that existed side by side. One world was of those who would go on living. The other was centered on the one who would die" (Erdrich 135). At this point in the journey, everyone is just biding their time until death claims Eva. This passage perfectly illustrates the role of the caretaker that Delphine has taken on; she must usher in death, must provide a smooth transition for everyone involved, and she is exhausted. It becomes hard for anyone to feel anything, particularly Eva's children because they cannot experience the painful emotions that they are, they must turn themselves off or be overwhelmed. Death is a new experience for most of the people involved, especially Delphine and the children, and for the first time they are experiencing what Fidelis must have all those years ago: the ability to turn off their humanity until death has finally arrived. In an interesting twist of events, the children have taken on the exhaustion that their mother is feeling as well. "It was happening to them too, Markus had noticed...He could see how their eyes drooped" (Erdrich 136). The psychology of a household experiencing a death is a powerful and terrible thing to behold for me, as someone who has never experienced such an event.

Chapter 6 Cont.

This part of the novel is really a testament to the pain that a close-knit community and a family feels in the face of a terrible disease and the death of a loved one. It is filled with startling truth and extremely relatable stories that chronicle the journey of a dying woman. When Erdrich writes of Fidelis, "Against her sickness, he was weak as a child" (Erdrich 125), she is hauntingly correct. Everyone in this chapter is attempting to battle this thing eating away at their beloved Eva, knowing full well that nothing can ever work, but doing it because they simply must. Eva and Delphine seem to be the only two people that have come to terms with the harsh reality of the situation, and even then it is sometimes unbearable to them; Eva when she has to suffer and Delphine when she has to watch Eva suffer. There are even some surprising turns in character; Roy when he uncharacteristically steals morphine for Eva, and Tante when she betrays the person she is supposed to treat like family by dumping her only relief down the kitchen sink. All of these things bring to light how incredibly tense and straining the death of a loved one can be for people; everyone finds themselves doing things that they didn't necessarily know they had the capacity for, both good and bad.

Chapter 6: The Night Garden

By now, as you can probably imagine, Eva has become quite sick and thus can be found most often in the company of Delphine. One night, sitting in the wildness of Eva's garden, both of them begin to explore their connection with nature. Delphine has a very interesting experience, the kind that stays with a person forever, to be remembered in times of sorrow. "When she shut her eyes, her mind grew alert. Her senses opened...she felt how quickly things formed and were consumed. How there was so much blind feeling" (Erdrich 111). Both her and Eva have come to a point where they must figure out their humanity, and it is a perfect night to sit and question their spirituality. There is a certain calm in the air, and a comfortable connection with nature that allows both Eva and Delphine to explore their feelings about the impending end to existence that faces both of them. It is a twilight zone of sorts, and it allows them to put a voice to their fears for the first time. Both of the women are realizing the darkness that awaits, how short their time on earth is, how strong their feelings are, and how inconceivable their purpose in life truly is. It is a simple conversation they are having between themselves and with nature, but what will also prove to be a profoundly life changing one.

Chapter 5 Cont.

Naturally, Delphine begins work at Waldvogel's Meats, spending most of her day in the kitchen with Eva. As she learns more about this fascinating family, puzzles over her relationship with Cyprian, and deals with the pain that she feels over the dead family in her basement, she feels comforted by the soothing presence of Eva. She is a symbol of fortitude and order for Delphine, and having some structure in her day and something akin to sisterhood with someone like that is just what she needs. However, as time goes on, she begins to notice that Eva is suffering from some invisible ailment. She becomes sunken and tired, complaining of abdominal pains. Finally, she collapses and Delphine feels a strong sense of despair yet again as her signature luck kicks in. True to her character, she begins to take care of everything: writing notes, reassuring the children, driving Eva to the doctor and the hospital and doing anything she can to keep things running smoothly. In a bit of foreshadowing, the reader can see how Delphine is slowly taking Eva's place in the Butcher shop and in the home, even before she is gone. For better or worse, Delphine finds that where tragedy lies waiting, so does her purpose for continuing to exist.

Chapter 5: The Butcher's Wife

For me, this chapter is about Eva and her kitchen, and what it becomes to Delphine as she begins her friendship with the Butcher's Wife. She finds Eva a fantastic creature, talented at keeping everything in order at all times; a wife, a mother, a shopkeeper, a baker, and anything else that was needed of her. It is true that Delphine is envious of Eva, but she also respects her as a person seeing what life is supposed to be like for the first time. Coming into her kitchen is like coming into the most perfectly home-like place on earth, and Delphine realizes how desperately she has been needing that feeling in her life. It essentially becomes a sanctuary for her, a place where she learns how to put her womanly talents and desires into practice for the first time. Not because desperation and taking care of her father force her to, but because Eva makes it enjoyable and comforting for her.

Chapter 4 Cont.

In Chapter 4, we also learn a few more details about Delphine's mother, Minnie. Apparently, "No one ever saw her except in Roy's pictures, or knew much about her except from Roy's stories" (Erdrich 65). Roy had allegedly loved her very deeply, yet it seems odd to me that he would not want to share this worship of her with others. In fact, no one besides Roy knows anything about her! He can hardly be coaxed into telling believable stories about her, if he tells them at all.

As his obsession with Minnie becomes a dramatic ritual, he begins to drink until "Gradually, he destroyed the organ he'd mistaken for his heart" (Erdrich 65). In my opinion, this sounds like a man who has a deep need; not for the love of Minnie, not for the care of his daughter Delphine, but for something greater. He obsesses over a brief and passionate love for the rest of his life, and it becomes somewhat of an identity for him. If he indeed needed Minnie, why would he create such an elaborate and secretive story surrounding their love and then proceed to become a complete ruin of a man for their only daughter? To me this points to a clear case of his being more obsessed with the idea of her as something that made him feel important rather than her being important to him.

Chapter 4: The Cellar

For me this was arguably one of the most powerful chapters in the novel. Aside from the introduction of the "cellar problem", we get a new perspective on Delphine and Cyprian's relationship. At first she is struggling between feelings of curiosity about the identity of Cyprian and betrayal because they had been lovers for awhile. However, because of this new development, their relationship is allowed to deepen and take on another dimension. They are comfortable enough with each other to still be intimate, but it doesn’t mean the same thing anymore. Now Delphine sees that it is just an extremely caring relationship and this allows her to appreciate him more as a person. This is further illustrated on pg. 50 when Delphine makes the observation that “They were something else. They were not-quite-but-more-than family.” Later on the reader sees that Cyprian has lingering questions about his own sexuality, but it is not so stressful to him now that he doesn’t have to keep it hidden, as he would have felt more strongly he had to do before.

Chapter 3 Cont.

One of the most horrific and macabre scenes in the book takes place in Chapter 3 of the novel. Fidelis receives an assignment to butcher a prize-winning pig who has been pampered all her life and is now being retired, so to speak. He handles it with perfect calm, just like any other project that he has; he is a master butcher after all. As he soon discovers, however, this time will be very different. The sow shows an almost human fear and intellect as she skillfully fights for her life, leaving Fidelis gravely injured with a large wound in his leg.

Surprisingly, most of all to him, he feels a deep sorrow for her, almost as if he feels some connection with her. He begins to sob after he kills her, and immediately becomes ashamed and angry at his breakdown. After all, "He had killed men...What sort of man was he to weep, now, for a pig?" (Erdrich 38). Clearly, this is a man who, perhaps paradoxically, values a life, and not just a human life. He feels because he has become disengaged from the context of war, and for a brief time he has been tirelessly chasing a (somewhat) helpless animal fighting for her life; he has taken on the role of the very persistent murderer essentially, and he realizes it is exhausting to be cruel to a creature fighting for her life. This is just one of the ways that I have seen Fidelis' character grow from the beginning of the book, and he will continue to experience new opportunities for growth as the book progresses.

Chapter 3: The Bones

At this point in time Fidelis is more or less resigned to Argus, where he found he must stop indefinitely due to his lack of funds, and has begun to set up his life as Master Butcher. He brings his wife and her son Franz over the ocean and into his new life, which to Eva seems startling bland. Yet as an ongoing altercation between Fidelis and the other butcher in town, Pete Kozka would prove, things were anything but boring. The whole thing starts when Pete's dog Hottentot starts fishing for scraps of meat behind Fidelis' shop and bringing them home. Thinking that Fidelis has corrupted the "loyalty" of the dog, Kozka vows to be revenged upon him. When both men end up nursing some wounded pride, it becomes clear to me that this story is a bit of a fable in disguise. Pete's misplaced trust in Hottentot is in some ways a commentary on his relationship with Fidelis. To me, it suggests that the foolish pride of one man is no match for the determination of another who simply wants to survive in the world. Hottentot carries a bit of both of them within him: a foolish pride but also a determination to succeed in getting what he wants. In the end, Pete ends up paying dearly for his misplaced trust in an animal, and finds a common ground with the person he had previously regarded, quite ironically, as being less worthy of his respect than a dog.

Chapter 2 Cont.

As Delphine and Cyprian perfect their balancing act, with Delphine's phenomenal stomach muscles hard at work as Cyprian balances on top of them with no less than six chairs in between, it becomes clear what role each will play in the relationship. The significance of Delphine essentially laying on the ground with all of these things balancing on top of her is not lost on the reader: she is attempting to balance the weight of everything on her own.

This means a few things for Delphine: first of all, it is dangerous to take on all the problems and frustrations of the world on your own, it can easily topple around you at any moment, no matter how prepared you are for it, and it is doing a disservice to herself by allowing herself to provide the basis for other people's happiness. In a sense, she is holding Cyprian up so that he will not fall, will not be exposed for what he really is, which, as we find out at the end of the chapter, is not a man capable of fully loving a woman because of his own confusing sexuality.

Chapter 2: The Balancing Expert

Fast forward to a small rented room at the mouth of the Mississippi River where we meet what appears to be two adventurous young lovers. One is Ojibwe ex-soldier Cyprian and the other Polish farm girl Delphine Watzka. They have just come from Argus, North Dakota to try their hand at starting a traveling theatrical act. Both of them are strong, and full of curiosity for the other. They are also both contemplating the nuances of their developing relationship. Delphine wants Cyprian for his chiseled body and because he is attentive to her in a way that no other man has been; Cyprian wants Delphine for her alluring personality and caring nature...and perhaps little else.

In Delphine's eyes, Cyprian is the "ideal picture of manliness" (Erdrich 15), but she is confused by his "lack of sexual heat" (Erdrich 17). It became evident to me, however, that this is not as important to Delphine as simply having a man to dote upon who actually respects her. Her quest for fatherly affection has led her to base her feelings for a man solely on whether or not he is attentive to her, as the reader begins to see the more he is described: "in spite of his destructive idiocy when in his cups, she harbored an undying fondness for Roy Watzka..." (Erdrich 18). He is a drunken philanderer unworthy of his daughter's unending support, and she is a lonely girl who has learned to expect very little from a man, but to give everything.

Chapter 1 Cont.

As the first chapter of Erdrich's novel comes to a close with Fidelis' foray onto American soil, I am struck by the singular discipline with which he carries himself. It is the strength and determination characteristic of many European immigrants who came here with the proverbial "six dollars in their pocket." Fidelis seems to be bothered by nothing: not by the strong feeling of separation from his new love, the hunger that gnaws at him, the slow disappearance of his sausages and the even slower filling of his pockets. Could it be that he is so strong and confident that he feels not the slightest bit of apprehension? But that is just the kind of man Fidelis is; and perhaps given the alternative of the post-war poverty that many Europeans faced, anything seems promising in this new land. And, as Erdrich points out on pg. 13, "He didn't know that he would never leave. Fidelis simply thought that he would have to stay here, and work here, using the tools of his trade, until he made enough money to travel on to the destination he'd picked out..."

Chapter 1: The Last Link

When we meet Fidelis Waldvogel, he has just returned home from the trenches of war torn Germany. He has begun to feel again, to experience coming alive after having shut off his emotions for so long. In his understanding, “to come alive after dying to himself was dangerous. There was far too much to feel, so he must seek…only shallow sensations” (Erdrich 2). He is, in essence, still in survival mode, and must learn how to cope with even the slightest hint of emotion. Having been so focused on his physical well-being for so long, he is now vulnerable to the physiological effects that pain or joy may have on him.

This will be a recurring theme throughout the novel, as the effects of war on the human psyche are explored in great depth. Fidelis not only must come to terms with his survival and his best friend’s death, but do his part, as each surviving German must do, to clean up the aftermath of the war. In fact, he has promised to marry his dead best friend’s fiancé, Eva, and must use his resources and strengths to carve out a life for them.