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.