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.