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.