Friday, March 12, 2010
The Soul of Four Souls
In Four Souls by Louise Erdrich, the "soul" was referenced several times and in one particular chapter Nanapush alludes to the soul as the irreducible, the story. However, what is the soul of Four Souls in this case? Is it the story, the actual tale about Fleur or is it the relationship between Nanapush and Margaret? Or maybe it's the story of John Mauser and his greed. It is my opinion that the soul referenced in Four Souls is the actual story of a soul that achieves ultimate happiness and content with life and there are several characters which fit this description in the story. The character that I think embodies the soul that's content with life the most is Polly Elizabeth, however Fleur and Nanapush also reach this state by the end of the story as implied from the narration in the last two chapters. Polly Elizabeth in the beginning of the story viewed everything from their outward appearances whether it was a human being or an inanimate object. One of those people that she despised because of his outward appearance was Fantan, however as later evident in the story that displeasure dissipates as Polly Elizabeth begins to realize that people should not be judged by their physical appearance but rather by their conduct. When she finally does achieve this state only then is she happy with her life and achieves contentment with life as she knows it. Thus, there is a clear message that her soul is finally at peace and therefore, it is one of the souls that comprises the "soul" of Four Souls. Since there are four characters that reach inner-peace and happiness, Margaret, Nanapush, Polly Elizabeth and Fleur, their stories about how their lives changed from unhappiness to becoming content are the Four Souls that comprise the title. Yes, at this point it is one too many souls, to digest as the reader, however it seems that the overall message from the "soul" of Four Souls is that an individual will only be happy when they are content with what they've achieved in life and the situation that they are in currently.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I'm not sure if I agree with you on the idea that the message of the soul is that in individual will be happy once they are content with what they've achieved, but it is interesting. If they are content with what they've achieved, then they would have no motivation to continue living life and striving for more success. However, I guess that being content is miles ahead of what Fleur and Polly Elizabeth were at one point, so I can see why they would be happy with this.
ReplyDeleteIf you're not content with what you have given your situation then you will constantly want more even though you may not be able to achieve that. In Polly Elizabeth's case she wanted beauty that her sister had. She thought that beauty was only physical beauty in the beginning of the story. However, she began to realize that true beauty lies within and thus she became content with her current situation. If you're not content with what you have you will be miserable if it's beyond your reach to change that reality. Since to Polly Elizabeth success was being physically beautiful and having wealth, neither of which she had much of then striving to change this would only result in depression, which if left unchecked would lead to misery and failure not success.
ReplyDelete