The Past of Fleur

             "The first time she drowned was in the cold and glassy waters..." is how Louise Erdrich begins the short story "Fleur." One of the purposes of this being the first thing known about Fleur is so that the reader may be able to understand more completely the pattern of misfortune tied to Fleur's past. Erdrich is trying to bring out that it is not Fleur who is a curse or witch, but rather the society portrayed in the story that has needlessly stigmatized her.
             Immediately after the aforementioned account of her first drowning, written is the fact that Fleur was saved by two men in a boat. Her "return to life" is in no way romanticized by Erdrich. In fact, the men "pounded her back until she coughed up lake water." The choice of words shows that Erdrich does not want the reader to think in any way that Fleur's survival is anything more than simple resuscitation. To expound on this, the text states that Fleur "shivered all over like a dog" to make certain that there is nothing beautiful about her persona, at that time, whatsoever. After Fleur is brought back to life, the two men "disappeared." The reader sees that one is "ran over by a cart," and the other is just gone. It is not written whether or not Jean Hat is killed when he was ran over, and it is never told if the other unnamed man is dead for certain, or if he is just merely gone. Perhaps he was not native to this town at all. Erdrich is showing her audience that it was only the townspeople who made assumptions about the events happened more than any hard evidence or facts that lead to the stigma. It is not until the narrator's grandmother makes the ludicrous assumption that "by saving Fleur pillager, those two men had lost themselves" that it is seen how the thought processes of curses and "witches" comes into play.
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The Past of Fleur. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 20:18, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/25838.html