Saint Marie and The red convertible by Louise Erdrich - Essay Example

While comparing the pieces of the same writer, the particular style incorporated within the context of theme and other literary devices used elaborately, the time and perspective of that particular writer and ages from which the pieces have evolved out, become more pertinent. Louise Erdrich is a veteran writer who has a remarkable and considerable contribution in the domain of children’s literature projecting Native American heritage. Her remarkable short story “The Red Convertible” and one of the most anthologized short stories appeared as the second chapter in her debut novel “Love Medicine” was published in the year 1984.

It contains a series of fourteen short stories entwined by common characters, themes and settings. In the year 1993, Erdrich expended the collection with the four more stories and this anthology depicts the true colour of Dakota, its people and life style. Saint Marie, on the other hand, is a narrative based on the life of a converted Marie Lazzare who narrates the vents of her recent transformation to Catholicism and her story of sainthood, fifty years following the occurrence of the vent. The story takes place in the flash-back oscillating between past and present of Marie (Erdrich, “Saint Marie”).

Thesis Statement Presentation or narrative style of any story helps in understanding the insight of the writer and the perception related with the story. This essay intends to examine and compare the narrative style of two short stories, “The Red Convertible” and “Saint Marie” written by Louise Erdrich that shall result into the understanding of the insight and treatment of the theme, society, age and myriad psychological and social factors interplaying within the narrative framework of these stories.

“Saint Marie” and “The Red Convertible”: An Insight through Narration A comparative study of the narrative techniques of the stories, “The Red Convertible” and “Saint Marie” would definitely launch the readers into a clear perspective of writer’s social and psychological thought as it would get evidently expressed through her narration. “Saint Marie” is a story that adapts a chronological order for narration and at the same time, the device of flashback is also used and incorporated within the narrative framework of the story largely.

An elderly character of the story named Marie Kaspaw presents the outline of the events that occurred in the fourteenth year of a young and vibrant girl named Marrie Lazzare. Actually, the subtlety of the technique used in this story by Erdrich is that Marie Kaspaw and Marie Lazzare is same person divided in their identity by events of life. The narrative is presented in a mode of flashback where the readers are presented with Lazzare who is a young girl full with energy wishing to enter a local convent.

While playing the role of a narrator, the character is seen presenting subtle clues regarding the course of events that is a disastrous one in Marie’s life. At the same time, the narrator has the capacity to withhold the interest of the readers by unveiling and slowly unfolding the course of actions. This way a considerable interest in the plot development is retained. For the contemporary readers, Erdrich has a proper blend of realism and use of evocative visual imagery in her narrative frame work.

The most important aspect of the narrative style of “Saint Marie” is the process of psychological realism operating throughout the plot to uphold a very sensitive social issue like conversion and