Love Medicine discussion
One way to consider the process of analyzing literature is as a process of asking questions. The questions that you ask about a piece when you read attentively can, oftentimes, be the beginning of an interpretation. For example, you might ask: why does the protagonist of "To Build a Fire" die at the end of the story? What traits does London reveal about him that seal his fate? And what does the plot of the story reveal about London's view on humanity's relationship with nature? (This is something that we talked about during our chat.
This week, you're reading Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine. In preparation for our discussion forum next week, I'd like you to begin recording and asking your questions about the novel. What intrigues you about the novel? What confuses you? What do you enjoy? What do you react to? And why? These questions can be about any facet of the novel: its structure, its character, its plot. The object, though, is to spur discussion with your classmates, and to make this a space where we learn, together, about the novel as we're reading it. For the sake of this discussion forum, please ask at least TWO questions in your initial post (you're free, too, to ask more). And respond to the questions of at least two of your peers.
I'll begin (if anyone wants to try to tackle this in their initial post: I'm interested to see what you think): Love Medicine isn't a traditional novel, with a plot that stretches the length of the book and a traditional climax. Instead, it's a novel told in stories. How does this make the novel differ from a traditional novel? Why do you think Erdrich chose to relate the events in this way?
Instructions:
- Read the story above and answer the questions and the discussions above.
- Prepare 300 words response.