A Balanced And Harmonious Gender Coexistence In Love Medicine By Louise Erdrich

This thesis will examine Love Medicine, written by Louise Erdrich who has Native American ancestry, from a Native American feminist perspective, which Paula Gunn Allen has discussed. It is not only a novel with feminist idea, for its emphasis on female position in the families and community, but also a novel with traditional Indian American belief on harmony and balance in the universe. Erdrich has displayed how men and women achieve harmonious and balanced gender coexistence.By detailed and profound textual analysis of the original text, this thesis will focus on how Erdrich acknowledges the recovery of female position and power and the significance of it. At the same time, Erdrich remains a neutral and objective attitude in her writing, showing due respect and sympathy to male characters that are also the oppressed of the white cultural domination. Based on the dual attitudes, how the harmonious and balanced gender coexistence is embodied on main female and male characters will be examined in this thesis through intertwined plots.The first chapter will explore the power of women, mainly on how they discover their identities, how they learn to wield power, thus playing important roles at the most critical point for the tribal existence. There is a comparison between other contemporary writers and Erdrich, which hopefully would make it clearer to the readers the neutral and mild opinion revealed in Love Medicine.The second chapter will turn to the male characters who act susceptible and weak in the novel. It will pay attention to their social pressures and political persecution, analyzing their living status under the particular background and mental conditions. Indian American men have been influenced by the chauvinism from white culture, losing their traditional respect for women. However, their misbehaviors also prove that they are victims, too. Louise Erdrich, a less political feminist writer than radical writers like Silko, also hints her understanding and dissatisfaction of the fundamental reason for that. The third chapter will continue the discussions in the first and second chapters, and elaborate on how the major characters make compromises and reconciliations in front of conflicts and crisis, thus arriving at the balanced and harmonious gender coexistence with peaceful and eclectic solutions. The primary significance is to benefit the survival of the Chippewa tribe.