My skin was dust. Dust my lips. Dust the dirty spoonson the ends of my feet.Rise up! I thought. Rise up and walk! There is no limit to this dust
I thoroughly enjoyed how Erdrich showed with point of views, tone and setting throughout his writing skills in this story.
Pity twisted in my stomach as if that hook pole were driven through me at last
This whole story, to me, is a form of irony and satire towards the church.
Leopolda with her soul like a rubber overboot.
Not only does the tone change, but Marie has lost respect for sister Leopolda. This can be seen because she no longer calls he "sister".
blasting poison
The change intone and adjective Marie uses to describe the convent and sister leopolda from the beginning of the story to now, is extreme.
She had hid the fork and told thisto the others.
Erdrich portray sister leopolda as also deceitful in this part of the story.
She stared at me now with all the deep hate of the wheel of devilish dust that rolledwild within her emptiness
The symbolism behind sister leopolda is so big. In a way it is used as satire. She is a nun, but is depicted as a horrible, abusive human being.
The last thing I remembered was that she flew from the oven and stabbed me. That one thing wasmost certainly true.
Marie is acknowledging how terrible sister leopolda has treated her.
My arm was dried blood from the wrist down to the elbow.
Marie is still bleeding from the fork sister Leopolda stabbed her with.
I was lying in white sheets. Icouldn't tell why they were praying to me. But I'll tell you this. It seemed entirely natural
The nuns think Marie is dead. This change in scene is a good use of change of tone Erdrich uses.
Je ne peux pas voir
The nuns are praying in latin.
I broke out and laughed
The least expected reaction: lauging.
The Sisters of the convent were kneeling to me. Sister Bonaventure. SisterDympna. Sister Cecilia Saint Claire. The two with hands like paddles
We are finally introduced to a different scene with more characters being the other nuns in the convent.
That was when she stabbed me through the hand with the fork, then took the poker up alongside my head andknocked me out
This escalated really quickly; sister leopolda is also physically abusive.
Her face turnedupsidedown on her shoulders. Her face turned blue. But saints are used to miracles. I felt no trace of fear.
Instead of being afraid here, Marie has come out of her comfort and is in defensive mode now.
The oven was not as deep as I had thought
This whole scene is quite chaotic to say the elast.
"Yes, this is part of it." I put the mittens on my hands and swung thedoor open on its hinges. The oven gaped. She stood back a moment, letting the first blast of heat rush by. Imoved behind her. I could feel the heat at my front and at my back.
The way Erdrich describes every little scene and moment in this story with such detail adds to the tone of it.
But I was not going to help her
Marie does not want to help sister Leopolda anymore with the oven and bread.
She was pretending nothing had happened.
Up until this point, we can tell Marie is very observant.
We must take the bread from the oven now
The fact sister leopolda is still worried about the bread even though she just burned Marie is ironic.
I began to wonder if she had really scalded me with the kettle. I could not remember.To remember this seemed the most important thing in the world.
Marie's stay at the convent with sister Leopolda is starting to take a toll on her mentally.
She told me to remove my shirt and sit down on her mattress. Idid so. She took a pot of salve from the bookcase and began to smooth it upon my burns
At this point, Leopolda is curing the burns Marie has from the kettle.
with the kettle. So I kept quie
Despite what sister leopolda just did to her, Marie still protects her in a way.
A very good girl.
It is crazy how sister Leopolda describes Marie as a good girl after treating her in a very mean way the whole entire time.
nipples flashed and winked
The imagery here helps feel and know what the character, Marie, is feeling.
no Marie.
This sounds like Marie is having an identity crisis.
We sat together quietly because we had no more words. We let the dough rise and punched it down once
It is quite ironic how all this chaos is happening while they are doing something so simple like baking a loaf of bread in the oven.
like the sinking reflection in a well
The use of this simile is very much appreciated at this point in the story.
Words came. Words came from nowhereand flooded my mind
Marie feels like voicing her thoughts but chooses not to.
tipped from the spout, cooling as it fell but still scalding as it struck. Imust have twitched beneath her foot because she steadied me
Erdrich continues to use great words and language throughout to describe the setting and scene.
He had his fill. I got the cup!
The way they refer to satan in an extra third person pint of view is quite interesting and I had never read a story like this.
I was afraid. I tried to scramble up, but her foot came down lightly behind myear, and I was lowered. The foot came down more firmly at the base of my neck, and I was held
Marie finally states in her own words, she is afraid, instead of trying to admire sister leopolda.
fraction of the heat you will feel in his hellish embrace
Sister Leopolda is also verbally abusive. The author highlights this through the language used in the text by the characters.
Get it out of there, Marie.
This is the first time throughout the story that sister Leopolda actually refers to Marie by her name.
"Don't let him touch you. We'll be a longtime getting rid of him."
All the dialogue the author uses helps keep track of a clear conversation between the two characters in the story.
For a while we worked in silence, mixing up dough and pounding it out on stoneslabs
Up until this point, all the descriptions help us as readers picture perfectly how the setting is.
slamming the door in my face, "you can eat all you want of thepriest's cheese.
Sister Leopolda is not letting her even eat.
I stared at it. The rich curve in the buttery cloth
All the food clearly, seems very appetizing to Marie.
Dark One down
It is sad how these nuns are using derogatory terms like this to refer to Marie, but she is too naive to think of it that way.
Her face was strapped in white bandages anda sharp crest of starched cardboard hung over her forehead like a glaring beak.
This is important to note because the point of view changed from first person to third person, not including dialogue.
Her eye sockets were two deep, lashless hollows. I toldyou about the nose.
The descriptions used here are made to match the actual character: sister Leopolda.
perverse miracle
I like how the author uses these contradicting adjectives because it adds even more to the irony of the setting with sister Leopolda and Marie in the convent.
But I wanted Sister Leopolda's heart. And here was the thing:Sometimes I wanted her heart in love and admiration.
This is very ironic considering the fact, sister Leopolda has been mean to her, and she still wants her "heart".
One, you can marry a no good Indian, bear his brats, dielike a dog. Or two, you can give yourself to God
This plainly describes sister Leopolda as mean and racist.
I'd get to heaven first. And then, when I saw hercoming, I'd shut the gate. She'd be out! That is why, besides the bowing and the scraping I'd be dealt, I wanted tosit on the altar as a saint
The point of view used from the few previous paragraphs to this one is quite interesting because it shows how Leopolda is manipulating Marie into thinking satan has gotten a hold of her and she believes it.
I give you love
This in a way is very manipulative from sister Leopolda
What was that sound?
This question creates mystery in the text for the story
like a dead fish on a gaff
Figurative language like similes and metaphors are used here to describe the setting between Marie and sister Leopolda.
She grabbed me by the collar and dragged me, feetflying, through the room and threw me in the closet with her dead black overboot.
This goes to show how sister Leopolda, even though she is a nun, she is a horrible racist person, who beats children.
Her oak pole had flown into her grip. She had seen me glance at thecloset. Oh, she knew. She knew just where he was
This helps envision the convent and sister Leopolda.
He toldme things he never told anyone but Indians.
Being that Marie seems to be native American, the convent is most likely not going to accept her.
She used thisdeadly hook pole for catching Satan by surprise. He could have entered without your knowing it—through yourlips or your nose or any one of your seven openings— gained your mind.
This specifically helps show how young and naive Marie is because she describes sister Leopolda in almost a "childish" way one could say.
I was like those bush Indians who stole the holy black hat of a Jesuit andswallowed little scraps of it to cure their fevers.
The descriptive words she uses, helps form an idea of how Marie looks and her appearance.
heard later that the Sacred Heart Convent was a place for nuns that don't get along elsewhere
Marie is on her way to the convent to see if the nuns accept her in.
Where God had only half a hand in the Creation. Where the Dark One had put in thickbush, liquor, wild dogs, and Indians
Her reference to God throughout this entire paragraph helps form a connection of who she is trying to become, hence the title, "Saint Marie"
"for the purposes of tornadoinsurance."
This type of dialogue the narrator uses helps illustrate the setting more of the text.
Sunday Mass is the only time my father brought his children in except for school, when we wereharnessed.
This whole paragraph in general helps envision the setting from the narrator's childhood she is trying to describe.
You ever see a walleye strike so bad the lure is practically out its back end before you reel it in?
This type of question helps engage the reader with the story more.
For maybe Jesus did not take my bait, but them Sisters tried to cram me right down whole
Here we see how the narrator's personality peeks through because the author uses "slang" in a way that helps the reader understand the context of the story: "them sisters".
With ruby lips. And my toenails would be little pink ocean shells, which they would have to stoop downoff their high horse to kiss
The author uses great figurative language, like here, personification is used when she states, "my toenails would be little pink ocean shells."