Building on the Myth - Recovering Native American Culture in Louise Erdrich's - The Bingo Palace - 199x

8/7/2019 Building on the Myth - Recovering Native American Culture in Louise Erdrich's - The Bingo Palace - 199x

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Dane Nlorrison, Editor

A ERICAN INDIAN STUDIE

An Interdisciplinary Approachto Contemporary Issues

Foreword by Ron Welburn

PETER LANGNew York' Washington, D,C.lBaltimore

Bern' Frankfurt am Main > Berlin' Vienna' Paris


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Contents

Illustrati ons ixForeword

Ron Welburnxi

PrefaceDane Morrison

xv

Publisher's Note XVlIAcknowledgments XlXIN THE WORLD 1

3.

History, Language, Identity"In Whose Hands Is the Telling of the Tale?"Dane MorrisonThe Native Languages of North America:Structure and SurvivalSally MidgetteKill the Indian, Save the Child: Cultural Genocideand the Boarding SchoolDebra K. S. Barker

35I.1.2.

27

47

RECLAIMING POWER. 69II. Educational Strategies4. American Indian Education

Wayne J . Stein5. The Case for Native American Studies

Jon Reyhner6. Why Native American Studies? A Canadian First

Nations PerspectiveWilliam Asikinack

717393

111

III. Economic Survival7. Taking up the Challenge: Fundamental Principles

of Economic Development in Indian CountryMiriam R. Jorgensen

119121


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VI Contents8. American Indians and Gambling:

Economic and Social ImpactsWayne]. Stein9. Native American Industry: Basket Weaving

among the WabanakiPauleena MacDougall

145

167

IV. Spirit and Power10. The Catholic Missions to the Native Americans

Ross Enochs11. Stolen Spirits: An Illustrative Case ofIndigenous

Survival Through Religious FreedomGabrielle A. Tayac

12. "The Supreme Law of the Land": Sources of Conflictbetween Native Americans and the Constitutional OrderEric Mazur

193195

217

233

PERCEPTIONS AND REPRESENTATIONS 261V. Voices and Words 26313. Place, Vision, and Identity in Native American Literatures 265

Robert M. Nelson14. Native American Imaginative Spaces 285

Irene Moser15. Building on the Myth: Recovering Native American Culture

in Louise Erdrich's The Bingo Palace 299TO'll1 Matchie16. "What Does It Tell Us That We Are So EasilyDeceived?" Impostor Indians 313Laura Browder

VI. Images and Icons 33517. Tornahawkin' the Redskins: "Indian" Images

in Sports and Commerce 337Jane Frazier

18. Reframing the Hollywood Indian: A FeministRe-reading of Powwow Highway and Thunderheart 347Ellen 1,. Arnold

19. Broken Arrows: Images of Native Americansin the Popular Western 363Mary Alice l'vIoney


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Contents"AUsable Indian": The Current Controversy in MuseumsThe Politics of RepatriationDan L. MonroeMuseums and American Indians: Ambivalent PartnersKaren Coody Cooper

Contributors

VII,20.21.

Index

V 1 I

389391403

413417


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Building on the Myth~RecOlveringNative A:rnte1"icanCultureLOluiseErJrich's The Bingo Palace

e] . 1 1 1 1 .

TOITl.. Matchie

Louise Erdrich has now published two novels in a series that has projectedher into a leading role among writers of fiction in America. In The BingoPalace (1994) and Tales oj Burning Love (1996), she continues to develop amythic world similar to that of Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County in Missis-sippi. Her universe, however, centers around a Chippewa Indian Reserva-tion in north central North Dakota, which she then expands to the wholestate. Both of these novels sound out in profound and yet humorous waysher notions of personal and communal love. Burning Love is about thebizarre sensuous-sexual lives of several women, Native and white, mainly inFargo and the Red River Valley. Bingo Palace, on the other hand, is setprimarily on the reservation itself, where it addresses a pressing socialproblem-gambling. Although also rooted in love, it more directly dealswith Native American thinking and its contribution to life in this century.Why should any of this matter to a college student, evenone who has an

interest in Native American studies? For a professor of English, as I am, theanswer is. as clear as the question is valid. I believe that literature doessomething for us that few other disciplines can do. Literature opens to usworlds of ideas and experiences. Sometimes these worlds are filled with thenovel and the unexpected; sometimes they confront us with strikingly, evenpainfully, familiar feelings. I have chosen to teach and write in this disci-pline because, for me, no other field captures the human experience morecompletely.That is why, as well, that the works of a writer such as Erdrich are so

important. Just as the pen of William Faulkner, seventy years ago, made itpossible for readers to explore the human condition through his creation ofthe mythic world of Yoknapatawpha County-a world that drew from hisown experiences and relationships-so, too, does Erdrich today enable us toexplore the dimensions of who we are. What makes her work so powerful isthe way in which she integrates her experience into well-crafted stories


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300 Tom Matchiethrough which we can explore the human experience. She does this bybreaking stereotypes. In her works, we explore the human condition infresh ways that both incorporate and transcend elements of two cultures-that of alienated Native Americans and that of the dominant mainstream.For scholars of literature, this is exciting because it gives us a way to movebeyond "the Canon"-Shakespeare, Milton, and others-in order to considerhumanity in the twentieth century in fresh ways. For the college student,analyzing her work helps us to grasp ways of understanding and expressingexperience. To do so, however, takes some understanding of how scholarsof literature go about the task of analyzing fiction. In this essay, I hope toprovide you, the student reader, with some of the tools that will help you tobetter appreciate the genre-the category of literature-of Native Americanwriters, and to help you to better appreciate how this work enables you tounderstand your own experiences in new and, perhaps, more meaningfulways.

''b,i)Erdrich began creating her mythic universe with Love Medicine (1984), thenBeet Queen (1986) and Tracks (1988), before releasing Bingo Palace in themid-1990s. Through the relationship between t.he hero throughout theseworks, Lipsha Morrissey, and a jingle dress dancer, Shawnee Ray Toose,Bingo Palace convincingly resolves a saga that began ten years earlier in LoveMedicine. Reviews of the recent novel are mixed, however. Some critics seeit as a profoundly moving love story couched in intensely poetic prose(Donahue 4D). Others find the love story and its ending all but aimless,with little connection between the main narrative and secondary stories,and claim that the characters, as well as the style, are artificial and strained(Thornton 7). Indeed, there may be some merit to these critiques-Erdrichconfesses that in writing even the recently published Tales of Burning Love(1996), she begins writing short stories and then ties them together as anovel (Wood E2).Yet, I see her works differently. My contention, one that resolves the

controversy, is that Bingo Palace is a uniquely creative effort to bringtogether the best elements of her first three novels. To focus the narration,she returns to a device she developed in Love Medicine, the voice of LipshaMorrissey, a modern version of Huckleberry Finn. For theme, she goes backto Tracks, in which she used the cutting of the trees at Turtle Mountainearly in the century to make her strongest social statement; Bingo Palaceupdates it by dealing with the subject of Native gambling today. From BeetQyeen she adapts some superlative elements of style, giving her new novel amagical flavor. Finally, there is the way in which she incorporates vitalelements of Native culture-in both its traditional and alienated guises-andmainstream cultures to weave stories that challenge all of us to rethink the

Pulling Together the Pieces in Bingo Palace


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Louise Erdrich's The Bingo Palace 301human experience at the close of the twentieth century. To smooth thetransition across books, she prepared for Bingo Palace shortly before itspublication by adding several chapters to anew version of Love Medicine(1993). Bingo Palace may have weaknesses, but an imaginative analysis of thefull rang-e of Erdrich's work shows it to be an intriguing experiment withways to bring the healing power of traditional Chippewa culture to bear onAmerican Indians living in a fragmented contemporary world-a world thatincludes the debilitating vice of gambling.

Lipsha Mcrcissey as a Native American Huck FinnThe first chapter of Bingo Palace is telltale. Lipsha Morrissey has "comehome." Readers of Love Medicine might have thought that by the end of thisnovel he had come of age and could go on from there. Lipsha had discov-ered his identity, his roots-a major theme in Native American fiction. Hehadfound his father, Gerry, in a card game and had brought "her (hismcii:liirJune) home" across the water in a blue Firebird. Literary criticsdescribe such a triumph, in which the boy becomes a "real person" with a"sense of belonging" as "internal" (Barry and Prescott 135). At the begin-ning of Bingo Palace, however, we discover that he has dissipated his life inFargo. It is a sign of a skilled writer that she explores a coherent theme ingreat depth across several works; this Erdrich does through much of her fic-tion. In her works, the integrating theme is the "radical displacement" ofthe modern Indian as traditional culture is eroded (Owens 194), and hereLipshajoins that group. So, once again, not unlike Huck Finn searching fora father fIgure, Lipsha must come home to find his runagate father andagain encounter his own abusive mother, although in Bingo Palace in a farmore dramatic, comic, ghostly, even magical way.Why does Erdrich rerun Lipsha's coming-of-age? A cynical reader mightsuggest that Erdrich decided she was successful in one place, so why not doit over again? The reader more widely read in Native American literature,however, would know that repetition serves an important purpose in thisgenre-as in oral traditions, the retelling of tales has a ritualistic effect. Evenso, Erdrich does make changes in Bingo Palace, and here her changes aresignificant. In contrast to Love Medicine, in which Lipsha is one of severalnarrators, in Bingo Palace he narrates over one-third of the twenty-sevenchapters (with no counter voice as we see in Tracks). Although somereviewers maintain the view that Lipsha is not a "palpable" character, thathe does not really "come to life" (Rev. of The Bingo Palace, Kirkus Reviews1410), my interpretation is that in Lipsha the author develops a voice akinto that of Twain's Huck Finn. Twain's linguistic skills must have intriguedErdrich, for a large part of Bingo Palace depends on Lipsha's naive attitudeand rich, memorable language.


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302 Torn MatchieTo set up Lipsha's story, around which the subplots in Bingo Palace

revolve, Erdrich borrows a device from Greek drama, introducing a chorusin the first chapter. Through this tribal "we," the Chippewa people voicetheir disappointment with him as they recount the history and statusvof thecharacters who populate the novel, much like Twain does through ':Huckhimself in his novel. Even more important is the presence of Lulu Lemar-tine, who sends a letter and picture of her son, Gerry, to Lipsha in ~argo,telling him of Gerry's escape from prison. This message brings IUpshahome-the place where most of Erdrich's characters (and those of manyother Native writers) come to discover themselves. Home-often the reser-vation in Native American literature-serves much like the river does forHuck Finn; as a literary device (if you do not have much background inliterary analysis, think of a "literary device" as a tool that a writer uses to tella story), its function is to regenerate.

Love Medicine Prepares for Bingo PalaceNow we must back up a moment to look at the author's strategy just priorto the publication of Bingo Palace (1994). In 1993, Erdrich added four morechapters to Love Medicine. One critic describes these pieces as "not equal tothe best of the old" and finds the sequencing "hollow and a bit pointless"(Rev. of Love Medicine, Kirkus Reviews 1234), while another claims they"color and compliment" the original chapters (Love 87). In any case, thinkabout the function of "home," again, as a literary device, which I believeErdrich is using both to write as a Native American and to capture anessential twentieth-century Native American experience. Seeing the book inthis way, we can appreciate that the real value of the new chapters in LoveMedicine is to help the reader make an easier transition to the plot of BingoPalace. In "The Island," Lulu visits her mother, Fleur, and sleeps with MosesPillager; from this union comes Gerry, Lipsha's father. In "The Resurrec-tion," Marie, after passing on Nector's pipe (an artifact important to BingoPalace) to Lipsha, welcomes home the alcoholic Gordie, who imagines anight in a motel with June, Lipsha's mother. Thus, late in Bingo Palace,Lipsha integrates this event and Chippewa religious belief when he speaksof the Earthmaker myth, of going back to "primal clay" or the "big shell" tofind one's self. These stories anticipate his own return to the reservation,and to the earth itself, for renewal (197).Even more important to Bingo Palace are two additional chapters that

Erdrich added to Love Medicine. In "The Tomahawk Factory," she describeshow Lyman Lernartine, who is depressed over Henry, Jr.'s, death, recovershope through a new enterprise-a bingo parlor. It is this "bingo palace" thatbecomes the orienting device for the 1994 book and which Lipsha, in hissearch to recover his own identity, later sees as "fake" (103). Established inthe footsteps of his uncle Nector, the place "blows up" when Lulu and


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Louise Erdrich's The Bingo Palace 303Marie quarrel over Lipsha's origins. But, he does not give up on Nector'smethods, and in the next story, "Lyman's Luck"-a title that anticipates tenchapter headings in Bingo F(alace-he dreams of founding a bingo palacebased on "greed and luck", (Love Medicine 328). Lyman, of course, isErdrich's pejorative vehicle (a symbol for values the author sees as evil orimmoral) for her discussion of the modern American Indian casino.These four chapters prepare the reader for the essential dilemma of

Bingo Palace and for what is an essential dilemma of the human conditionin the twentieth century-the search for identity, which Erdrich representsthrough Lipsha's struggles, versus materialism and greed, or what her char-acter Lyman calls reality, or "the sex of money" (101). Few authors changean earlier book to prepare for a new one. Indeed, few literary scholars canimagine a mainstream American author such as Twain altering The Adven-tures of Huckleberry Finn to prepare for "Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Amongthe Indians." The rules of Native oral tradition, however, permit suchchanges, as stories are told and retold, and part of Erdrich's task is to makethese traditions viable to a culture that she believes has long since rejectedthem. So, given this four-part introduction to the new novel in the old(changing) novel, and the fact that the new novel is a rerun of the old withsome changes, we can now look more closely at Lipsha's voice which,crucial to the old novel, is also central to the new.There are really four parts to Lipsha's story-first, his love for Shawnee

Ray, whom he meets at the first powwow after his return home; second, hisrelationship to Lyman (his boss at the bingo palace and the father ofShawnee Ray's child, Redford); third, a comical vision quest he makes at theadvice of Fleur to find a love potion to gain Shawnee Ray; and fourth, hisfinal magical reunion with his parents. Like Huck Finn, Lipsha is naive inhis relationships, innocent of worldly affairs, and quintessentially humble.Ultimately, he says, "I am weak and small" (117). In his business dealings heclaims "I'm a fool, too simple for ... complicated advice" (103). Compara-ble to Huck, his life touches on a larger world he does not understand-"aplan," he says, "greater than myself' (21). Still, for all his apparentignorance, Lipsha has a remarkable perception of his own needs, as well asthe needs of others, be it Zelda, Lyman, or Shawnee Ray.

Lipsha's Dilemma-Shawnee Ray or Lyman?If Huck develops a love for his friend, Jim, the runaway slave, Lipsha fallsimmediately for Shawnee, a seamstress and fancy dancer interested inpursuing her own career as a woman, studying to be a professionaldesigner. leak love" (104), he says, and like Huck he is willing to "live inhell" (161) rather than live without her. At least part of his infatuation isenvy of her poised sense of self, as he describes her as an "I am" in contrastto himself as a "not yet" (33). He even envies her child, Redford, because he


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304 Tom Matchiehas a mother, and he, Lipsha, does not. Lipsha actually needs more thanlove; he wants Shawrlee~Ray"to mother me, heal me" (166), and this needwill be a key factor in his later vision. To win Shawnee, he gives her themoney he wins at. bingo, though he thinks it is an "underhanded" (160) wayto reach her. Then he goes too far, lecturing her on her own motives,saying she talks "about" Lyman, but "Your feelings don't mean shit" (112).Here, the young Chippewa shaman strikes at the heart of the matter, butShawnee backs away, caught in her own dilemma.Connected to the relationship Lipsha has with Shawnee Ray is the one he

has with Lyman, whom Lipsha admires as "an island of have in a sea of haveriots" (16). Yet, he also hates Lyman because of his own feelings for thewoman, and even bargains away the sacred pipe he received from Nectorthrough Marie to keep Lyman away from Shawnee. If we think of Huck-leberry Finn as a product of a racist culture who ponders sending Jim backto his owner, then, in a parallel way, we can see how Lipsha, as a product ofa fragmented culture, is manipulated by the materialistic Lyman. "Moneyhelps" (97), he says to himself in resignation to the fact; "we all have holesin our lives" (96). On another level, however, Lipsha knows it is not all that"simple" (103), considering that "the good people" he knows are "cashpoor" (102). Confused by the dizzying complexities of the modern world,and especially the difficulties of harmonizing traditional Native culture withmodern values, Lipsha, the young medicine man, has begun to cho,rge forhis service, thus losing his "touch." Furthermore, in seeking to win a van inwhich he can court Shawnee, he knows he is "shaking hands with greed"(64). Finally, he buys into Lyman's talk of investing in land for a new bingopalace, which he knows is a "megalith of mediocrity" (198). Critics insistthat Tracks is Erdrich's most "overtly political" novel (Owens 215), but theanalysis above shows us that it is equally true of Bingo Palace, and in thelatter work the writ.er may be even more political.The novel is not without serious problems. One of the flaws that troubles

me is the way Erdrich leaves the dilemma of "money versus love" for Lipshato resolve in the third segment of his life, while Shawnee and Lymanremain undeveloped, both "disappearing" in the context of dancing. Yet, itis no secret that Erdrich has great empathy for her characters, even in theirweaknesses (Flavin 64), and we can observe this trait in the way her wordsplay out their lives. Lyman, for instance, takes a fruitless trip to Las Vegaswhere he uses Lipsha's sacred pipe for luck, only to lose all his money.Some critics complain that this chapter "leads nowhere at all" (Skow 71),but notice how sympathetically it does portray the fate of the hopelessgambler who contemplates suicide. Furthermore, in his dreams-and forErdrich, as for many Native American writers, as well as embedded deeplywithin Native cultures-dreams are terribly powerful (Zaiser C8). Erdrich'scharacters somehow maintain "a tiny article of faith" (149) connected to the"grass dance" (160). In the chapter entitled "Lyman Dancing," he explores


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Louise Erdrich's The Bingo Palace 305his relationship to Henry, Jr., begun in "Tomahawk Factory" in thereworked Love Medicine, and dramatized in Bingo Palace in a lyrical chapter,which describes a dance in which Lyman identifies ritualistically with hisdead brother's spirit.The same sympathetic treatment is given to Shawnee Ray, Erdrich's

model of a strong woman who knows what she wants and will do what isnecessary to get it. To some critics, she is simply "opportunistic" (Rev. ofThe Bingo Palace, Publishers Weekly 72); even Lipsha, however, describes heras the tribe's "hope of a future" (13)-a hope that demands more than loveagainst the materialistic tide of mainstream American culture. Erdrich usesthe illusive Albertine to support this view of Shawnee's role, telling Lipshato "let Shawnee go" (229) for this reason. Shawnee Ray goes out withLipsha, tells him, "I can't stop thinking of you, too" (67), and takes hismoney for her college education. Yet, when he presses her to marry him,she responds: "You got the medicine, Lipsha. But you ain't got the love"(112). Of course, Lipsha is driven by his love for her, but she will not giveup her career to live on his bingo earnings. Instead, she stands up toLyman, "the bingo brain" (188), and to everybody else, even walking out onher pushy foster mother, Zelda, and entrusting Redford to her alcoholicsisters, Tammy and Mary Fred. After Shawnee leaves for college, shedreams of a "kiss" (269) from Lipsha, an act which tells us where her heartlies, but the author places her real exit from the plot earlier, in a beautifulbutterfly dance in which the character actually becomes what she imitates.In creating scenes such as this, Erdrich is at her lyrical best.

Fleur and the Vision QuestWhen Lipsha realizes that Shawnee Ray is fed up with both Lyman andhimself, that he is "losing ground" (111) after she tells him off, he goes toFleur for a "love medicine" better than Lyman's (125). This chapter, entitled"Mindemoya" after Fleur's Chippewa name, is one of the most difficult todecipher. Through Lipsha, it represents a return to mother, and a goingback to the Earth Mother-thus, a coming home in a larger sense. In thenext chapter, "Fleur's Luck," she comes to town with a mysterious boy, a"young successor" (7), who undoubtedly represents the future. She hascome to win a card game-a feat which again ties the book to Chippewamyth, for the author (in "Lyman's Luck" in Love IVIedicine) has already toldus "Gambling fits into the old traditions" (326). But here, in the middle ofBingo Palace, in "Fleur's Luck," narrated by the tribe, it is significant thatthis eclectic integration of Native and mainstream cultures is acted out bythe character Erdrich has made the moral center of the novel. Consistentwith Native traditions, Erdrich depicts Fleur using the white man's games ofchance to set Lipsha on different "tracks" (again, recall that "tracks" is both


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306 Tom Matchie

the title of one of Erdrich's works and one of the themes of her fiction)regarding his relationship to Lyman's modern casino.This chapter provides a segue (a transition, or literary device which writ-

ers use to move a story from one phase to another) to the third part ofLipsha's journey, his vision quest. From this point, Erdrich's style resemblesmore closely the miraculous tone of Beet Queen, in which the adolescent,arrogant Dot literally takes to the air to make a dramatic statement. Here,Lyman and Lipsha journey to the sweat lodge in preparation for a possiblespiritual awakening. Significantly, Lipsha is not given to visions, but, whenhe happens to sleep near a skunk, he imagines the creature to say, "Thisain't real estate" (218). For some critics, this episode is part of Erdrich'slyrical "slap and slather" (Rev. of The Bingo Palace, Kirsus Reviews 1410),undermining the serious flow of the novel, They miss the point. The seriousscholar of this genre appreciates the fact that vision quests are integral toNative cultures and a feature common to Native American literature. Thereader who is enlightened to Native American Studies recognizes that inNative literature animals often act as "tricksters"; in Native myth, they maytake on the character of humans to undercut the established order incontexts that may be humorous, absurd, even immoral (Velie 122).Erdrich's change of style here may bother uninformed critics, but it isconsistent with important elements of her culture and her genre.The incident, of course, is not only humorous; it precludes sentimentality

(Ott 723). Indeed, the scholar of Native American writing recognizes thatLipsha's sudden, startling awareness-what we call an epiphany-is every bitas important as Huck's awakening when he decides nottoil.lrn in the slave,Jim, to the authorities. Whether Lipsha's radical change is convincing to areader, however, is questionable. Lipsha now gives up bingo, for which hesees he has been "too eager," claiming with the skunk, "Our reservation isnot real estate, luck fades when sold" (221). For some critics, this is down-right "sermonizing" (Rev. of The Bingo Palace, Kirkus Reviews 1410). InNative cultures, however, this is what tricksters are about, and Lipsharesponds accordingly. Though hopelessly hooked on Shawnee, who nowhas enrolled in the university, he says that his love is "larger than myself,"larger than when it was "blasted by fire" (229). It does not matter to theplot, of course, for Lyman and Shawnee Ray have "danced" out of Lipsha'slife, making room for Lipsha's return (once again) to his family roots and tothe Native Chippewa tiyospaye, or extended family.

Automobiles and Recovering the Spirit of the FamilyIn Erdrich's fiction, cars and specific places (such as noted establishments inFargo) tie the action to the modem world, just as movement in the spiritworld keeps the reader anchored in traditional Chippewa values, like theimportance of the family. Early in Bingo Palace, June appears to Lipsha


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Louise Erdridi's The Bingo Palace 307orking in Lyman's bingo bar, and takes two actions that will be significant. the development of Erdrich's plot-she gives him winning bingo ticketsIDeof which gets him a van) and she takes his Firebird. The meaning ofie latter action only becomes clear to the reader when she returns in it inart four of her son's drama. June's first appearance is part of the magicalealisrn Erdrich injects into Bingo Palace. Some scholars equate this tech-ique with the "slickly entertaining" style of Dorris and Erdrich's Crown of'olumbus (Kakutani C20). Again, they miss the ease with which Erdrichrcorporates Native culture into a characteristic Native literature, in thisase moving her characters into the realm of spirits (Zaiser C1). The van,herefore, only brings Lipsha bad luck: he is captured and his van wrecked)y a gang of boys who tie him up while the irritated Russell-who believeshat Lipsha failed to cure him because the shaman was now "charging forervices" (64)-tattoos a star on Lipsha's arm. Neither the van nor the artifi-:ial star "turns on" Shawnee Ray, who is more interested in his proposednvestrnent in real estate. "Where's the land for the bingo palace? WhatLake?" (109) she asks, while the reader wonders if this is all part of June'smystical plan.Later, following the vision quest, Lipsha receives a call that alerts him to

his father's presence in Fargo. The young medicine man goes to search,imagining Gerry jumping out of a garbage can, "like a spring-loaded child'stoy" (239). Erdrich now changes styles, mixing humorous mythic imageswith realistic places, such as the Sons of Norway, old King Leo's Drive In,and Fargo's downtown Metro D~ug. From the drug store, Lipsha steals abird before joining Gerry in a stolen white sedan with a baby in an eggshellcase in the back seat. At the same time, their flight takes on a sp~ritualdimension as June joins them in her blue Firebird. This escape reminds usof Dot's airplane ride in Beet Queen, though the flight in Bingo Palace isagain magical, an aspect some see as "contrived" and "artificial" (Thornton7). To appreciate her style here, however, the reader must realize that it isonly in Erdrich's spiritual realm that "luck, love, desire, risk-taking, andchance" all begin to make sense (Donahue 4D).Actually, the meeting in various automobiles of mother, father, son, and

the mysterious baby is apocalyptic-an event paralleling the Book of Revela-tion in the New Testament-and represents the timeless climax of Erdrich'smain narrative. At the same time, it is filled with Chippewa mythology,including the garbage can, reflecting an old creation story, and the eggshell,suggesting a Chippewa story of rebirth. This detail, along with the blazingsnow, connect the action to the opening scene in Love Medicine where Junerejects her lover (who as we now know from Tales oj Burning Love is hersecond husband), is dumped from his truck onto the Dakota prairie, anddies in the snow on her way home to Turtle Mountain. A similar scene isrepeated in 'june's Luck" earlier in Bingo Palace, but in this novel she fmallyreturns in ghostly fashion in the full context of the family, baby and all.


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30S Tom Matchie

Lipsha throws the bird into the windshield of the police car-an actionwhich not only reminds us of Gerry's spread eagle position in prison (heescapes after a plane crash in "Gerry's Luck"), but which also signifies thewhite man's ignorance of the spiritual importance of this car chase. Thebaby points to the future, as does the boy who accompanied the timelessFleur in her white Pace Arrow in "Fleur's Luck." The text here is rich withmeaning as Erdrich recreates Lipsha's coming of age in a highly dramaticway. This time it is different from Love Medicine, however, as Erdrich rootsher apocalypse in cyclic or (for the Chippewa) ceremonial, rather thanlinear, time (cf. Rainwater 416).

Affirming Secondary CharactersA main criticism of Bingo Palace is that the parts fail to cohere (Rev. of TheBingo Palace, Publishers Weekly 72). In her first three works, Erdrich focuseson many people's stories rather than a single narrative; in this novel, shehighlights Lipsha's love story. Nevertheless, she always tends to balancemain characters with those of lesser importance (Rainwater 406). Althoughsome think Erdrich loses interest in Lyman and Shawnee Ray (Skow 71), weleave both in contexts of compassion; Lyman dancing in Henry's grass suitand Shawnee dreaming of Lipsha's kiss. Gerry may have arrived too late tobe convincing (Thornton 7), but his "surge" of "feelings" (25S) for June tieshim to the main narrative. If Erdrich's other novels are characterized bywater, earth, and sky (Owens 197), it is the "fire" of love itself which holdsthis book together, as it looks forward to variations on this motif in Tales ofBurning Love.Another problem is that Erdrich may have created what some call "acruel hothouse of human weaknesses" (Skow 71). It is true Erdrich is wellaware of "the holes" in her characters' lives. 'Witness Lipsha's dissipated lifein Fargo, Lyman's interest in luck and greed, Zelda's manipulative approachto her relatives, Shawnee Ray's preoccupation with her success, andShawnee Ray's two alcoholic sisters, one of whom is knocked unconsciousby Pukwan, the policeman, when Zelda brings him to rescue Redford fromthe sisters' grasp. What is more telling, however, is that Erdrich does notdemean her characters because of their weaknesses (Flavin 64). All of them"come home," even Mary Fred; for, as Redford is taken away by Zelda andthe social worker, he imagines seeing his aunt in a fetal position on thefloor, "running full tilt into the ground, as though she were trying to buryherself' (17S). It is an image of death, coupled with a longing for rebirth. Inthis way, Erdrich recognizes the dangers of alcohol, while emphasizingeveryone's need for affirmation, love, and understanding, rather thansimply moralistic judgments from the likes of Zelda.Perhaps the best example of a secondary, negative character is Zelda

herself. She "comes home" in a love story that also reflects the main narra-


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Louise Erdnch's The Bingo Palace 309tive. The equivalent of Twain's Miss Watson, whose religious ideas Huckflees, Zelda is described by Lipsha as a "household saint" whose "goodness"he dreads (13). Lipsha knows she is in Lyman's corner and works for hismarriage to Shawnee, even "making novenas for unwed mothers" (17). Sheleads the policeman to rescue Redford from Shawnee Ray's drunken sisters,the boy only imagining himself hooked "by barbs and chains" (178). Ironi-cally, however, it is Lipsha in "Zelda's Luck" who listens to her longing forher first love, Xavier Toose. She thinks she is dying and confesses that she is"most sorry for what she has not done" (242). This admission to themedicine man, together with some tough talk about love from Albertine,stirs her to go to Xavier where she becomes "like a naked child" (249), animage not unconnected to the eggshell and baby in the back seat of Gerry'scar where Lipsha himself is reborn.Only Albertine remains on the outside of the action, except to challengeLipsha and Zelda. Lipsha is convinced that the latter looks at him as a"catalyst" for Lyman and Shawnee Ray's love, but the reader senses thatAlbertine is the most influential character in the novel. As in Love Medicine,she advises Lipsha, but here she suggests he let the dancer go to college,which he does. In "Albertine's Luck," she challenges Zelda to consider thefact that Shawnee Ray might love Lipsha rather than Lyman. This insightstirs Zelda to her own roots regarding the meaning of love, and she movesin "Zelda's Luck" to her own "tale of burning love." One critic of Erdrich'sfirst three novels asks that the writer give us far more on Lipsha andAlbertine (Portales 7). Lipsha does reappear in Bingo Palace. PerhapsAlbertine will blossom in another "tale of burning love" (46), or like Erdrichherself, she may simply keep her distance, much as Twain does in Huckle-berry Finn.

Conclusion=People's Lives and the Cycles of NatureThe endings of many great novels, such as Huckleberry Finn where Huckdecides not to return home, are often clouded in ambiguity. Some thinkthe conclusion of Bingo Palace "makes no sense" (Skow 71). In "PillagerBones," the old bear Fleur coughs, and we are left wondering what this allmeans. Some critics say it begs another novel (Donahue 4D), but that is notnecessary here. The ending, again narrated by the tribal "we," is vague, butit is no mystery-or it is part of the mystery-that if the novel is about"coming home," Fleur (and remember it is she to whom Lipsha goes foradvice, or love medicine) is the earth to which all Erdrich's characters mustreturn for moral and spiritual sustenance. Time for Erdrich is both linear-moving forward through the real world of the 1990s-and cyclic, but herethe perennial cycle of nature predominates and brackets the novel as awhole. This Chippewa emphasis on one season following another, continu-


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my, Nora, and Mary Prescott. "The Triumph of the Brave: Love Medicine'sHolistic Vision." Critique 4.2 (1989): 123-38.

ev , of The Bingo Palace, by Louise Erdrich. Kirkus Reviews 15 Nov. 1993:1410.

ev. of The Bingo Palace, by Louise Erdrich. Publishers Weekly 15 Nov. 1993:72.

onahue, Deirdre. "Louise Erdrich: A Heritage That Invites Literary Duali-ties." USA Today 20 Jan. 1994: 4D.

.orris, Michael, and Louise Erdrich. The Crown of Columbus. New York:HarperCollins, 1991.

.rdrich, Louise. Beet Queen. New York: Holt, Rinehart 2 c Winston, 1986.-. The Bingo Palace. New York: Harper Collins, 1994.-. Love Medicine. New York: Holt, Rinehart &Winston, 1984.-. Love Medicine. 1984. Rev. and expo ed. New York: HarperCollins,

1993.-. Tales of Burning Love. New York: HarperCollins, 1996.-. Tracks. New York: Harper & Row, 1988.~lavin, Louise. "Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine: Loving over Time and

Distance." Critique 2.2 (1989): 55-65.Kakutani, Michiko. "Reinvention of a Past Rich with Tribal Magic." Rev. of

The Bingo Palace, by Louise Erdrich. New York Times 18Jan. 1994: C20.Love, Barbara. Rev. of Love Medicine, by Louise Erdrich. Library Journal 15

Oct. 1993: 87.Rev. of Love Medicine, by Louise Erdrich. Kirkus Reviews 1 Oct. 1993: 1234.The New American Bible. New York: Catholic Books, 1970.Ott, Bill. Rev. of The Bingo Palace, by Louise Erdrich. Booklist 15 Dec. 1993:

723.Owens, Louis. Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian Novel. Nor-

man: U of Oklahoma P, 1992.


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312 Tom MatchiePortales, Marco. "People with Holes in Their Lives." Rev. of Love Medicine,

by Louise Erdrich. New York Times Book Review 23 Dec. 1984: 6-7.Rainwater, Catherine. "Reading between Worlds: Narrativity in the Fiction

of Louise Erdrich." American Literature 2.2 (1990): 405-22.Skow, John. "An Old Bear Laughing." Rev. of The Bingo Palace, by Louise

Erdrich. Time 15 Feb. 1994: 71 .Thornton, Lawrence. "Gambling with Their Heritage." Rev. of The Bingo

Palace, by Louise Erdrich. New York Times Book Review 16Jan. 1994: 7.Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 1885. New York: Holt,

Rinehart & Winston, 1948.--. "Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer among the Indians." Hannibal, Huck &

Tom. Ed. Walter Blair. Berkeley: Uof California P, 1969.92-140.Velie, Alan. "The Trickster Novel." Narrative Chance. Ed. Gerald Vizenor,

Norman: Uof Oklahoma P, 1993. 121-39.Wood, Dave. "The Book Queen." Minneapolis Star Tribune 15 April 1996:

El-2.Zaiser, Catherine. "Erdrich's The Bingo Palace Is Adeptly Woven Together."

Rev. of The Bingo Palace, by Louise Erdrich. The Forum 6 Feb. 1994: Cl,C8.

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Building on the Myth - Recovering Native American Culture in Louise Erdrich's - The Bingo Palace - 199x