A Reading Of Water Imagery In Love Medicine

Love Medicine by Erdrich mainly explores how the Native Americans choose their identity after suffering from poverty, indulging in drinking and undergoing spiritual crisis, namely the motif of the survival of the Native American culture. As one of the main imagery in literary works, the water imagery has been repeatedly mentioned in Love Medicine and definitely contributes to arousing the emotion and reinforcing the motifs of the novel.This thesis starts with the research on imagery and thematic imagery, and combines with the close text reading and readers'response theory to explore the connation of water from two perspectives and as well disclose the significance of water imagery in Love Medicine.The main contents of the thesis are roughly divided into three parts. Firstly, the thesis will mainly analyze the water imagery which symbolize beginning and end, in which the water imagery will include the nourishing water, the dead water and the blocked water. On one hand, water connotes the motivating force of life, the source of culture. Secondly, it will interpret the water imagery which has implied destruction and reconstruction. Water, on one hand, has the uncontrollable and destructive power, and on the other hand, has the reconstructive power to connect the tribe members through love and forgiveness. And thirdly, the thesis will analyze the significance of the water imagery. Just as Spurgeon pointed out that the thematic imagery could arouse the emotion, create the atmosphere and reinforce the motifs. Therefore, as the thematic imagery in Love Medicine, the water imagery mainly has the significance of arousing the emotion and reinforcing the motifs. The water imagery arouses the characters and readers' emotion, such as the strong love and hatred between lovers, the attachment to the traditions culture. The water imagery reinforces the motif of the survival of Native American culture.Through the analysis of the water imagery, it is concluded that as the thematic imagery in the novel, the water imagery is interrelated with the emotion and the motifs of the novel. The appearance of the water imagery is always decided by the emotion, and the stronger the emotion is, and the more frequently the water imagery shows up. And the more the motifs of the novel are reinforced. In a word, the repeated appearance of water conforms to the motifs of the novel. Just as time in Native American culture which is not linear but cyclical implies, the beginning may be another end, and the end may be another new beginning. The road to the survival of Native American culture depends on how the Native Americans choose their identity and if they possess the courage to "cross the water".