SOURCE: Zeck, Jeanne Marie. “Erdrich's Love Medicine.” Explicator 54, no. 1 (fall 1995): 58-60.

In the following essay, Zeck examines the sensual relationship between the characters of Eli and Marie in Love Medicine.

In the chapter of Louise Erdrich's novel Love Medicine entitled “The Beads,” Eli plays the role of the father to Marie's children when Nector is absent. Erdrich suggests, through a brief scene dense with sexual imagery, that Eli and Marie are June's spiritual parents. In a subtle, tender scene, they make love without touching, and June is the fruit of their union.

On one particular evening in 1948, Eli stays late at Marie's house singing Cree “hunting songs used to attract deer or women” (69). On this night, he succeeds in capturing both a deer and a woman. Certainly, Eli's song attracts June, who is frequently referred to as a deer. The next day, the young girl will leave her...