Fifth Post: Love Medicine

Examine the relationship between two characters.

One of the relationships I found most interesting in this book, “Love Medicine” was the relationship between Marie Lazarre and Sister Leopolda. When Leopolda is first introduced, she’s in a house for nuns that is for nuns who don’t fit in anywhere else, so right from the start the reader can tell that something is off. Leopolda is extremely conscience about Satan and watched out for him. If she saw him in someone, she would try to beat Satan or get Satan out of him or her. Leopolda sees Satan inside Marie. One day, Marie notices Satan in the room and smiles. Leopolda throws Marie in the closet where Satan was and hit her with her pole. Marie realizes and says, “The real way to overcome Leopolda was this: I’d get to heaven first” (Erdrich 48). So Marie travels to the house in order to get to heaven before Leopolda. They cook together and Marie drops a cup under the stove. As she bends down to get the cup, Leopolda pours hot water on her to try to get Satan out of her. Then Leopolda nurses to Marie’s wounds. All of a sudden, Leopolda keeps repeating the phrase, “Help me”. They go to get the bread out of the oven and Marie pushes her into the oven, but Leopolda stabs her hand and hits her head. Marie is knocked out and when she wakes she’s surrounded by people who are worshiping her, saying she’s a saint because Leopolda told them that the mark on her hand suddenly appeared. Marie has now rid herself of Satan and knows she will beat Leopolda and get to heaven first. Their relationship is one of violence but also care. They look out for each other and try to rid each other of Satan, though they use violence to do so. I’m not sure if that is because they honestly hate each other or that they care for each other so much that they would do anything to rid each other of Satan. I believe that they care about each other because at one point Marie says she wants Leopolda’s love. I think there is also competition between them, because both know that Satan is inside of them and they both want to get rid of it sooner than the other. I believe that Satan might take over in their bodies sometime and cause their violence. I have never read a book with characters like this, so I think it’s very interesting to examine the different types of relationships from different books.