Fleur Pillager’s Symbolic Power in Tracks

     Before land can be taken from Indigenous peoples, the culture and traditions of those peoples are typically attacked before a final takeover occurs. In Tracks, Louise Erdrich shows how the destruction of culture has nearly been completed before Fleur Pillager arises as a final remembrance that the spirit of a culture can survive even if there is nothing to show for it anymore. Louise Erdrich's Tracks takes place in a time of crisis for the Ojibwe community, in that disease, famine, loss of land, and pressure to assimilate threaten an entire way of life. In the midst of this historical moment, there exists a character named Fleur Pillager, surrounded by myth, speculation, and supernatural claims. Many claim to have witnessed her communicating with the spirit world, defeating men twice her size, surviving terrible disasters no other could survive, and summoning the lake monster, Mishepeshu. However, the novel never confirms these events as actual facts. Rather than presenting her supposed supernatural powers as literal, they serve as symbols that stand for cultural persistence, spiritual strength, and the strength of Ojibwe identity to withstand pressures from colonialism. Erdrich's metaphorical use of Fleur's power represents the persistence of cultural memory and spiritual identity in the face of the devastation of physical land and political control.

     According to the narrator, Nanapush, Fleur is a character whose identity is built by the stories that are told by the community and not by purely factual history. In fact, in many ways, Nanapush uses the stories of Fleur’s past to construct her character, and some of these are based on real events and people, while others are largely mythological. This is emphasized by the first verse of the nove,l where Nanapush notes: “Fleur Pillager was the last Pillager, the last of her family still living on their land” (Erdrich 3). From this early on in her character development, we see an emphasis on endurance rather than having some kind of supernatural strength. The narrator tells us that “the plague killed the vast majority of her family,” yet Fleur survived, “twice she died, twice they laid her out” (Erdrich 4). The ability to survive would appear to be a type of spiritual strength. Therefore, since the community is unable to adequately articulate Fleur’s ability to endure and to persevere using the ordinary language of their culture, they utilize mythological imagery to do so. To describe Fleur Pillager as a woman who died and returned twice is to say that she embodies all that is left of Old Ways and, therefore, will not fade away into the past. Therefore, Fleur’s power is derived from what she represents (continuity, survival, cultural identity) and not from any magical happenings that might be attributed to her.

     Fleur’s symbolic connection to Mishepeshu, the lake monster, strengthens her symbolism. Mishepeshu is not only a magical being, but it is also a source of danger, power, temptation, and an unpredictable force of nature. According to Nanapush, people feared Fleur because "she walked with the Water Man (Mishepeshu) who rules the lake" (Erdrich 12). This mythological belief reflects the strength of Fleur's relationship with the traditional Ojibwe perspective of the universe. While these supernatural stories may not be based on literal facts, they express spiritual truth. In this instance, Fleur was mocked by men at the butcher shop, then they died in a storm, and Pauline stated, "Mishepeshu must have taken them" (Erdrich 23). However, Erdrich does not indicate whether or not this was truly the cause of their deaths. It could have been mere coincidence, but since it was through a lens of fear, culture, and belief, Pauline interpreted it through a spiritual belief. Therefore, Fleur becomes representative of the knowledge of the Ojibwe and their understanding of spirituality, which is greatly feared and misunderstood by those outside of their culture. Fleur does not have magical control over Mishepeshu, but rather she serves as a direct symbol of spiritual authority.

     Fleur's supernatural abilities can also act as a means of defense against the violent acts of men. Pauline recounts that the moment Fleur walks into the butcher shop in Argus, the men "averted their eyes, pretending to be busy" (Erdrich 18). As a result of their fear, they could not behave violently toward her. Later, when the men attacked Fleur, the occurrence of a storm was taken as proof of the existence of the supernatural, which is not an actual physical manifestation of magic, but is an example of how culture can provide a tool for justice. The storm killed the men who had attacked her, while leaving Fleur unharmed. As Pauline explains, "she was the only one left" (Erdrich 22). Her continued existence is indicative of a supernatural strength that is beyond the physical realm; however, the underlying message here is that her essence cannot ultimately be destroyed. The stories that surround her spirit create a form of protection for Fleur that cannot be achieved by simply possessing a physical presence; rather, they serve to counteract the male violence and the aggression of colonial powers. Thus, the supernatural stories of "Fleur" serve as a means by which she can mentally shield herself.

     Fleur's connection to the Pillager land serves as her protective shield. Her spirit is integrated with the Pillager land, which has spiritual significance for her. The same goes for Fleur's identity. The Pillager land has held the Pillager family for generations (Erdrich 23). Whenever Fleur walked in the woods, the landscape itself responded to her. Nanapush mentions that she "knew the woods as a child knows its mother" (Erdrich 15), indicating the strong sacred bond between the two. Through Fleur's embodied presence, we see her as an incarnation of the land's memory. In the Ojibwe tribal culture, the land is not only a piece of property; it is also the very heart of one's being. Therefore, Fleur's symbol of power illustrates the impact of government and corporate manipulation of Indian land through debt and policy. Not only do they seize space, but in doing so, they directly assault the spiritual essence of the people.

     Erdrich illustrates this theme through the conflict over the Pillager allotment, where Fleur strives to hold onto the land (working at the lumber mill to pay for the taxes on the allotment) when the colonial system was established for her to lose. The colonial authorities in this situation used legal procedures as a means to remove the land from her, demonstrating the covert violence done to Indigenous peoples through policies of assimilation. When Fleur loses the land, her symbolic power shifts into becoming a symbol of mourning and anger; she continues to symbolize an unbroken spirit. Nanapush states, “What was taken from her was not just earth but her being” (Erdrich 79). Despite this loss, she does not concede. The long endurance she has shown provides an avenue to symbolize how the cultural and spiritual significance of the land cannot be erased even in the absence of ownership. This symbolic strength complicates the colonial authority, which could not “measure her” or quantify her on a piece of paper (Erdrich 18).

     Pauline's retelling of Fleur adds a layer to Fleur’s symbols by exaggerating and warping what actually happened. Pauline often acknowledges that she has had feelings of jealousy and resentment towards Fleur when she states, "I wanted to think the worst of her"(Erdrich 14). Because her perspective is distorted through feelings of insecurity and self-punishment through her religious beliefs, she is not a reliable source for telling this story. The more she attempts to distance herself from the Ojibwe way of life, and instead focus solely on her Catholic faith, the more she vilifies Fleur. The exaggeration of Fleur illustrates that the supernatural aspects of Fleur come not from acts that occurred, but from the desires and fears of those around her. For Pauline to validate her own decisions, Fleur must be seen as a monster. The exaggerations and distortions captured by Pauline depict the manner in which cultural symbols are constructed - not through documentation but rather via emotion, memory, faith, and storytelling. By presenting Fleur through Pauline's skewed view, Erdrich encourages readers to understand the metaphorical construct of the supernatural.

     Fleur's power is created through storytelling. The importance of storytelling is illustrated by Nanapush at the beginning of the book when he writes, "We had survived because we remembered" (Erdrich 2). Memory supports the community when their physical structures are deteriorating. As the book continues, stories about Fleur get stronger because it provides a personification of the endurance of a culture. For example, when Fleur plays cards, she looks "calm, amused, as if she knew what the cards would be before they landed" (Erdrich 56). This is not magic; it is confidence, talent, and the wish from others to create a larger-than-life image of her. Storytelling creates larger-than-life images of Fleur. During the crisis of a community, through storytelling, communities create symbols of identity and emotional stability, and Fleur becomes the symbol of the Pillager lineage, memory, and all that opposes destruction.

     Fleur's strength as a symbol seems to grow in contrast to Sister Leopolda's metamorphosis from Pauline. The desire of Pauline to eliminate any connection to her Indigenous heritage causes her to be affected by Fleur. Fleur embodies everything that is most antagonistic to the suppression of the self that is prevalent within Pauline: sensuality, connection to the land, cultural and personal identity, and power. The lengths that Pauline goes to reject all that she feels from Fleur — the use of self-flagellation (whipping), the claiming of "visions," and the quest to be purified (or free from) her body — suggest how deeply Fleur has disrupted her. When Pauline joins the convent, she is unable to escape the fact that Fleur has been "haunting" her (Erdrich 89). The haunt is seen as a representative of all that Fleury has taken from her. As a result, Fleur serves the purpose of being a form of magic that is an inescapable part of the cultural heritage that Pauline has needed to reject.

     Fleur as a representation of symbolic strength represents the limitations that the colonial power structure was allowed to exert. Despite the efforts of the government to take the Pillager land and put the Pillagers into an environment of perpetual debt. Fleur remains a presence that is beyond the understanding, categorization, or control of outsiders. As stated by Nanapush. "Fleur was beyond them" (Erdrich 91). Fleur embodies something beyond what a mere piece of paper can define, and that is cultural continuity. Colonizers can create land boundaries or remove them, but they cannot erase the memories and cultural significance held by that land. Fleur exemplifies the limitations of colonialism regarding controlling one's identity. Fleur serves as a symbol and a reminder that while colonialism may succeed in suppressing tribal culture, the Ojibwe people and their spiritual/cultural roots remain strong and present today; thus, colonialism will never completely eradicate it.

     In Tracks, Fleur Pillager's power symbolizes endurance, spirituality, and cultural identity. In the novel, Louise Erdrich uses supernatural stories not to create magic but to communicate truths outside of everyday explanations. Fleur is connected to the land; she is a memory of the people and the community's beliefs. The novel shows how Indigenous strength comes from the stories of the community, the relationship people have with the land, the spiritual traditions and beliefs of the community, and the refusal to disappear. Through Fleur, we are shown a symbol of community resilience in an overwhelming disaster. Her "supernatural" presence communicates to readers that even though the world may try to destroy a culture, the spirit of that culture can be strong and remain intact.

Works Cited

Erdrich, Louise. Tracks. Harper Perennial, 1988.