Love Medicine

by

Louise Erdrich

Marie’s husband, Lulu’s lover, and father to Gordie, Zelda, Aurelia, and Lulu’s son, Lyman Lamartine. Nector and Lulu fall in love when they are just teenagers, but Nector unexpectedly meets and falls in love with Marie one day while going into town to sell two geese he had shot earlier in the day. Nector and Marie marry and have a family, but Nector still harbors feelings for Lulu, and he grows increasingly unhappy and dependent on alcohol. Marie sticks with him, however, keeping him sober and encouraging him, and he becomes a leading member of the local tribal council. Nector and Lulu rekindle their relationship during key times in their lives, resulting in the birth of Lyman, but Lulu never tells Lyman that Nector is his father. After the tribal council evicts Lulu from her house and land, Nector decides to leave Marie for good and marry Lulu. He writes two letters—one to Lulu and one to Marie—and, after leaving Marie’s letter under the sugar bowl on the kitchen table where she will find it, he goes to deliver Lulu’s letter but ends up changing his mind and accidentally burning down Lulu’s house in the process. Lulu and Nector’s relationship is dormant for several years, until Nector develops dementia and forgets to hide his feelings for her. The two begin running around their senior living complex together, and Marie convinces Lipsha to conjure the “love medicine” in an effort to keep Nector away from Lulu and bring him back to Marie. When Marie feeds Nector Lipsha’s love medicine—a heart from a store-bought turkey—Nector chokes on the heart and dies. After his funeral, Nector’s spirit visits Marie, Lipsha, and Lulu, sending them feelings of love from beyond the grave. The character of Nector highlights love’s power to transcend all things, including death, but Nector also underscores love’s more complicated qualities. Through Nector, Erdrich argues that love is complicated and not always confined between two people, and while it can certainly bring happiness and meaning to life, love can also be a considerable source of pain and heartache.

Nector Kashpaw Quotes in Love Medicine

The Love Medicine quotes below are all either spoken by Nector Kashpaw or refer to Nector Kashpaw. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Tribal Connection and Family Ties Theme Icon
).
The World’s Greatest Fisherman Part 2 Quotes

She had let the government put Nector in school but hidden Eli, the one she couldn’t part with, in the root cellar dug beneath her floor. In that way she gained a son on either side of the line. Nector came home from boarding school knowing white reading and writing, while Eli knew the woods. Now, these many years later, hard to tell why or how, my great-uncle Eli was still sharp, while Grandpa’s mind had left us, gone wary and wild.

Related Characters: Albertine Johnson (speaker), Nector Kashpaw, Eli Kashpaw, Rushes Bear / Margaret Kashpaw
Page Number: 19
Explanation and Analysis:
The Plunge of the Brave Quotes

I could not believe it, later, when she showed me the picture. Plunge of the Brave, was the title of it. Later on, that picture would become famous. It would hang in the Bismarck state capitol. There I was, jumping off a cliff, naked of course, down into a rocky river. Certain death. Remember Custer’s saying? The only good Indian is a dead Indian? Well, from my dealings with whites I would add to that quote: “The only interesting Indian is dead, or dying by falling backwards off a horse.”

Related Characters: Nector Kashpaw (speaker)
Related Symbols: The Plunge of the Brave
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:
Love Medicine Quotes

I saw that tears were in her eyes. And that’s when I saw how much grief and love she felt for him. And it gave me a real shock to the system. You see I thought love got easier over the years so it didn’t hurt so bad when it hurt, or feel so good when it felt good. I thought it smoothed out and old people hardly noticed it. I thought it curled up and died, I guess. Now I saw it rear up like a whip and lash.

Related Characters: Lipsha Morrissey (speaker), Marie Lazarre / Marie Kashpaw, Nector Kashpaw
Page Number: 229-30
Explanation and Analysis:

Our Gods aren’t perfect, is what I’m saying, but at least they come around. They’ll do a favor if you ask them right. You don’t have to yell. But you do have to know, like I said, how to ask in the right way. That makes problems, because to ask proper was an art that was lost to the Chippewas once the Catholics gained ground. Even now, I have to wonder if Higher Power turned it back, if we got to yell, or if we just don’t speak its language.

Related Characters: Lipsha Morrissey (speaker), Nector Kashpaw
Page Number: 232
Explanation and Analysis:

As I walked back from the Red Owl with the rock-hard, heavy turkeys, I argued to myself about malpractice. I thought of faith. I thought to myself that faith could be called belief against the odds and whether or not there’s any proof How does that sound? I thought how we might have to yell to be heard by Higher Power, but that’s not saying it’s not there. And that is faith for you. It’s belief even when the goods don’t deliver. Higher Power makes promises we all know they can’t back up, but anybody ever go and slap an old malpractice suit on God? Or the U.S. government? No they don’t. Faith might be stupid, but it gets us through. So what I’m heading at is this. I finally convinced myself that the real actual power to the love medicine was not the goose heart itself but the faith in the cure.

Related Characters: Lipsha Morrissey (speaker), Lulu Nanapush / Lulu Lamartine, Marie Lazarre / Marie Kashpaw, Nector Kashpaw
Related Symbols: Geese
Page Number: 241-2
Explanation and Analysis:

“Love medicine ain’t what brings him back to you. Grandma. No, it’s something else. He loved you over time and distance, but he went off so quick he never got the chance to tell you how he loves you, how he doesn’t blame you, how he understands. It’s true feeling, not no magic. No supermarket heart could have brung him back.”

Related Characters: Lipsha Morrissey (speaker), Lulu Nanapush / Lulu Lamartine, Marie Lazarre / Marie Kashpaw, Nector Kashpaw
Related Symbols: Geese
Page Number: 253
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Love Medicine LitChart as a printable PDF.
Love Medicine PDF

Nector Kashpaw Quotes in Love Medicine

The Love Medicine quotes below are all either spoken by Nector Kashpaw or refer to Nector Kashpaw. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Tribal Connection and Family Ties Theme Icon
).
The World’s Greatest Fisherman Part 2 Quotes

She had let the government put Nector in school but hidden Eli, the one she couldn’t part with, in the root cellar dug beneath her floor. In that way she gained a son on either side of the line. Nector came home from boarding school knowing white reading and writing, while Eli knew the woods. Now, these many years later, hard to tell why or how, my great-uncle Eli was still sharp, while Grandpa’s mind had left us, gone wary and wild.

Related Characters: Albertine Johnson (speaker), Nector Kashpaw, Eli Kashpaw, Rushes Bear / Margaret Kashpaw
Page Number: 19
Explanation and Analysis:
The Plunge of the Brave Quotes

I could not believe it, later, when she showed me the picture. Plunge of the Brave, was the title of it. Later on, that picture would become famous. It would hang in the Bismarck state capitol. There I was, jumping off a cliff, naked of course, down into a rocky river. Certain death. Remember Custer’s saying? The only good Indian is a dead Indian? Well, from my dealings with whites I would add to that quote: “The only interesting Indian is dead, or dying by falling backwards off a horse.”

Related Characters: Nector Kashpaw (speaker)
Related Symbols: The Plunge of the Brave
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:
Love Medicine Quotes

I saw that tears were in her eyes. And that’s when I saw how much grief and love she felt for him. And it gave me a real shock to the system. You see I thought love got easier over the years so it didn’t hurt so bad when it hurt, or feel so good when it felt good. I thought it smoothed out and old people hardly noticed it. I thought it curled up and died, I guess. Now I saw it rear up like a whip and lash.

Related Characters: Lipsha Morrissey (speaker), Marie Lazarre / Marie Kashpaw, Nector Kashpaw
Page Number: 229-30
Explanation and Analysis:

Our Gods aren’t perfect, is what I’m saying, but at least they come around. They’ll do a favor if you ask them right. You don’t have to yell. But you do have to know, like I said, how to ask in the right way. That makes problems, because to ask proper was an art that was lost to the Chippewas once the Catholics gained ground. Even now, I have to wonder if Higher Power turned it back, if we got to yell, or if we just don’t speak its language.

Related Characters: Lipsha Morrissey (speaker), Nector Kashpaw
Page Number: 232
Explanation and Analysis:

As I walked back from the Red Owl with the rock-hard, heavy turkeys, I argued to myself about malpractice. I thought of faith. I thought to myself that faith could be called belief against the odds and whether or not there’s any proof How does that sound? I thought how we might have to yell to be heard by Higher Power, but that’s not saying it’s not there. And that is faith for you. It’s belief even when the goods don’t deliver. Higher Power makes promises we all know they can’t back up, but anybody ever go and slap an old malpractice suit on God? Or the U.S. government? No they don’t. Faith might be stupid, but it gets us through. So what I’m heading at is this. I finally convinced myself that the real actual power to the love medicine was not the goose heart itself but the faith in the cure.

Related Characters: Lipsha Morrissey (speaker), Lulu Nanapush / Lulu Lamartine, Marie Lazarre / Marie Kashpaw, Nector Kashpaw
Related Symbols: Geese
Page Number: 241-2
Explanation and Analysis:

“Love medicine ain’t what brings him back to you. Grandma. No, it’s something else. He loved you over time and distance, but he went off so quick he never got the chance to tell you how he loves you, how he doesn’t blame you, how he understands. It’s true feeling, not no magic. No supermarket heart could have brung him back.”

Related Characters: Lipsha Morrissey (speaker), Lulu Nanapush / Lulu Lamartine, Marie Lazarre / Marie Kashpaw, Nector Kashpaw
Related Symbols: Geese
Page Number: 253
Explanation and Analysis: