Previous
Hyperbole
Definition of Idiom
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the words in the phrase. For... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on a literal interpretation of the... read full definition
An idiom is a phrase that conveys a figurative meaning that is difficult or impossible to understand based solely on... read full definition
Termination for Federal Contracts and Promises Made with Certain Tribes of Indians
Explanation and Analysis—Buttering Up Watkins:
Near the end of the novel, Thomas, Pixie, and their companions go to Washington, D.C., to argue against the Termination Bill. This means they finally confront the book's primary antagonist, Arthur V. Watkins, who has until now existed as a threatening but abstract presence. After a hearing in which Thomas and the others are exceedingly respectful and Arthur V. Watkins is snide, pretentious, and dry, Thomas goes to Watkins' office "to thank [him] for [his] concern for" the Chippewa people. As Thomas leaves his office, Erdrich writes:
As he left the senator's office, he was thinking, I am and we are absolutely destitute and desperate. This is a sign of how bad things are. I am willing to forgo my dignity to try to butter you up to the teeth. I hope it helps our cause.
Thomas reveals what readers already know: that he did not want to flatter Watkins in this way, and that such respect and deference pained him, but that he was willing to do it if it had any chance of helping his cause. To convey this bitterness, Thomas uses an idiom: "to butter you up to the teeth."
The origins of this idiom reflect the power dynamic between Thomas and Senator Watkins. The first recorded use of the phrase "to butter you up" is in 1810, in the works of Irish poet Thomas Moore. Moreover, butter itself was imported to the Americas with the pilgrims, in large part because there were no cows in the Americas before colonization. In other words, the idiom Thomas uses is a fully imported piece of language, both in its content and its idiomatic use. Just as he stoops to the act of thanking Watkins, Thomas must truly use the language of his enemy to do so.
Yet Thomas also makes the idiom his own. The addition "to the teeth" is not standard for this idiom, and its inclusion allows readers to pick up on Thomas's acute frustration. Though Thomas is willing to try every tactic that might help his cause, he never loses his own identity in the process.
Related Themes:
