Louise Erdrich’s The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse

I. Introduction
A. In face of traumatic experience
1. First instinct: repel or escape
2. Find solace in something else
3. Agnes adapts identity to escape
a. Becomes Agnes (not Sister Cecelia)
b. Becomes Damien
c. Helps adapt to Ojibwe

II. Contemporary (Native American Literature)

a. Published in 2001

III. Conflict
A. White vs. Native American
1. Differences in religious practice
2. White taking their belongings
B. Father Damien’s struggle
1. Baptizing and converting
2. Hiding true identity
3. Converting himself

IV. Father Damien’s note to Pope

A. Agnes discovers Chopin
B. Leaves convent
C. Meets Berndt
D. Buys piano; falls in love
E. Robbery/death of Berndt
F. Visit of Father Damien
G. Father Damien dies in flood
H. Becomes Father Damien
I. Goes to reservation
J. Rest chronicles life on reservation
K. Ex: visits Nanapush (lecherous)
1. Nanapush and Damien visit Kashpaw
2. Wives/conflicting ideology
L. Horrible illnesses/injuries and death
M. Kashpaw dies
N. Mary Kashpaw’s mental devolution
a. Rape
b. Enters convent (farmhand of sorts)
c. Rather reclusive but hard worker
 O. Paulina confesses rape
P. Punishes herself
Q. Friendship with Nanapush
a. Discovers identity
b. Doesn’t care
c. White vs. Native American society
d. Testament to Native’s acceptance

V. Quotes
A. Page 63 details tone

1. “’Here’s what I say,’ he answered at last. ‘Leave us full-bloods

alone, let us be with our Nanabozho, our sweats and shake
tents, our grand medicines and bundles. We don’t hurt nobody.
Your wiisaakodewininiwag, half-burnt wood, they can use your
God as backup to these things. Our world is already whipped
apart by the white man. Why do you black gowns care if we
pray to your God?’”

B. Page 100 details theme/conflict

1. Dominant, boundary-overstepping white society

2. “’Why do the chimookomanag want us?’ she growled. ‘They

take all that makes us Anishinaabeg. Everything about us. First
our land, then our trees. Now husbands, our wives, our
children, our souls. Why do they want to capture every bit?’
Father Damien, whose task it was to steal even the intangible
about the woman beside him, had no answer.”

C. Page 182 details characterization

1. “Agnes and Father Damien became that one person who

addressed the unknown . . . He prayed, uneasily, for the
conversion of Nanapush, then prayed for his own
enlightenment in case converting Nanapush was a mistake . . .
Agnes’s struggle with the Ojibwe language, the influence of it,
had an effect on her prayers. For she preferred the Ojibwe
word for praying . . . She began to address the trinity as four
and to include the spirit of each direction.”

2. Unity of Agnes and Damien

3. Assimilation in Ojibwe culture
4. Foreshadows conversion
VI. Classic
A. Expression of life, truth, beauty
1. Rawness of Native American struggle
2. Illness
3. Greed
4. Death
5. Contrasting religions
6. Beauty of Ojibwe’s acceptance
a. Nanapush’s recognition of womanhood
B. Represents period when written
1. Contemporary illustration of Ojibwe
2. Traditional priest/nun practice
C. Stands test of time
1. Highlights important period in history
2. Lovely writing
3. Important, timeless lessons/themes
D. Basic emotional responses

VII. Initial responses

A. Intrigued/perplexed by gender situation
B. Desire to continue reading
C. Eager to learn
1. Ojibwe culture

VIII. Final responses

A. Understood identity change
B. Unsettling
C. Unexpected
D. Fitting, however

IX. Conclusion
A. Perfect read for certain interests
1. Native American/Ojibwe culture
2. Decentralization of gender roles
3. Overcoming strife
4. Cultures colliding
B. Overall interesting read
C. Beautiful manner of writing
1. Diction & imagery