Future Home of the Living God

by

Louise Erdrich

The protagonist and first-person narrator of the story, Cedar at birth was given up by her Native American birth mother, Mary Potts the Almost Senior, and adopted by wealthy white liberals, Alan and Sera Songmaker. It was Alan and Sera who gave Cedar, originally named Mary Potts like the rest of her female relatives, the overtly indigenous-sounding name “Cedar Hawk Songmaker.” Torn between her indigenous roots and the affluent white culture of her adoptive parents, Cedar seems to fit into neither cultural group. She mentions several times that she has disappointed her adoptive parents—she seems to run in a dangerous circle of friends, who are all “dead or in jail,” and the story centers around her presumably unexpected pregnancy (she never mentions a partner or anyone to support her through the process). Cedar seems to be ashamed of her choices and, consequently, isolates herself from her family. Although she feels negatively about the circumstances of her life, she views her pregnancy with a sort of reverence, and she is dedicated to being the best mother possible to her unborn child. This determination is what leads her to enter into contact with her previously estranged birth mother to learn about genetic diseases that may affect her child. Though Erdrich initially characterizes Cedar as misguided and unsuccessful, over the course of the story she gradually reveals Cedar’s responsibility and willingness to learn. By the end of the story, Cedar seems terrified but ready to let both families—biological and adopted—back into her life.

Cedar Hawk Songmaker Quotes in Future Home of the Living God

The Future Home of the Living God quotes below are all either spoken by Cedar Hawk Songmaker or refer to Cedar Hawk Songmaker. 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:
Isolation vs. Interconnectedness with Family Theme Icon
).
Future Home of the Living God Quotes

I promise you this: I’ll be a good mother even though I’ve fucked up everything so far.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker)
Page Number: 462
Explanation and Analysis:

The room yawns open. I have the sensation that time has shifted, that we are in a directionless flow, as if this one room in the hospital has suddenly opened out onto the universe.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker)
Page Number: 464
Explanation and Analysis:

I ignore the awful prickling in my throat, the reaction to the second time she said nobody.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker), Mary Potts Almost Senior (“Sweetie”)
Page Number: 468
Explanation and Analysis:

Later, I am about to leave the house, but then, my childhood training takes over.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker), Sera Songmaker, Alan Songmaker
Page Number: 469
Explanation and Analysis:

Always, on four-lane highways, I have this peculiar sensation, as though I am going backwards and forwards at the same time. The future could be pouring into the past, and it would be like this, my car, the connecting bottleneck.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker)
Page Number: 469
Explanation and Analysis:

Church billboards. ENDTIME AT LAST! GET READY TO RAPTURE! In one enormous, empty field stretching to the sky a sign is planted that reads FUTURE HOME OF THE LIVING GOD.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker)
Page Number: 469
Explanation and Analysis:

“Just looking at Little Mary I can tell what a good mother you would be.”

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker), Mary Potts Almost Senior (“Sweetie”), Little Mary
Page Number: 474
Explanation and Analysis:

From the picture window of the house, I can see them in the driveway, all together now, gesturing and talking, a phantasmagoria of parents […] I am at the center of some sort of vortex. I go dizzy.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker), Mary Potts Almost Senior (“Sweetie”), Sera Songmaker, Alan Songmaker
Page Number: 478
Explanation and Analysis:

I look down. At my feet there is a box of black Hefty steel sacks, no doubt placed there by Sweetie as a subtle hint. I bend over, put my pack and computer where I hope I’ll find them again, and pull the first plastic bag from the box.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker), Mary Potts Almost Senior (“Sweetie”), Little Mary
Related Symbols: Little Mary’s Messy Room
Page Number: 479
Explanation and Analysis:

I have accidentally tampered with and entered some huge place. I do not know what giant lives in this fast and future home.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker), Little Mary
Page Number: 481
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Future Home of the Living God LitChart as a printable PDF.
Future Home of the Living God PDF

Cedar Hawk Songmaker Quotes in Future Home of the Living God

The Future Home of the Living God quotes below are all either spoken by Cedar Hawk Songmaker or refer to Cedar Hawk Songmaker. 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:
Isolation vs. Interconnectedness with Family Theme Icon
).
Future Home of the Living God Quotes

I promise you this: I’ll be a good mother even though I’ve fucked up everything so far.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker)
Page Number: 462
Explanation and Analysis:

The room yawns open. I have the sensation that time has shifted, that we are in a directionless flow, as if this one room in the hospital has suddenly opened out onto the universe.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker)
Page Number: 464
Explanation and Analysis:

I ignore the awful prickling in my throat, the reaction to the second time she said nobody.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker), Mary Potts Almost Senior (“Sweetie”)
Page Number: 468
Explanation and Analysis:

Later, I am about to leave the house, but then, my childhood training takes over.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker), Sera Songmaker, Alan Songmaker
Page Number: 469
Explanation and Analysis:

Always, on four-lane highways, I have this peculiar sensation, as though I am going backwards and forwards at the same time. The future could be pouring into the past, and it would be like this, my car, the connecting bottleneck.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker)
Page Number: 469
Explanation and Analysis:

Church billboards. ENDTIME AT LAST! GET READY TO RAPTURE! In one enormous, empty field stretching to the sky a sign is planted that reads FUTURE HOME OF THE LIVING GOD.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker)
Page Number: 469
Explanation and Analysis:

“Just looking at Little Mary I can tell what a good mother you would be.”

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker), Mary Potts Almost Senior (“Sweetie”), Little Mary
Page Number: 474
Explanation and Analysis:

From the picture window of the house, I can see them in the driveway, all together now, gesturing and talking, a phantasmagoria of parents […] I am at the center of some sort of vortex. I go dizzy.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker), Mary Potts Almost Senior (“Sweetie”), Sera Songmaker, Alan Songmaker
Page Number: 478
Explanation and Analysis:

I look down. At my feet there is a box of black Hefty steel sacks, no doubt placed there by Sweetie as a subtle hint. I bend over, put my pack and computer where I hope I’ll find them again, and pull the first plastic bag from the box.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker), Mary Potts Almost Senior (“Sweetie”), Little Mary
Related Symbols: Little Mary’s Messy Room
Page Number: 479
Explanation and Analysis:

I have accidentally tampered with and entered some huge place. I do not know what giant lives in this fast and future home.

Related Characters: Cedar Hawk Songmaker (speaker), Little Mary
Page Number: 481
Explanation and Analysis: