Tracks

by

Louise Erdrich

Lulu Nanapush is Fleur’s daughter. It is unclear who Lulu’s father is, but Eli serves as her father throughout the story, with Nanapush as a grandfather and Margaret as a grandmother. Nanapush’s sections of the story are being told to Lulu as an adult in an attempt to explain to her why her mother has sent her away, and also to discourage her from marrying into the Morrissey family. Lulu is a child for the entirety of her role in the book, cheerful though foolish, as when she decides to wear her thin leather shoes in the snow, causing frostbite. Fleur sends Lulu to boarding school after her land is lost, but Lulu resents this decision, ultimately returning to Nanapush and Margaret.

Lulu Nanapush Quotes in Tracks

The Tracks quotes below are all either spoken by Lulu Nanapush or refer to Lulu Nanapush. 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:
Tradition, Assimilation, and Religion Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

That spring, I went to help out in her cabin when she bore the child, whose green eyes and skin the color of an old penny have made more talk, as no one can decide if the child is mixed blood or what, fathered in a smokehouse, or by a man with brass scales, or by the lake. The girl is bold, smiling in her sleep, as if she knows what people wonder, as if she hears the old men talk, turning the story over. It comes up different every time, and has no ending, no beginning. They get the middle wrong too. They only know they don’t know anything.

Related Characters: Pauline Puyat (speaker), Fleur Pillager, Lulu Nanapush
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

Then Fleur washed me, but I warned myself not to experience any pleasure. I sat down in the water, felts its heat as a sharp danger, but then I forgot. The child soaped my back with a slick plant, and scrubbed the agonizing itch of rough twine and harsh woolens. I gave her my hand. She washed each finger, then each toe. Fleur pared the overgrown nails with a knife. The girl rinsed away the sting of nettles, aggravation of hooked burrs. She dislodged the invisible strands of screwgrass that had woven into my skin. Fleur poured a pitcher of warm water over me and then began to shampoo my head and hair. It was so terrible, so pleasant, that I abandoned my Lord and all His rules and special requirements.

Related Characters: Pauline Puyat (speaker), Fleur Pillager, Lulu Nanapush
Page Number: 154
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

She sent you to the government school, it is true, but you must understand there were reasons: there would be no place for you, no safety on this reservation, no hiding from government papers, or from Morrisseys who shaved heads or the Turcot Company, leveler of the whole forest. There was also no predicting what would happen to Fleur herself. So you were sent away, another piece cut from my heart.

Related Characters: Nanapush (speaker), Fleur Pillager, Lulu Nanapush
Page Number: 219
Explanation and Analysis:
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Lulu Nanapush Quotes in Tracks

The Tracks quotes below are all either spoken by Lulu Nanapush or refer to Lulu Nanapush. 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:
Tradition, Assimilation, and Religion Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

That spring, I went to help out in her cabin when she bore the child, whose green eyes and skin the color of an old penny have made more talk, as no one can decide if the child is mixed blood or what, fathered in a smokehouse, or by a man with brass scales, or by the lake. The girl is bold, smiling in her sleep, as if she knows what people wonder, as if she hears the old men talk, turning the story over. It comes up different every time, and has no ending, no beginning. They get the middle wrong too. They only know they don’t know anything.

Related Characters: Pauline Puyat (speaker), Fleur Pillager, Lulu Nanapush
Page Number: 31
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

Then Fleur washed me, but I warned myself not to experience any pleasure. I sat down in the water, felts its heat as a sharp danger, but then I forgot. The child soaped my back with a slick plant, and scrubbed the agonizing itch of rough twine and harsh woolens. I gave her my hand. She washed each finger, then each toe. Fleur pared the overgrown nails with a knife. The girl rinsed away the sting of nettles, aggravation of hooked burrs. She dislodged the invisible strands of screwgrass that had woven into my skin. Fleur poured a pitcher of warm water over me and then began to shampoo my head and hair. It was so terrible, so pleasant, that I abandoned my Lord and all His rules and special requirements.

Related Characters: Pauline Puyat (speaker), Fleur Pillager, Lulu Nanapush
Page Number: 154
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

She sent you to the government school, it is true, but you must understand there were reasons: there would be no place for you, no safety on this reservation, no hiding from government papers, or from Morrisseys who shaved heads or the Turcot Company, leveler of the whole forest. There was also no predicting what would happen to Fleur herself. So you were sent away, another piece cut from my heart.

Related Characters: Nanapush (speaker), Fleur Pillager, Lulu Nanapush
Page Number: 219
Explanation and Analysis: