Fleur By Louise Endrich Latina Blacknall “Fleur” a story written by Louise Endrich is a tale about a young Chippewa Indian woman who is feared by all the people that live on her reservation, Argus. They believed that she has been cursed by the water monster of Lake Turcot who seeks her life for his own.
Her general lifestyle is an awe to them because she lives outside of traditional ways. She stirs things up with her uncanny luck and the circumstances that surround her. I believe this is a good story because I like the way that Fleur did things in her own way, she never let the people dictate her life. The story begins with Fleur being rescued from Lake Turcot after her boat capsizes and she goes down into the water. The two men attempt to rescue her and shortly after they succeed their lives are mysteriously taken. The second time that Fleur almost drowns in the lake a similar scenario occurs and it is then believed that every man that saves Fleur from the lake will replace her station in death.
This causes the people of the town to be very suspicious and weary of her. Everyone pretty much steers clear of her just because she is a little different from them. They are too afraid to try to understand her and get to know her. Fleur lives the life of a very modest person, but she is hard working and strong.
Despite the towns fear of her she continues to live and do things as normal as she can. She really doesn’t have many friends or any family so she spends most of her time at the butchery where she works. She helps cut and load meat for the Kozka family and while there she is able to mingle with some of the citizens in the town. She resides in an unused smokehouse behind the butchery where she worked and owned pretty much just the clothes on her back. Despite her apparent poverty she is very beautiful and the men all look at her in awe. However, even though she is very wonderfully attractive, the men of the town are too afraid of her and the curse to attempt to date her.
She lives most of her life alone which is unusual for women of her age. I respect Fleur because she was never bothered by the fact that she lived alone she acted as if her life was as full as she needed it to be. The people of the town however did not believe that she was alone. The unusual events that occurred with Fleur and the lake made people believe that her hand had already been spoken for. Misshepeshu, the water monster of Lake Turcot had already claimed her.
This water monster was a well-known myth of the people living in Argus. “Our mothers warn us that we’ll think he’s handsome, for he appears with green eyes, copper skin, a mouth tender as a child’s. But if you fall into his arms, he sprouts horns, fangs, claws, fins. His feet are joined as one and his skin, brass scales, rings to the touch. You’re fascinated , cannot move.
He casts a shell necklace at your feet, weeps gleaming chips that harden into mica on your breasts. He holds you under. Then he takes the body of a lion or a fat brown worm. He’s made of gold. He’s made of beach moss.
He’s a thing of dry foam, a thing of death by drowning, the death a Chippewa cannot survive.” Fleur’s lifestyle is among one of the many topics of their discussions surrounding her. The people on the reservation don’t agree with the way that Fleur lives. She does many things that would not be deemed as honorable by the traditional thinking of the people of Argus. “After the first time, we thought she’d keep to herself, live quiet, stop killing men off by drowning in the lake.
After the first time, we thought she’d keep the good ways. But then, after the second drowning, we knew we were dealing with something much more serious. She was haywire, out of control. She messed with evil, laughed at the old women’s advice, and dressed like a man.” Fleur was a mystery to the people. Her arrival gave them something to talk about, something to gossip on to make the day pass by. They were especially amazed by her card playing abilities.
Women didn’t usually play cards with the men so they were pretty stunned when she invited herself into a poker game with a few of the men who she worked with. After sometime the men got used to Fleur and continued to let her play. Another interesting contribution to her luck is that each game she started with one dollar and ended up with one dollar. The coincidence of her luck and the mysteriousness of her nature made her a very interesting character. To finish up the amazing coincidents surrounding Fleur, a huge tornado comes and almost destroys the town. Fleur’s last furry was caused by her being attacked by three men who were sour over a lost a sum of money in a poker game.
These three men were found frozen in the meat freezer at Kozka’s butchery. Is this just a freak occurrence or does Fleur hold some power that allows her to reek her vengeance upon those that do her wrong? Maybe. I believe that she does. The cosmic forces of the earth are truly a mystery and those that have the power to control it is conceivably an enigma also. I really like the end when Fleur goes off to live on the lake and gives birth to a child with green eyes and a dark coppery skin complection.
It leaves you wondering what would happen next and allows you to create your own ending. I believe that Fleur lives a happy life with her daughter and now she has someone to love and love her back. The interesting circumstances that surround Fleur and the lake is a mystery to all. Indeed she may have been cursed by the water monster of Lake Turcot because every time she went out on the lake she found herself almost being drowned, and the ones who saved her life eventually wound up taking her place. I think there is tremendous irony in a situation when people try to save others but really need to save themselves.
Fleur Pillager is a very interesting character in this story. I like her because she is strong, willed and determined to live her life how she wants to. She never listened to the gossip about her and let it get her down. I liked the fact that no one could quite understand Fleur.
She represented a puzzle that no one could solve, no one was meant to. No one really knew where she came from, they just know that she appeared and with her presence they knew that their lives would be changed forever. English Essays.
