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In Wild Geese, Louise Erdrich tells a short story about class and power, but the real nature of the power structures involved are much more ambiguous than at first it seems. Events are recounted through the voice of Nector Kashpaw, the narrator, and the account is discolored by his arrogance and self-righteousness. According to Nector, Nector is a great guy, handsome, smart, and high-class.
As the story begins, he is carrying two dead geese, which his brother Eli shot, to sell in the town. As he goes, he fantasizes about Lulu Nanapush, the object of his infatuation, which is superficial and which he knows will never be real.
He is interrupted by Marie Lazarre running down the road. He describes her as of dramatically lower social class than his own. Nector doesn't know why she is running, but he tells her to slow down. She tells him to "move aside." He grabs her arm and notices a linen pillowcase wrapped around her hand. The letters SHC embroidered on the pillowcase indicate that it came from Sacred Heart Convent. Nector assumes Marie has stolen it, and it occurs to him in a moment of less-than-rational opportunism that he may get a reward for bringing her and the pillowcase back to the convent.
It is never entirely clear that Marie did steal the pillowcase. She is incredulous at the accusation, but Nector never gives her any kind of hearing. He assumes authority to arrest her. She struggles, and he admits, "I let her try. I am playing with her." But then she knocks him over, and he brings her to the ground. He climbs on top of her and pins her under his weight.
For all appearances, Nector has gained control over Marie, but this is where he begins to speak of himself as not being in control. He is on top of her, but she has him "held in a light vise." He "cannot help" but lower himself to feel her breasts. As Nector tells it, Marie "is all tight plush acceptance, graceful movements, little jabs that lead [him] underneath her skirt." He "cannot help" but rape her. By the time he takes his hand away from covering her mouth, she is in complete control and has turned the violation to her advantage. She knows it, and Nector knows it.
Her reaction is to say, "I've had better." Now Nector, not Marie, is humiliated. He knows that every window could represent a witness to the event, and "a thousand holy eyes" have seen what he's done. He can no longer pretend to claim the moral high ground.
His reaction is first to deny the rape outright, then to accuse Marie of forcing him to do it. She unwraps the pillowcase from her hand to show him the wound underneath, as if to demonstrate her weakness, her inability to force him to do anything. Another thing he "cannot help" is to feel for her. There is a sympathetic pain in his own hand when he sees it. He compares her to an animal suffering in a trap, and to a martyred saint. He offers her his geese, because he doesn't know what else to do. She seems offended, like he is trying to buy her off.
So he holds her hand, but she won't look at him. They stay there through sunset, apparently not saying anything, but he's still holding her hand. "I don't want her," he says, "but I want her, and I cannot let go." And it seems that maybe arrogance has turned to compassion, rape to tenderness, and lust, just maybe, to some strange kind of love.
Will Burrows
Louise Erdrich Titles |
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