Expert: Garrett - 6/8/2009

Question
Hi,

I have recently read Capote, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Love
Medicine.  Are you familiar with any of those books?  I need to write an essay
about either MORALITY OF INSTITUTIONS (church, state, government, etc) or
FAMILY AND DYSFUNCTION.   For the former, I think using prison (Capote)
and the insane asylum (cuckoo's nest) but I am not sure what institution to
use for Love Medicine.  For the ladder, it seems that there is some familial
issues with each book.

What is your input? Which topic do think might be supported more easily and
can you give me some examples, please?  Mostly some input on Love
Medicine would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!  

Answer
Hello Jenn

Love medicine is about families that are forced to have institutional lives on an Indian Reservation in North Dakota over a period of generations.  I think that the major thing that you have to think about in approaching that book is that the families, their traditions, values, and folklores, and everything about their identity has changed drastically by the end of the novel to reflect a new sort of assimilated existence in western euro-centric sort of manner.  Where home and family is an important theme in the book, by the end of it, home is nowhere to be found, which is ironic considering the reservation was meant to be a homestead for the families.  So, in a sense, that book sort of matches both of your essay topics - both family life and institutional life.  

I think that you could easily attack both of the topics quite easily, even in one paper - or at least use the idea of the institution as a means to strip identity from those it is meant to protect.  I would use that one mostly because I think it is a rather simple concept.  In Cuckoo, it is McMurphy who is institutionalized through his own choice to escape the alternative of the oppressive prison system, but ultimately he is institutionalized more than he would have been otherwise.  In Love Medicine, the families are institutionalized in the reservations, and June is set up to hold together the entirety of the resulting narrative from her death.  

I hope this steers you in the right direction without giving you too much that you can't make your own deductions.  If you would like any further help, let me know.

G