63 pages 2 hours read

Louise Erdrich

LaRose

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2016

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Part 4

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 4: “1,000 Kills, 2002-2003”

Chapter 10 Summary: “The Letters”

Mrs. Peace shows Snow and Josette the letters from the original LaRose as well as the subsequent letters from Wolfred and the second LaRose that demand the return of the first LaRose’s body. Mrs. Peace explains the family history to the girls and how the first LaRose’s bones were displayed by the historical society and then subsequently stolen.

 

LaRose Iron lies to Emmaline about going over to the Raviches’ house so he can sleep where Dusty died. LaRose thinks of everything modern and traditional that he has learned from both families. When he goes into the woods, “he realized he has forgotten to bring any kind of offering—you were supposed to do that. For sure you were supposed to do that if you went into the woods. You had to offer something to the spirits” (209). He sings a song from his father and offers his water jar in each direction. He lays on the ground listening to the sounds around him and falls asleep. He wakes up in the dark and speaks to the spirits. He notices a group of spirit people around him who talk as if he can’t hear them, several of whom are the earlier LaRoses, although he doesn’t know that.