Fleur

by Louise Erdrich

Mystique
Fleur is a powerful and mysterious Ojibwe woman who defies societal norms. She is described as someone who “kept the finger of a child in her pocket and a powder of unborn rabbits in a leather thong around her neck” (Fleur). Fleur vitalizes courageousness when in face of perverted men, awakens ferocity in the way she lives life on the edge unapologetically, and she is resilient to the oppression that her ancestors have too faced both as a woman and a Native American. She is a character forced to sharpen just for existing.
Danger
Fleur walks a path that entails trouble. Despite her beauty, what lies within is a child of the wind, someone who is capable of standing strong amongst a gale. Despite being surrounded by distasteful men, she remains unbothered with her feet planted as if she views herself as someone who is on equal footing. Not only was she unbothered, however, she was in search of a challenge. “Women didn't usually play with men, so the evening that Fleur drew a chair to the men's table without being so much as asked, there was a shock of surprise” (Fleur). These acts of bravery by a Native American woman who is challenging boundaries that should not exist represent the courage fueled by her lineage.
Floral Attributes
In the story, Fleur can be described as a wild, untamed flower. Fleur means flower in French and carries heavy symbolic weight throughout the story. Fleur is deeply nested in her environment, which is a wild, natural setting. I imagine Fleur to represent a wild rose, thorned and rooted in deep dark waters. Erdrich does not explicitly compare her to a specific flower, but she rather compares her character to a wild and resilient spirited animal with “black fangs, ... hooves, ... and strikes hard as a snake” (Fleur).
Cover Image