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Lauren Sousa
Brian Baker
Native American Experiences
04/30/13
Love Medicine, by Louis Erdich, follows a family of Ojibwe people
living on a reservation from the early 1930s to the late 1980s. Although
there are many themes to the story, and many are told from different points
of view, one that was found to be most interesting is the story and
underlying theme of Nector Kashpaw and his two loves, Lulu and Marie.
Throughout the book, there are many metaphors which make an association
between Lulu as Nectors sugar and Marie as his salt. He continues to
admire Lulu, his promiscuous, beautiful first love, while continuing his
marriage to the half breed, white trash that is his wife, never having to make
a decision between the two.
Throughout the book, one must notice the ongoing theme comparing
Lulu Larmartine as sweet or Nectors sugar. Not only is she Nectors sugar,
but has served in this way for so many others in the tribe. Lulus character is
that of a single mother of eight boys, who fathers are all unique. She is a
free spirited woman, and for the time (definitely) acts promiscuous. Known
for sleeping around with many married men, she has given herself a bad
name amongst the women in the tribe. Lulu does not care what anyone

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thinks of her and with no regrets goes about drinking, playing strip poker and
having her bastards with the married men on the reservation. Towards the
middle of the book she and Nector have an affair lasting five years. Although
he is married, Lulu becomes the only thing he cares about. She is the typical
sweet piece of ass, acting as an escape from his miserable life.
One reason Marie is referred to as salt, is that she is Nectors wife.
Unlike Lulu who is fun, beautifully put together, and seen as a challenge or
something mysterious, Marie has begun to age. She is not quite as thin as
when she and Nector met, and nags him to ensure he is the successful
husband she always wanted. Marie stays at home with the kids and has
always been the one who would take in the orphan children around the
reservation. Described as a worn down house with sagging foundation, she
would certainly seem salty next to the sweet flower covered house fixed up
with paint and a picket fence (p. 234) that is Lulu. Unfortunately, in most
marriages, after being together for a long time, both wives and husbands are
more apt to see all of the negative characteristics, focusing on those rather
than the good qualities once prevalent. In Nector Kashpaws mind, his wife
has soured, and yet he stays with her until the end.
When considering Lulu as Nectors sugar, one must remember that
Lulu was the pick of the tribe, and Nectors first choice to marry. In his eyes
he too was the most handsome on the reservation, which only made sense
for the two of them to be together. Nector Kashpaw is a character who is

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extremely troubled when it comes to making decisions. He battles

continuously with his inability to do so. His entire life he has had others
showing him and forcing him to succeed. When he meets Marie, in his own
mind, she forces him to do things to her in the brush at the bottom of the hill.
Whether or not he was the one pulling up her skirt or in fact twice her size
does not cross his mind. Although he does decide to marry Marie Lazarre
after meeting her outside of the convent, him going back to lulu is his way of
having his first pick the sweet Lulu and keeping his salty Marie.
Lulu admits towards the end of the book that she did at first want to
get the best of Nector. In his eyes she was always and will always be
perfect. Lulu kept herself young and free and despite having eight boys, ran
the perfect household. She was the epitome of what a 50s house wife should
look like, and how their house should be run, only lacking in her promiscuous
nature. Marie is the opposite being seen as a lazy, aging wife who has
always been a trickster or sneaky as it is in her genetics. When they met on
the bottom of the hill, he felt tricked as she brought herself from the lowest
class into one for the best families on the reservation. Nector saw through
many of her games. When he meant to leave Marie, doing so through a
letter, he left it under the sugar jar, to imply that he had made his choice. To
get back at him, she left it under that salt can, in the same fashion she had
discovered it. Despite thinking he had left it under the sugar, she could not
remember if he had actually placed it under the salt jar, causing him to take

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the letter and burn it. In the end her tricks killed him, as she was trying to
force feed him a raw turkey heart as a love potion.
The book Love Medicine takes place from the early 1930s to a
1980s. During this period in history, Native American Indians are still trying
to adjust to the genocide the United States government imposed on their
people. They have been through allotments, relocations, terminations and
have begun to take action against their maltreatment. They are fed up with
the treatment and quite bitter towards the white man. Before Marie Lazarre
met Nector, she was from the lowest family imaginable, a white family of
horse thieving trash, who lived on reservation land, they had acquired
cheaply. Whenever Nector is angry with Marie he calls her a skinny white
girl. The underlying metaphor for Marie being considered salt is that she is
half white and half Ojibwe. Throughout the book be it Marie, Albertines
father the Swede, Junes last date or Lynette, those of Ojibwe decent look
down upon and openly admit that they do not like white people, with the
exception of Albertine. The reason Marie is so salty is that despite having
Indian blood in her veins, unlike Albertine, she never embraces that culture
or part for herself. She pushes her husband to be a leader of the tribe and
yet she entirely refuses to acknowledge her own bloodlines. She is worse
than those who forced small children to go to schools thousands of miles
away, causing them to lose their heritage, as she always shows distain
towards her Indian half. She is thought of just another white person taking

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things from the native people, and there is no surprise that the full blooded
Lulu is the sweet one.
After reading the book, one can see that both Lulu and Marie have their
salty and sweet sides to them. Lulu is a home wrecker and yet can run a
perfect household independent of any man. Marie is a trickster and yet
takes in orphaned children when they have nowhere else to go. Both women
would have made a good match for Nector Kashpaw, but due to his inability
to think for himself, he was never able to decide between his two loves. He
could have made his life easier by choosing one or the other, but he
eventually dies with both his sugar and salt, letting the waters take him
without a fight.

Works Cited
Erdrich, Louis. Love Medicine. New York: Harper Perennial, 2009. Print.