Louise ErdrichÆs Tracks is the tale of the ChippewaÆs efforts to maintain their lands and their culture. In the story, we see the conflict between Chippewa traditional believes and Christian teachings. The oral storytelling of Nanapush is used to provide a transition from old Chippewa culture to present times, stories that Nanapush must relate ôstep by step,ö (Erdrich, p. 109). For this reason, Erdrich has named her book ôTracks,ö because NanapushÆs stories provide the path or route by which Chippewa and others can travel to their heritage and continue maintaining it.
The ôtracksö ErdrichÆs story are the tracks laid down by Nanapush as he attempts to provide the continuance of the Chippewa heritage for others to preserve. He is old and knows his stories must be not only told but continued if the Chippewa heritage is to survive. As he says of his tales, stories that make up the ôtracksö of the novel, ôTheyÆre all attached, and once I start there is no end to telling because theyÆre hooked from one side to the other, mouth to tail,ö (Erdrich, p. 46). Thus, like the steps of a track or path, the stories represent the continuation and connection of Chippewa heritage.
The tracks of ErdrichÆs novel help to lay the path that explains the importance of tribal tradition, myths, and stories. Nanapush represents the last link between the track or path to Chippewa heritage, an old Chippewa who has grown tired from having to keep the myths, traditions, and stories of the Chippewa in his head. He has had to keep them in his head in order to retell them so that others can continue this heritage, preserve it, and maintain it. As Nanapush maintains, ôTalk is an old manÆs last vice. I opened my mouth and wore out the boyÆs ears, but that is not my fault. I shouldnÆt have been caused to live so long, show so much of death, had to squeeze so many stories in the corners of my crain,ö (Erdri
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