I don't really know if I actually understand "Skunk Dreams" at all, but I do know that I understand more now that I have finished the whole story (which...I guess is really obvious). At first I had no idea where it was going. She started out talking about this incident where a skunk fell asleep on her. With that, though, she was able to move to dreams. In a way, dreams moved the rest of the story along. Through her dream about a fence with wilderness beyond it, she realized that she desired wilderness.
It was with this idea of desire that she could bring up the point that when people desire things, it is required that there is an obstacle. In her case, her obstacle was the fence that she had to get past. Near the end of the story, she gets past that obstacle and gets to see all kinds of animals. It is then that she puts together the thought that animals are put there to die. They have the one pleasure to live. Then finally Erdrich made a complete circle back to the skunk by talking about how she would choose to be a skunk out of all the animals in the world.
I'm not really sure if I liked the story or not. To me it seemed all over the place, but at the same time it was pulled together nicely (I know...that probably doesn't make sense...). Even the two-word title summarized it in a unique, but correct way. Skunks and dreams were what it was all about. Another thing that I liked about the story was how it did start with the skunk story and end with a statement about skunks. I thought that made the story make a little more sense.
Louise Erdrich also succeeded in using a really great word choice. The verbs and adjectives were an awesome addition to the story. "The unkillable and fiercely contorted trees of old orchards, those revenants, spooked me when I walked in the woods. The blasted limbs spread a white lace cold as fire in the spring, and the odor of the blossoms was furiously spectral, sweet." This is an example of how Erdrich used creative verbs and adjectives to help her with the story. I would go as far to say that even though I didn't completely understand what the point of the story was, I enjoyed how it was written and some of the different points made.
I did not take this as a story of desire, but I understand what you are saying. I liked the line where she says that like humans, animals will not go charging into a fence without a good reason. I think this does hint to the idea of desire and how hard it can be to reach it. If you think an obstacle is impossible to overcome, you will never reach the goal it blocks, but once you believe you can overcome it, it cannot stop you. As for my opinion on the story, I neither loved nor hated it. I found that rereading it, or at least parts of it made it ten times easier to understand and to come up with the points of the story.
ReplyDeleteThe points made by Erdich were interesting to say the least. However, I was more blown away by her intricate style of writing. I, too, felt like I was there experiencing it all with Erdrich.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that the story had some great vocab and word choice. Also you said that the story had you confused at times, which I can totally relate to. At times I had to read over certain parts because I couldn't see what kind of connections were suppost to be made. When the story started to go in the path of her "wilderness" I understood more of what Louise was trying to get across, and found the story more delightfull.
ReplyDeleteThe story doesn't seem so random if you consider them examples about the obstacles and desires theme. Her early years demonstrate what happens if you don't have obstacles in your life: "Without obstacles, the notion of development is inconceivable."
ReplyDeleteThe second part of the story is what happens when she meets an obstacle--the fence. And I think she does meet one of the coveted characteristics she likes about the skunk. she moves through the forest freely and bravely like a skunk.