The Birchbark House

            The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich brings me back to what should seem like more familiar surroundings than Kipling’s Kim. I should feel much more acquainted with the setting because a great deal closer to where I have grown up and lived than India. But Erdrich’s novel was about a subject that is unfamiliar to me. I am not knowledgeable about anything Native American. It seems to have been pretty much glossed over in my education so far. I found it interesting the way the author weaved elements of a culture that is strange to me with what seems like universal things that young girls of any culture may go through.  This is much different from the traditional stories that I heard as a child such as Pocahontas. I learned about the day-to-day life of a young Indian girl. She had her chores just as we all did as children but her chores were very different than the ones I did as a child. While I may have hated cleaning my room she hates to clean the hides that her father brings home for hunts.

Just as in Kim, The Birchbark House has its own unique language. Just by reading these last two books I was given the chance to expand my vocabulary by probably over a hundred words. I have a feeling that my brain may only absorb a couple of them though. When I started to read Erdrich’s book I was excited because it takes place so close to home compared to Kipling’s. I thought that it would feel closer to home but I was wrong. The small world of The Birchbark House is just as unfamiliar to me as Kipling’s portrayal of India. It is quite amazing to me that something that is set in a place so close to me ends up feeling like a place as strange as India.