“We started dying before the snow, and like the snow, we continued to fall” (Tracks, 1). The first line of any story must hook the reader for it to be successful and often sets the tone for what is to follow. The first line of Tracks, spoken by the older of the novel’s two narrators, Nanapush, seems out of character for a man with such a youthful disposition. And yet, it is also extremely fitting. Over the course of the nine years in which the story takes place, the reader is faced with the slow and agonizing death of the Anishinaabe people - both figuratively and literally. For a story depicting the gradual loss of life, mainly through starvation or illness, mixed with the much quicker encroachment of white settlers on Anishinaabe land, it is only fitting that the first line be so morose. The fact that a tribal elder, on all accounts a clever and laid-back man, utters such words, to his granddaughter no less, effectively foreshadows the path the story will take. …show more content…
Nanapush takes in a young girl, Fleur, orphaned and shunned by the Anishinaabe people for being a bad omen, and treats her as his own daughter. As the story progresses, Nanapush continues to build his clan further, including Fleur’s husband, Eli, their daughter Lulu, and another tribal elder, Margaret. Through this dysfunctional family dynamic, the reader gets a strong sense of Nanpush’s values and beliefs. A staunch believer in the “old ways,” Nanapush refuses to accept defeat and pushed for the survival of his people even when others recognized and gave into its futility. He shows strength through his stubbornness, a strength also seen in Fleur. His belief that his people and culture could continue to thrive seems directly connected to the strength and vibrancy of