Tracks

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Chapter 1

Reading Check

1. What has decimated the Chippewa people?

2. Who is Moses?

3. What happens to the allotment collectors who visit Fleur?

4. What remains unaffected by the plight of the Chippewa people?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the relationship between Nanapush, Lulu, and Fleur Pillager?

2. Why are the villagers unwilling to help Fleur?

3. Why do Nanapush and Fleur suffer from a silent sickness?

4. What happens to Edgar Pukwan?

Paired Resource

“‘In the Old Language’: A Glossary of Ojibwe Words, Phrases, and Sentences in Louise Erdrich’s Novels”

• This free-to-access article by Peter G. Beidler is a valuable resource for navigating the language in Tracks. Note that the Ojibwe term in each chapter title is followed by its English translation.
• Consider how the marking of time according to the sun is relevant to the story.

Chapter 2

Reading Check

1. After being saved from two near drownings, why do men stay away from Fleur?

2. During one final card game, what is the response of the butcher’s men when Fleur takes all the winnings?

3. Who watches the men’s response but does not intervene?

4. What are the speculations regarding the father of Fleur’s baby, Lulu?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Who is Pauline, and what is her relationship to Fleur?

2. Why is Pauline in Argus?

3. Why are the men at the butcher shop intrigued by Fleur’s card playing?

4. What damage does the tornado cause? Who or what is spared? Who or what is not?

Paired Resource

“Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians Heritage Center”

• Browse this virtual center to learn more about the historical background of the characters in Tracks.
• Consider how the conflict to hold on to culture exists between the Chippewa and white people and within the culture, as exemplified by Fleur, who rejects assimilation, and Pauline, who wants to assimilate.

Chapter 3

Reading Check

1. How does Nanapush help Eli?

2. How does Margaret persuade Pauline to reveal what happened to Fleur in Argus?

3. What event causes Fleur to finally give birth?

4. How does Fleur’s baby get her name?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why is Fleur reluctant to tell her own story about Argus?

2. What is the relationship between Nanapush and Margaret?

3. What is the relationship between Nanapush and Eli?

4. What is Eli’s relationship to Lulu?

Paired Resource

“The Symbols of the Chippewa Indians: Animals”

·        In the section titled “Animals,” the importance of the bear is discussed.

·        Consider how the bear may be Fleur’s spirit guide and how it connects to the novel’s theme The Spirit World Influences the Living World.

Chapter 4

Reading Check

1. Where does Sophie go when she jumps off the cart that takes her to her aunt’s home?

2. How does Clarence try to save Sophie?

3. What miracle does Pauline witness?

4. What is the result of this miracle?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the relationship between Pauline and Bernadette?

2. What evidence suggests that Pauline’s narration is unreliable?

3. How does Pauline carry out revenge against Eli?

4. What happens to the relationship between Eli and Fleur?

Paired Resource

“How to Make a Love Potion”

• Herbalist Suhaly Bautista-Carolina explains how to make a love potion. (Subscription may be required for viewing.)
• Discuss how and why Pauline violates Bautista-Carolina’s first step: “The first step in being able to love someone else requires you to activate your self-love.”

Chapter 5

Reading Check

1. What is the tribal conflict over government payments?

2. Why do Boy Lazarre and Clarence Morrissey kidnap Nanapush and Margaret?

3. How does Fleur react to the cutting of Margaret’s hair?

4. How do Nanapush and Eli come to live at Matchimanito?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How does Nanapush guide Eli during a moose hunt?

2. What advice does Nanapush give Eli about winning back Fleur?

3. How does Fleur react to the kidnapping?

4. How do Nanapush and Nestor find revenge against Boy Lazarre and Clarence Morrissey?

Paired Resource

“Land Tenure History”

• This resource explains the US Government and Indigenous people’s troubled relationship over land ownership.
• Discuss how the land is part of Indigenous identity.

Chapter 6

Reading Check

1. What is the purpose of Pauline’s penances?

2. What happens to Fleur’s second child?

3. Whom does Fleur meet in Chippewa heaven?

4. How does Margaret react to Pauline’s offer to fetch Father Damien?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is the relationship between Pauline and Napoleon?

2. What offer does Bernadette make Pauline?

3. What promise and direction does Pauline believe Jesus gives her?

4. During Fleur’s labor, what is her interaction with Pauline?

Paired Resource

“Flagellation”

• Pauline’s penances are a form of self-flagellation, a practice explained in this article.
• Consider the real motivation behind Pauline’s actions. Why does she practice self-flagellation?

Chapter 7

Reading Check

1. How does Nanapush treat Lulu’s frost-bitten feet?

2. What saves Nanapush and his adopted family from starvation?

3. What threatens Margaret, Nanapush, and Fleur’s land?

4. What is Margaret’s plan to save the land?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Bernadette go to work for the land agent?

2. What information do readers learn about Lulu, Nanapush’s listener?

3. How does Pauline become injured?

4. What suspicious behavior do Margaret and Nestor exhibit after going to town to pay the agent?

Paired Resource

"Assimilation" and "Boarding Schools"

• Lulu’s high heels and stockings suggest assimilation. Additionally, the story hints that Lulu attended a boarding school.
• Consider the battle Nanapush faces in his narration intended for Lulu. She symbolizes assimilation while he tells her the story of her cultural heritage. Is he convincing, or is it too late for Lulu to appreciate her grandfather’s message?

Chapter 8

Reading Check

1. Whom does Pauline dream visits her during her suffering?

2. Whom does Pauline believe has abandoned her?

3. What happens to Napoleon Morrissey?

4. What is Fleur’s final reaction to Pauline?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Pauline go to Matchimanito Lake?

2. In what state does Pauline return to the convent?

3. How do attempts to save Pauline from drowning turn out?

4. Whom does Pauline become?

Paired Resource

“Leopolda”

• The name is of German origin, meaning “bold person.”
• Consider why Pauline chooses Leopolda as her new name and how it represents the juxtaposition of Traditional Chippewa/Ojibwe Beliefs Versus Christianity.

Chapter 9

Reading Check

1. Where does Fleur send Lulu?

2. What is the effect of Margaret’s betrayal on Eli?

3. How does Margaret’s betrayal affect her relationship with Nanapush?

4. Who is blamed for the death of Napoleon Morrisey?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What is Margaret’s betrayal?

2. What is Fleur’s reaction to Margaret’s betrayal?

3. How does Fleur trap the loggers who come to her cabin?

4. Where does Fleur go with her cart?

Recommended Next Reads

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

• Love Medicine is the first book in the Love Medicine Series; Tracks is the third, though it takes place first chronologically.
• Shared topics include family bonds and identity, and indigenous assimilation.
• Love Medicine on SuperSummary

The Beet Queen by Louise Erdrich

• The Beet Queen is the second book in the Love Medicine Series.
• Shared topics include family bonds and identity, and indigenous assimilation.
• The Beet Queen on SuperSummary