Survival and Continuation: An Analysis of the Women Characters of the American Indian Community in Louise Erdrich’s The Night Watchman

Abstract

The Night Watchman is a novel published by Native American woman writer Louise Erdrich in 2020. The book tells the story of an Indian tribe located in the Turtle Mountain Reservation in the 1950s which makes arduous efforts to prevent the US government from enacting Termination Bill and relocation plan. The author vividly displays the unity of the tribal people in the Turtle Mountain Reservation. At the same time, the images of American Indian women are portrayed in details. In the mainstream white society, Indian images, especially Indian women’s images, always seem to be shrouded in mystery due to the long-term neglect and discrimination. At the time, Indian women were facing two crises: firstly, as women, they failed to avoid the fate of being persecuted; Secondly, as the members of the Indian community, their tribal survival and development were under threat. Therefore, analyzing the images of American Indian women in Erdrich’s The Night Watchman not only enables the public to pay attention to the identity and awareness of Native American women, but also helps readers better understand how the female characters in the book shape their unique gender and cultural identity through persistence and resistance.