The Plague of Doves: Music – Past and the Present

In what follows, JWS shares her thoughts on music and Louise Erdrich's The Plague of Doves.

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In the novel, “ The Plague of Doves,” Louise Erdrich consistently implements countless symbolisms to connect what appears as snippets of scattered narratives. Because portions of the novel are told in different perspectives from characters representing various backgrounds, these recurrent motifs offer a sense of familiarity and stability that the reader clings to in order to make sense of the intricate story line. One prominent motif in the novel is music – specifically that of a violin. Music enters the novel to depict a broken family, mark the transition between the old generation to the new, offer an explanation about the lives of the two Peace brothers, and even provide the answer of the killer regarding the mystery of the infamous murder in Pluto. Because music in general is an essential part of the Native American culture, as it is a component embedded in everyday life, the way Erdrich allows for music to be presented in the novel through a Western instrument, a violin, suggest that the Western influence in the Native American culture has now become an integral part of the culture itself. As the history of the violin is just as complex, just as intimate, to the plot line as the characters’ relation to each other, Erdrich suggests that the history of the characters are intertwined in more ways than one, creating a strong sense of unity.

Erdrich introduces the pain that the family of Shamegwa undergoes through music. According to Shamegwa, his father used to be a lively character, “playing chansons, reels, jugs, but after the baby’s death [his] mother made him put the fiddle down and take Holy Communion” (201). Upon the death of his baby brother, Shamegwa’s family had transformed, as they were consumed with sadness. Though before, busy sounds had always crowded the house, now “the house went quiet, [his] sister took up the cooking, [his] father became a silent, empty ear, and gradually [they] accepted that the lively loving mother [they] had known wasn’t going to return” (201). In order to escape such silence, as it was driving Shamegwa insane, when he came across his father’s violin, he was only too eager to play it. After seven years of what could be described as a secret relationship with the violin, since Shamegwa would only play when no one was home and he was “always careful that the wind should carry my music away to the west, the emptiness, where there was no one to hear it,” he was terrified when he was discovered his parents (203).

Though Shamegwa thought there would be severe punishment, he was pleasantly surprised there was no outright effect. However, Shamegwa soon finds out that his father had left as “[his] playing awoke something in him” (205). Ironically, Shamegwa was more upset that his father had left with the violin, than the very fact that his father left. Though Shamegwa instantly becomes withdrawn with the absence of the violin, he soon finds another violin in a canoe by the lake, where a voice had instructed him to wait there. Though such a fantastic account is rather difficult to digest as reality, with such episode, Erdrich emphasizes that the significance lies in the music itself, rather than the actual object. Though the physical presence of the violin had abruptly exited out of Shamegwa’s life with his father’s leave, Shamegwa was soon able to find another violin to replace the old one. With such circumstances, Erdrich suggests that though the instruments are replaceable, the music itself is not.

The convenient coincidences continue with Corwin, as he easily comes across the violin in the “basement where his mother’s boyfriend was letting him stay,” (207). He is even able to play the violin with “impeccable mimicry” even though he had never learned the instrument before (209). Such talent hints at the “dormant talent” of the Peace brothers, which proves that music indeed is a consistent bond in the novel. Music seems to serve as an invisible connection between the past and the present, especially since it does not have to explain why. It needs no explanation – just the presence. In the Native American culture, music has always been an integral part, as Native Americans used music to educate, tell stories, and conduct their ceremonies. By establishing a connection between the characters through music, Erdrich seems to be adhering to one of the oldest Native American traditions.

Though Corwin became very attatched to the violin, even mastering it with a high level of skill, upon Shamengwa’s death, Corwin destroys the violin. He does it in a rambunctious public manner, “rais[ing] the violin high and smash[ing] it on the rail, once, twice, three times to do the job right” (213). The significance of such action is not necessarily destruction the bond that has been connecting the past from the present, but a clear representation of a transition. By destroying the violin, Corwin destroys the implications of the past that he does not fully understand. He and Evelina, the younger generation, are not informed of the tragedies in the past, but must always live in the shadows of it. While Corwin’s actions may be deemed disrespectful, causing a scene in Shamegwa’s funeral to a point where Father Cassidy had to began the funeral service over again, he is respecting Shamegwa as an artist. Corwin makes it clear that the violin would forever remain Shamegwa’s. Finally, by smashing the violin, a letter that reveals the fate of the Peace Brothers is discovered, offering an explanation to the mystery that has been in question for many years. Once again, music is able to serve as a connection from the past to the present.

The way that the letter has been hidden in the violin itself – in the music itself- relates to the Native American culture and its incorporation of music in their every day life. Again, in more ways than one, Erdrich reveals a portion of the Native American culture without being overbearing. The letter tells a story of how Lafayette died in the canoe race for the possession of the violin that had “soothed [their] wild hours, courted [their wives]” (214). Because Henri Peace had wanted to win the race that would determine the ownership of the violin, he had “thicken[ed] the seams on one side [of the canoe] that would throw off [his] brother’s paddle stroke” (215). Though Henri had only meant for Layafette to lose the race, his interference cost Lafayette’s life. Though again it seems only too convenient that the very violin in question had indeed found a Peace, Corwin Peace, even though it was through Shamengwa, who had found the violin on a floating canoe, the underlying message is clear – music is a connection and therefore has the power to unravel the secrets of the past.

The “Plague of Doves” had begun with a great murder mystery, one in which a whole family had been violently killed. All the characters, some in more ways than one, had been connected to this incident, and therefore all became inter-related with each other to form the complex web. Incidentally, there was a baby who survived - Dr. Cordelia Lochren. Known to refuse her service to Native Americans, for the longest time Dr. Cordelia believed that the murderer of her family had been of Native American descent, even though there were conflicting evidences that she herself knew only too well. Though she led a happy life, she always wondered about the truth of her killers. However, Dr. Cordelia was finally able to come to the conclusion of her family’s killer through the manner of Wolde’s passing. Upon hearing that “Wodle had collapsed when a vistor named Peace had played a little violin concert in the common room,” she pieces the information together to come to the conclusion that he was the murderer (310). According to her,

“The name, the violin that belonged to the name, the music that spoke the name. And the first few times I had come to treat Wolde, I remember he reared from me in a horror that seemed to personal, and pitiable. There had been something of a recalled nightmare in his face” (310).

Through music, the great mystery that had been plaguing Pluto is able to be resolved.

In the Native American culture, music is a vital part of education, history, and important ceremonies. In short, it serves as an everyday part of their lives. As music remains such an integral part of the Native American’s lives, the way that Erdrich uses music as one of the motifs in the novel is only appropriate. Music serves as a testimony that the complex weave of characters are indeed related to each other, and marks the modern transition that the Native American culture is undergoing. As aforementioned, by representing the motif of music through a Western instrument, rather than denying the influences of the West in the Native American culture, Erdrich molds such factor into a unique experience and considers it an integral part of the Native American culture itself.