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Transcript

Tone/Mood

"The Leap"

By: Louise Erdrich

Thank You!

Plot

  • The plot of the short story "The Leap" is the narrator's mother, Anna, was an acrobat in a circus performing trapeze acts that later helped save the narrator's life. The narrator explains to the reader how Anna saves her life three times and she owes the existence of herself to her. The two situations that happened first, when the narrator's life was saved, caused the intense ending of the story and showed readers Anna's skill level from the circus.

Theme

  • The theme of the short story "The Leap" is that a person's survival instincts kick in when they're in life or death situations. The narrator's mother constantly exhibited her survival insticts when she saved herself once the "replica tent pole, cracked and splintered" (pg.1), when "her hands did not meet her husband's" (pg.2), and when she leaped "through the ice-dark air toward that thinnest extension, and how she broke the branch falling so that it cracked in her hands, cracked louder thn the flames as she vaulted with it toward the edge of the roof." (pg.5)

Symbols

  • The Leap

- This symbolizes the actual leap that Anna took during her trapeze act and when saving the narrator from the burning house. With that being said, this leap also symbolizes how Anna leaped into being a wife and a mother after her failed trapeze act. "... not a fact I think about much even now that she is sightless," (pg.1)

Symbols

  • The blindfold

- This symbolizes how Anna goes blind in the future. "... not a fact I think about much even now that she is sightless," (pg.1)

Picture

POV

  • The point of view of the short story "The Leap" is first person. The reader can see this within the first sentence when the narrator connects the story with a personal statement using words like "my" and "I". "My mother is the surviving half of a blindfold trapeze act, not a fact I think about much even now that she is sightless, the result of encroaching and stubborn cataracts." (pg.1) "I have lived in the West..." (pg.1)

Characterization

  • Narrator - The narrator in this story shows characteristics of a flat character by keeping this feeling of thankfulness towards her mother. They look at her as a hero and find security within her. "I owe her my existence three times." (pg.1) The narrator also shows signs of smartness and bravery during the fire incident.

Anna - Anna is the narrator's mother and can be categorized as a risk taker with a sense of fearlessness. "It seems incredible that she would work high above the ground when any fall could be so dangerous" (pg.2) Anna also gives the perception of a "catlike" precision, which explains the result of her trapeze acts. As a character, she connects to the title by saving the narrator from a burning house and believing that leaping can always have an effect to a situation. "I didn't see her leap through the air, only heard the sudden thump and looked out my window." (pg.5)

Characterization

Setting

The setting of the short story "The Leap" is presented through a series of flashbacks and takes place in the western region of New Hampshire. The characters live in the city in a very small community surrounded by hills. For the most part, it is sunny and warm around Anna's house.

Conflict

  • The conflict in this story shows man vs. self and man vs. nature. These both come in when Anna constantly has to make a choice about who to save in whatever situation that she is in. She first decided to save herself when "a replica tent pole, cracked and splintered." (pg.1) Another situation was when she decided to save herself and her unborn child instead of dying with her husband. "Instead, she changed direction. Her body twisted toward a heavy wire and she managed to hang on to the braided metal, still hot from the lightning strike. " (pg.2) Even towards the end of the story, Anna makes a decision to save her daughter from a burning house. "Then she could be seen among the leafless branchess of late November as she made her way up and, along her stomach, inched the length of a bough that curved above the brance that brushed the roof." (pg.5)

Motif

The motif in this story is "I owe her my existence three times." (pg.1) This quote is the motif of this story because it gives the explaination of the narrator's grattitude towards their mother and shows their reaction to their mother using her survival instincts in life or death situations. "Then I wrapped my hands around my mother's hands. I felt the brush of her lips and heard the beat of her heart in my ears, loud as thunder, long as the roll of drums." (pg.5)

Irony

  • Anna doing trapeze acts while she is pregnant, leading to her baby's death, shows irony because her fearlessness and adventurous behavior with being in the circus lead to the death of her baby. "She was taken to the town hospital, and there she must have hemorrhaged, for they kept her confined to her bed, a month and a half before her baby was born without life." (pg.3)

Irony

Irony

  • Anna saving the narrator from a burning house using actions from her previous trapeze acts because the same thing that caused her to lose her husband, her sight, and her baby is the same thing that caused the safety of her child from a burning house. "I was still embarrassed as we flew out the window, toward earth, me in her

Irony

  • Anna trying to perform a blind trapeze act in the past and now becoming blind due to cataracts.

Irony

Tone

  • This story introduces the reader to a sinister, yet ironic tone. "My mother is the surviving half of a blindfold trapeze act, not a fact I think about much even now that she is sightless, the result of encroaching and stubborn cataracts." (pg.1) This quote shows that there was an incident that could have ended up with the narrator's mother, Anna, being dead, which gives off the sinister tone. The ironic tone comes in when we read deeper into the story and see that the same thing that saved the narrator's life is the same thing that almost ended their mother's life. "Three people died, but excpet for her hands my mother was not seriously harmed until an overager rescuer broke her arm in extricating her and also, in the process, collapsed a portion of the tent bearing a huge buckle that knocked her unconscious." (pg.3)

Mood

  • The mood of this story is serious but warming at the same time. Erdrich develops the narrator to be able to discuss a serious topic involving a tragic incident with showing warmth and passion towards their mother as well. "It was while the two were in midair, their hands about to meet, that lightning struck the main pole and sizzled down the guy wires, filling the air with a blue radiance..." (pg.2) Even with mentioning the moment in which their mom almost died, they bring in the idea of their mother being this wonderful savior. "I owe her my existence three times. The first was when she saved herself." (pg.1)
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