Plot Points
The number of Pillager family members Nanapush finds dead in the cabin.
What is 5?
Nanapush and Pukwan visit the Pillager cabin to check for survivors of this event.
What is the sickness/consumption?
This young woman is found sick in her family's cabin but later survives.
Who is Fleur?
The name of the lake near which Fleur’s family cabin is located.
What is Matchimanto?
The type of narration used in the story.
Pukwan refuses to bury the dead and instead tries to do this to the cabin.
What is burn it down?
Nanapush and Edgar Pukwan find Fleur in this condition in her family’s cabin.
What is Feverish and barely alive?
This elder Anishinaabe man serves as the narrator of the story.
Who is Nanapush?
The reason Nanapush initially refuses to sign the settlement papers.
What is to prevent loss of Anishinaabe land?
The way Eli proves himself helpful to Fleur when he first meets her.
What is helping her cut and prepare the deer?
The fate of the government agent who repeatedly asks Fleur for land payments.
What is disappearing in the woods?
The way Nanapush removes Fleur from the cabin.
What is by sled?
This young hunter becomes involved with Fleur after tracking a deer to her cabin.
Who is Eli Kashpaw?
The government papers and treaties symbolize this ongoing issue faced by Indigenous communities.
What is land disposition?
The type of marker Nanapush carves for the Pillager graves.
What are the clan symbols?
The reason Eli tracks the deer into the woods but never retrieves it.
Why did Fleur already kill it?
The reason Pukwan is afraid to enter the Pillager cabin.
This tribal policeman is afraid of spirits and attempts to burn down the Pillager cabin.
Who is Edgar Pulkwan?
The spirits of the dead follow Nanapush home, symbolizing this emotional burden.
What is survivor's guilt?
The way Fleur reacts when Eli first arrives at her cabin.
What is ignoring him and continuing on with her work?
The reason Nanapush believes the community’s downfall was not caused by spirits.
What is Alcohol and Money?
What happens when Pukwan tries to burn the cabin?
Why does the fire keep going out?
This Catholic priest arrives to replace the one who succumbed to disease.
Who is Father Damien?
Fleur is associated with this supernatural lake creature, rumored to lure people to their doom.
Who is Misshepeshu?
The storytelling style used by Nanapush that blends history with personal experience.
What is Oral Tradition?