Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Medicine Walk, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fathers and Sons
Nature and the Land
Identity and Heritage
Memory and Story
Love, Loss, and Grief
Summary
Analysis
The next morning, Eldon is feverish. When the kid shows concern, Eldon says there’s nothing he can do—his liver is shutting down. The kid cleans and cooks three more trout then readies the horse and starts packing up camp. He lays the saplings and boughs from the lean-to in the woods. His father asks why, and the kid explains it’s respectful to leave things as you found them. His father denies that anything can ever be left as you found it, and the kid says he would know. More words bubble beneath the surface, but he says nothing more.
Back in the narrative’s present, the kid is taking care of his father again. Even when he was a little kid, unsure about Eldon’s role in his life, the kid showed greater thoughtfulness and concern than his father did. Here, the pattern continues. This passage again highlights that Eldon isn’t at home in the wilderness the way Frank is. And his remark about leaving things the way you found them appears to be quietly self-deprecating—he knows he’s caused damage in his life and believes it can’t be undone.
Themes
As they head out of camp, his father again struggles to get comfortable on the mare. He says that Ojibways historically aren’t horse-oriented. The kid keeps an eye out for cougars as they travel. When he spots a bobcat print and wants to point it out to his father, he sees that Eldon is already slumping in the saddle. He has a smell of moldering leaves. At this thought, the kid can’t suppress a lump in his throat, even though the emotion angers him.
Though Eldon doesn’t share Frank’s interests, Frank nevertheless makes an effort to include his father in them, like showing off his ability to spot animal signs. But the time for that sort of connection, it seems, is already past. Frank feels pained by this, but also angry with himself for allowing himself to feel hurt by his father.
Themes
The trail climbs upwards for the rest of the morning. At midday, they rest among a clump of pines. The kid makes a paste out of mushrooms, greens, and berries, which he serves to his father on a stick. Reluctant initially, Eldon is surprised how good it tastes. The kid tells him how the old man taught him to gather plants. The old man used to say it’s important to spend time gathering what you need to keep you strong. He called that a medicine walk.
Eldon is impressed by the kid’s ability to survive on what’s readily at hand—which, again, is something that the old man taught him. The old man seems to have had a double meaning—that it’s worth taking the time to collect things that will strengthen you, not necessarily just nourishing plants. The book’s title comes from this concept of a “medicine walk.” The title implies that, whether he yet realizes it or not, Frank is gathering such things during his journey with Eldon.
Themes
They sit silently, smoking, his father drinking a little and looking at the trees. After a while, the kid says he wants to take his father to a place worth seeing nearby. There are symbols painted on the rock; the old man took him there and explained it was sacred. He promises to lug his father up there to see it, and while Eldon thinks it sounds like too much work, the kid says sometimes a person doesn’t know what they need until they see it.
Frank still reaches for ways to connect with his father. He wants to share something that the old man, in his efforts to help Frank connect with his heritage, has shared with him. In passing along the old man’s teachings to his own father, Frank follows a somewhat indirect path, yet Frank believes it’s worth the effort, even with his father nearing death.
Themes
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Eldon calls him a philosopher, and the kid says that’s not true. Thoughts just come to him sometimes when he’s out on the land. Eldon says he never had a mind for anything like that; his back got him through. When the kid adds, “and the hooch,” his father glares and tells him not to judge. But the kid says he’s just watching; he doesn’t know what he’s seeing yet. He’ll let Eldon know when he figures it out. He puts out the fire and helps his father into the saddle.
Frank still feels bitter toward his father for drinking. When Eldon defends himself—there’s a lot Frank doesn’t yet know about Eldon’s past—Frank explains that he’s commenting on what he sees. In this sense, Frank studies his father almost like he studies an animal’s signs in the woods. He assumes that his father can be “interpreted” just as simply and accurately.
Themes
They make their way up a narrow path. The forest is thinner up here, and soon the path grows steep. At last they reach a narrow ledge. The kid secures the horse and guides his father up the trail, holding onto his belt. They stop frequently so Eldon can catch his breath. Eventually, they reach another ledge in front of a flat cliff. The kid eases Eldon down. When Eldon looks up, his mouth drops open in awe. The kid sits beside him. They look at the symbols—painted birds, animals, stars, and other beings covering the entire wall, 20 feet up. At last, Eldon tells the kid to take him closer. He rests his hand against the wall and asks what they mean. The kid figures they’re stories about people’s lives. It doesn’t bother him that they’re a mystery—sometimes that’s the only way it can give you anything.
When they reach the sacred paintings, it seems to have been worth the painful climb. The meaning of the paintings isn’t known. The kid’s remark suggests that this mystery actually makes the paintings more valuable, not less. In other words, just because the meaning isn’t clear doesn’t mean they’re not conveying something truthful and worth hanging onto. This could be interpreted as a comment on the stories Eldon tells Frank, too, though it’s unclear if Frank realizes that yet.
Themes
The kid asks Eldon if he ever learned any “Indian stuff.” He sinks down against the wall and says no. He was always busy trying to survive, and stories didn’t seem to contribute to that. The kid says he always wanted to understand more about where he came from. He used to sit here all the time, thinking the pictures held some clue. Even when they didn’t, he figured somebody should try to understand the pictures—it seemed like everyone else had forgotten. He adds that he isn’t sure why he brought his father here—maybe it was just for himself. His father takes a drink of whisky and says maybe it was.
Here, Eldon resists the idea that stories are inherently valuable (though as he’ll explain later, he actually believes in—and fears—the power of stories). Though impressed by the paintings, he seems uncomfortable digging into the subject of “Indian stuff.” Ironically, despite being raised by a white guardian, Frank grew up with more freedom and opportunity to think about his heritage than Eldon did.
Themes
