Tracks

by

Louise Erdrich

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Tracks makes teaching easy.

Bernadette Morrissey Character Analysis

Bernadette Morrissey is a mixed-blood mother of four children: Clarence, Sophie, Philomena, and Marie. She is a widow who works on a farm with her brother, Napoleon. She works both as a midwife to help babies into the world and also as a preparer of the dead, a trade she teaches Pauline, who she allows to live with them. When Pauline becomes pregnant with Napoleon’s baby, Bernadette convinces Pauline to keep it and then adopts the child as her own once it is born. After her two eldest children marry, she moves to Argus to work as secretary to the Agent, denying the Indian ways in a similar way to Pauline.

Bernadette Morrissey Quotes in Tracks

The Tracks quotes below are all either spoken by Bernadette Morrissey or refer to Bernadette Morrissey. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Tradition, Assimilation, and Religion Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

After that we made a plan together to hide the fact of my condition. We were both clever with materials and scissors, and between us we devised a concealing dress that would allow me to accompany Bernadette until I became too advanced. Once that happened, I would not venture off the farm. She would deliver me, having knowledge in her hands of birth as well as death.

Related Characters: Pauline Puyat (speaker), Bernadette Morrissey
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis:
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Tracks PDF

Bernadette Morrissey Quotes in Tracks

The Tracks quotes below are all either spoken by Bernadette Morrissey or refer to Bernadette Morrissey. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Tradition, Assimilation, and Religion Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

After that we made a plan together to hide the fact of my condition. We were both clever with materials and scissors, and between us we devised a concealing dress that would allow me to accompany Bernadette until I became too advanced. Once that happened, I would not venture off the farm. She would deliver me, having knowledge in her hands of birth as well as death.

Related Characters: Pauline Puyat (speaker), Bernadette Morrissey
Page Number: 132
Explanation and Analysis: