26 pages • 52 minutes read
Terese Marie MailhotHeart Berries
Terese Marie MailhotNonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Hospital
For Mailhot, the hospital symbolizes the expectations of Western culture, and her ability to fit into it. She goes there to reconnect with the world and finds no representation of her culture within its White walls. She is a problem that needs fixing in the hospital.
While Mailhot is in the hospital, Casey abandons her because she does not fit his expectations of what a good woman should be; her inability to follow the rules of White culture is a perpetual problem in their relationship. She recalls her stay in the hospital throughout the book, as proof of her inability to meet the cultural norms of her chosen life as the partner of a White man. She writes on this: “You should have thought before you made a crazy Indian woman your lover” (14), as if being with her is a mistake or a punishment.
The hospital returns again and again as both a balancing point for Mailhot and a reminder of her failure to comply with the cultural standards of the world around her.
Squaw
For Mailhot, the squaw is symbol of self-hatred. It represents her internalized racism against Indian women, which manifests as a hatred of herself.
When Mailhot thinks of herself as a squaw, she feels a compulsion to clean herself. She feels dirty and chaotic. She does not value herself and believes the world has discounted her. By using this sexualized, racialized slur to describe herself, Mailhot degrades herself. She calls herself a squaw when she feels inferior to White women. She is a squaw when she drinks too much or acts crazy, falling into perpetuating stereotypical Indian behavior.
Mailhot feels less like a squaw after earning her MFA, though this identity is still tied up in her lover’s perception of her: “I believe you want my sorrow now that it is more sophisticated, it’s less contrite—less of a beggar. I’m less of a squaw” (115). Her internalized racism is not gone in this final section. Instead, it’s simply quieter because she has been accepted into the predominantly White academic circle. By earning an education, Mailhot has played the White man’s game and she is no longer entirely a squaw. This speaks to not only Mailhot’s idea of herself, but also the persistent impact of internalized racism on indigenous women, who are trained to see themselves as dirty, unworthy, sexualized, and wild.
Thunder
For Mailhot, thunder symbolizes the healing power of falling apart. Thunder appears twice in her life—once when she recalls the trauma of her childhood abuse, and during her pregnancy with her third son.
Mailhot calls her new baby a Thunder Being. He is powerful, and he tears her apart both mentally and physically. Despite the havoc he wreaks in the womb, he is able to bring Mailhot and Casey together. In the wake of his destructive entrance into their world, they find a space for their family. Though his impact on Mailhot is great, she is better able to understand and manage her mental illness because of his birth. She falls apart and puts herself back together again new.
Mailhot also reflects on the power of thunder when she recalls the trauma of her childhood sexual abuse at the hands of her father. This memory destroys her, but it also allows her to heal. Mailhot says of thunder: “She comes because we ask, and that’s why falling apart is holy.” (105) Though Mailhot is devastated by this thunderous revelation, she learns to soothe herself and heal from the pain of her childhood.
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