Summary
The story “The Stone”, written by Louis Erdrich, is a prime example of modern prose. The work describes the life path of the main character, who found the Stone in childhood, and their further relationship. The Stone, for whom the tale was named, is a full-fledged second main character of the work. Changes in the interactions between him and the main character throughout the story play a vital role in understanding the plot of this work and the ideas the author has put into it. Through such an extraordinary story, Louis Erdrich demonstrates the main character’s attitude to life at various stages of her development.
Beginning
The first meeting between the main characters is described at the beginning of the story. “Water had scoured two symmetrical hollows into the Stone, giving it an owlish look, or a blind look, or, anyway, some oddly attractive quality” (Erdrich 2). As can be seen from this quote, at the very beginning, the main character exhibits inexplicable intrigue and interest in the Stone. She cannot even explain what attracts her to the object, but the main character feels this unexplainable attraction to him. Such an approach characterizes children’s natural curiosity and craving to learn everything new, even what seems boring and mundane to adults.
Character and Relationship Development
Gradually, the main character begins to sacralize and fetishize the Stone: she perceives him as a person, as her friend, who can console her in difficult times. The sacredness of the Stone is manifested in the fact that the main character hides it even from relatives and does not seek to say anything about it. As she enters puberty, the Stone begins to take on sexual overtones. This can be compared to how, having matured, children perceive their friends of the opposite sex differently.
The story presents the reader with a semblance of a romantic relationship between the main character and the Stone. The tale directly mentions how she believes the Stone can be jealous or even take revenge: “She slept that night with the stone beside her, and every night after that, too” (Erdrich 2). “That night, the stone fell off the shelf and struck the bone around her eye, causing an orbital fracture and maybe a concussion, as she forgot where she was and could not speak for several hours” (Erdrich 3). The literary element of the personification of the Stone is generally most widely used in this work.
The relationship between the main characters reaches such a level of humanity that they quarrel: “It was like falling out of love. As she had before, the woman put the Stone, now in two pieces, into a drawer she rarely used” (Erdrich 3). After that, the main character attempts to build a relationship with a man, but it ultimately ends in a break. She eventually repairs the Stone and starts sleeping with it again.
The author uses a literary element as a metaphor: a crack, which was then glued together. This demonstrates the crisis of relationships and how people return to old friends, realizing for themselves who is essential in their lives.
Ending
The story’s finale describes the Stone’s essence and many thousands of years of history. It turns out that not one person at one time was essentially obsessed with him. A similar motive, akin to the relationship between a person and an inanimate object, which the author calls “in its own way, a living thing,” prompts existential and religious reflections. For all his ‘friends’, the Stone was like an idol, an object of worship.
The question of reciprocity in such relations remains unresolved. In the end, the Stone is something too alien for a person to apply human feelings to. The author illustrates how a conditional childhood relationship with an imaginary friend evolves into a relationship akin to that between a person and God.
Work Cited
Erdrich, Louise. “The Stone.” The New Yorker, 2019.