The theme of “The Leap” by Louise Erdrich is that
survival often depends upon the ability to use reason
. The narrator’s mother exhibits quick-thinking when lightning strikes the tent pole during her trapeze act with her first husband.
Why does the mother make the leap?
The mother didn’t want to be reminded of what she lost the day of the storm. She lost her child, her husband, and was injured. … Her mother then
saved her
by climbing and leaping from a tree to get to the window of the roof to bring the narrator down from the flaming house.
What does the leap symbolize in the leap?
Each leap symbolizes
a connection to another human being
. The first leap connects Anna to her unborn child. The second leap connects her to her second husband (and her future daughter with that husband). The last leap connects her to that same daughter.
What point of view is the leap?
“The Leap” by Louise Erdrich follows an autobiographical story line. The story is told as a flashback by the narrator and daughter of Anna Avalon, a former trapeze artist in a circus. The point of view is
first person with the daughter beginning the
story in present time…
What is the conflict in the story the leap?
The conflict in The Leap by Louise Erdrich is
in the choice of whose life to save and it appears twice
. The narrator is telling the tale of how she came to be. In doing so, she recounts the two occasions on which her mother had to make a choice about whose life/lives to risk and whose to save.
What are two examples of foreshadowing in the leap?
The kiss in midair foreshadows the midair window rescue from the fire.
The trapeze act foreshadows the leap to the roof’s edge during the fire rescue
. Finally, the title foreshadows the mother’s choice at the lightning strike, the second marriage, and of course the fire rescue.
What is the summary of the leap?
“The Leap” is a
short story about an unnamed woman’s mother, Anna, and the choices that framed her past
. It is told from the perspective of Anna’s daughter, who lives with her aging mother in New Hampshire and attempts to remember her through stories about Anna’s fantastic life as a young woman.
What is the most dramatic event in the leap?
The most dramatic event in “The Leap” is
the mother’s rescue of the daughter from her burning bedroom
. While the leap of Mrs. Avalon under the circus tent is, indeed, dramatic, it is not described with the amount of detail that is present in the daughter’s narration of her own rescue by her mother.
What are the 3 leaps?
What are the three leaps that Anna takes in the story? 1)
The literal leap on the trapeze
; 2) the figurative leap of learning to read and starting a new life; and 3) the literal leap from the tree to the window during the fire.
How many leaps are there in the story the leap?
In Louise Eldrich’s “The Leap,” the mother has taken
three leaps
: 1. A leap to safety after lightning strikes during her and her husband’s circus act. 2. A “leap” into literacy, and 3.
What is the climax of the leap?
The climax of the story is clearly
when the house caught fire and it looks as if the narrator is not able to escape and will die
: … From below, it looked as though even a squirrel would have had trouble jumping from the tree onto the house, for the breadth of that small branch was no bigger than my mother’s wrist.
Is Anna blind in the leap?
Anna has gone blind
, and yet, her daughter (the narrator) says, she never loses her balance, knocks anything over, or even bumps into anything as she moves around in total darkness. She has not lost her poise, even though she is quite advanced in years and has lost the sense of sight.
What is the main external conflict in the leap?
What is the resolution of the leap? The resolution is that she save herself and her daughter. The other conflict is
Anna has to perform dangerous actions to save her and her daughter
. This is a external conflict, because it is character vs outside force.
How is the conflict resolved in the leap?
This is a internal conflict, because it is character vs self. The
resolution is that she save herself and her daughter
. The other conflict is Anna has to perform dangerous actions to save her and her daughter. … The resolution is that she save her the narrator from the fire.
How does the mother save the daughter in the leap?
When the narrator was seven, their family home caught on fire.
With the fire burning out of control
, the narrator’s mother saves her. She leaps into the air to grab onto the roof and save her daughter.
Who is Anna in the leap?
Anna was
a trapeze artist raised in the insular community of the circus
. Not only was she illiterate, she was also generally ignorant of life outside the circus environment. When her first husband, a fellow performer, died in a trapeze accident, Anna was injured, and she ended up in the hospital for a protracted stay.
