Red Mocassins

Power makes Joyce look like a bad mother right from the beginning of the story.

Joyce is portrayed not to be “mother material” because Anna, her cousin, is the one working on Bernardine’s first Sioux costume. Power says in the text that “Ordinarily a mother would do this, but Dina’s was the next thing to useless. Joyce Blue Kettle had never gotten close enough to a needle to stick herself, let alone sew a costume” (409). A reader already looks at Joyce in a negative way because she should have been the one fulfilling this important tradition for her only daughter.

At the end of the story, one of the important discussion questions asked is “What claim does this story make about the power of a mother’s love?” Anna is very hurt, and has lost her only son. Anna does kill Dina in the end, and the murder is contemplated because she did not eat for three days so that she could finish the moccasins in order to control Dina to dance herself to death. Although Joyce is a ditz and she did not show her daughter love when she was alive, in the end, her love for Dina, is demonstrated. “One old woman started to cut them off, slicing into flesh, which was the moment Joyce stumbled out of her mind”(417). She falls apart when her daughter dies, and her motherly love is shown to be powerful. Even though Dina’s death is very sad, I cannot blame Anna for what she did because of her state of mind. This is important when discussing the question of how Power wants me to respond to the characters, plot, etc. I saw Anna’s devotion to her son throughout the whole story, and although Dina had nothing to do with what happened to Chaske, I still feel compassion towards Anna. I feel bad for her, and would argue for her that she killed Dina out of grief, and she almost had a temporary insanity. Joyce was a horrible person, and if Anna took revenge on her for evil actions by taking away her only daughter, I cannot hate Anna for it. So what claim does “Red Moccasins” make about the power of a mother’s love? This story shows that a mother will do anything for a child, even to taking revenge on a person that does not help to save him.

Many points in the story demonstrate Joyce’s jealousy of Anna, and Joyce’s bad attitude. When Anna falls in love with Emery Bauer, who is not Sioux, Joyce is quick to say something negative. Instead of being happy for Anna, who is like a sister to her, Anna says, “Joyce Blue Kettle protested the loudest, flapping her tongue so much I thought she might wear it thin as a hair ribbon. Joyce had been married for several years by that time and was already a mother,

Some topics in this essay:
Joyce Dina’s, Blue Kettle, Power Anna’s, Anna Power, Joyce Joyce, Joyce Anna, Susan Power, Anna Anna, Sioux Joyce, Bernardine’s Sioux, throughout story, power mother’s, power mother’s love, mother’s love story, anna power, bad mother, anna’s devotion, person anna, cousin anna, happened chaske, compassion towards anna, feel compassion towards, story dina, sioux costume,