Natalie White White 1

Mrs. Bentley
English III Honors
10 October 2014

Summary of The Leap
The Leap is a story told by the daughter of the surviving half of a blindfold
trapeze act, who is now blind due to her stubborn cataracts and does not speak of or have
anything in memory of her trapeze days. The narrators main idea of the story focuses on
how she owes her mom her existence three times. The story begins by the narrator telling
about the first incident in which she owes her mom her existence.
Before she was born, the narrators mother, Anna Avalon, was in a famous
trapeze act called the Flying Avalons with her husband. On a beautiful summer day in
New Hampshire, the Flying Avalons were getting ready to perform at the local circus,
without the thought that the weather would change dramatically without warning. As
Anna, who was pregnant at the time, and Harry were performing, lightning struck the
main tent pole and made its way down the husbands wires and he began to fall from the
air. With the choice of grabbing his hand and falling with him to her death as well, Anna
decided to grab the guy wire and save herself. Her baby ended up dying inside her
stomach.
The narrator goes on to tell the second reason she owes her mom her existence,
which happened to be in the hospital during her recovery time. Anna met the narrators
future father, the doctor. He taught Anna how to read and they fell in love. They ended up

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getting married and settling on a local farm that her father had inherited. Soon came
along their baby, the narrator.
The third reason the narrator owes her existence to her mother is from an event
that occurred when she was seven. The farmhouse they were living in had caught on fire
and she was under the care of a babysitter. The narrator was already trapped up in her
room by the flames when the babysitter had called 911. Volunteer firefighters were
surrounding the house but could do nothing to help the narrator because their extension
ladder was broken. When the narrators parents arrived and saw what was happening, the
narrators mother decided to take things into her own hands.
She used the broken extension ladder to climb the tree next to the house and
gracefully onto the branch that brushed the roof and then jumped quickly onto the house,
breaking the branch behind her. She climbed through the window and saved her daughter
in front of everyone. She used her former trapeze skills to rescue her daughter from the
fire and got her down safely.

Theme Analysis of The Leap
The Leap expresses my theme; sometimes-good things come out of bad things.
This is shown all throughout the story as the narrator describes three negative events that
happened to her mother as the three reasons she owes her existence to her. The narrator is
basically saying without those terrible things that happened to her mother and the
decisions her mother made in the midst of them, the narrator would not be here today. If
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her mother did not grab the rope in the terrible trapeze accident she wouldnt have been
alive. If her mother hadnt gone to the hospital and if her baby had not died, she would
have not met the narrators father. Last but not least, if she hadnt used her trapeze skills
to rescue the narrator from the burning farmhouse, the narrator would have died. All
these events are unfortunate but in the long run they become good knowing the narrator
was given life.
As the narrator tells the story of the trapeze incident, she recalls something her
mom once said to her that has stuck with her throughout her years. The narrator stated,
My mother once said that Id be amazed at how many things a person can do within the
act of falling. Not only did her mother mean this literally due to the experience she had,
but it has a deeper meaning as well. But I also think she meant that even in that awful
doomed second one could think, proclaimed the narrator as she pondered the meaning of
her mothers wise words. These quotes show that even in a terrible situation, good things
may come from it.
The narrator tells the reader she visits the grave of her mothers baby whom was
dead once the mother gave birth, due to the trapeze incident. The narrator did this
because she considered her a less finished version of herself. She felt somewhat of a
connection with her. Describing the tombstone of her not-so-much-sister, the narrator
says, And it also seems to me, although this is probably an idle fantasy, that the statue is
growing more sharply etched, as if, instead of weathering itself into a porous mass, it is
hardening on the hillside with each snowfall, perfecting itself. This quote really

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highlights the theme showing how something can get beat up and worn down yet it only
makes it better, turning into something beautiful.
While telling about the second time the narrator owes her existence to her mother
she says, I owe my existence, the second time then, to the two of them and the hospital
that brought them together. That is the debt we take for granted since none of us asks for
life. It is only once we have it that we hang on so dearly. The disaster that brought her
mother to the hospital but did not take her life was the reason she met her husband.
Something extremely negative turned into something extremely positive. Although they
were unfortunate, the events in which this all happened should not be taken for granted.
This short story almost acts as a thank you note or appreciation letter for the
narrators mother and everything she went through that benefitted not only her but the
narrator most of all. It really reflects my theme that good things tend to come from bad
situations, even if you have to wait a while to see a positive outcome. One cannot let hate
take over and make them a bitter person when bad things happen to them but rather watch
how it blossoms into something beautiful.

Author Background Information
Louise Erdrich was born on June 7, 1954 in Little Falls, Minnesota. She was the
oldest of 7 kids. Her dad was a German-American and her mother was half French-
American and half Ojibwa, which is one of the largest groups of Native Americans and
First Nations on the North American continent. This greatly affects Erdrichs writing as

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she always features Native American characters and settings in her novels, poetry, and
childrens books.
The oral tradition of Ojibwa storytelling was in Erdrichs life from the start. Her
mother and grandparents would constantly be telling stories and short tales about life on
the reservation during the Great Depression. Her father would also tell stories about the
places he grew up in and his relatives. Being around this for a long period of time
certainly rubbed off on Erdrich. Her father was constantly trying to get his children to
write, he even introduced Shakespeares works to encourage them. He would pay them
each a nickel for every piece of writing they made. She had very supportive parents,
which was a huge help to her writing career. To this day, Erdrich claims listening to her
familys stories has been her most significant literary influence.
Erdrich, as a child, went to public schools but also attended St. Johns, a Catholic
school. Her experience with the Catholic Church had a huge impact on not only her, but
her writing. She states, Catholicism has always been important to me even though I am
not a practicing Catholic now. The ritual is full of symbols, mysteries, and the unsaid.
That affects a person always, once you know it as a child." Erdrich attended Dartmouth
for college. She was in the first class of women accepted in the college. Erdrich majored
in English and creative writing. In 1975 she was awarded the Academy of Poets Prize.
She continued winning several writing awards and finally knew what her calling was
when she realized how easy it came to her. She decided to become a writer.
From then on, she started writing novels, poems, short stories, children books and
more. Every piece of writing she has is based off the influences of her heritage no matter
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if it is based on the people or places or even experiences. The Leap reflects some
influences of her heritage. In the beginning of the story she writes, I have lived in the
West, where you can see the weather coming for miles, and it is true that out here we are
at something of a disadvantage. Erdrich is putting her own personal experiences in the
story, because she has lived in the West before, to maybe give it a more personal
connection to her.
The characters in the story also show some characteristics of her relatives to
incorporate her family in the story. It amazes me how well she can draw from her roots,
both the land and experiences within her family, for inspiration. She takes her personal
life and writing career and uses them as one, having them collide to make extravagant
pieces of work.