In Louise Erdrich's novel, Love Medicine, who or what was resurrected in the chapter entitled, "Resurrection?"

In Louise Erdrich's novel, Love
Medicine, the chapter entitled, "Resurrection" could have several
meanings.

Early in the chapter, when Gordie (Marie's son)
appears in the yard, he has only recently started drinking. We know that it is a return
when Marie refers to the last "good" time. Resurrection may refer to his return to
drinking.

The
pants that had fit him when he began drinking weeks ago were falling off, barely held up
by a piece of clothesline...From the little utility room that Gordie himself had tacked
on during his last good six months, she took her cleaning rags and
bucket.

Resurrection might
refer to the memories Marie recalls—the hard work of everyday the milking of cows,
laundry to be done, bread to bake, babies in diapers. These dreams allow the reader to
understand that Marie has always been a "planner," seeing work needing to be done, and
applying herself to it until it is finished...these memories will be with her at the end
of the chapter.

Finally, "resurrection" takes on a darker
meaning with regard to Gordie's unpredictable behavior, along with Marie's
responsibility to do what must be done.

When Gordie arrives
at Marie's house, he is swaying in the yard; then he falls over like he is dead. Marie
covers him up with a patch blanket. He sleeps there until the next
day.

Gordie wakes—Marie hears him in the kitchen eating
everything he can get his hands on. She gets him to change his shirt, and suddenly, he
becomes violently ill, flinging himself into the doors, walls and stove. Then he falls
down, unconscious. Marie cleans up the room and begins her work again, moving around her
son as she goes from one task to the next.

When he finally
gets up, Gordie asks his mother for a drink, but she has nothing. They speak for a
while, and he apologizes. Then, instantaneously, he becomes
nasty:

'Give
me that shot.' His demand was sharp, sudden, sober. He rose toward her, bigger,
expanding his chest, pushing out his neck cords...when his hand came near, she raised
her paring knife and slashed him lightly [on] his
palm...

Gordie settles,
losing himself in memories of June. When he stirs, he goes into the cleaning closet and
ingests the contents of a container of Lysol. Again he thrashes out of control until he
comes to rest on a bed and is finally still.

Marie picks up
an ax and waits in a chair at the door. When he awakes, she
notes:

His
eyes shone, green white, empty in their sockets...There was something horrid and gentle
about his movements, as if he had lost the clumsy weight of humanness. He retreated with
the tiny shudder of a sigh into the
darkness.

Marie is surrounded
by memories. She will get the job done, whatever it is. She remains armed with the ax,
ready to kill him if he emerges from the room again. In this condition, he is not only
dangerous to himself, but also to her. He paces "like a fox chasing its own death down a
hole."

Resurrection can refer to Gordie's potential
resurrection to sobriety:

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On the third day he would rise though...he would
rise and walk.

Only because
Marie guards him, does it seem possible that he will get through this alcohol-induced
trial. If he cannot, Marie will kill him. If he can make it through
the next three days, they will begin the process again. She alludes to the resurrection
of Christ in referring to "the three days." It will be a miracle if Gordie can be
saved.

While some sources suggest Gordie does not survive,
I find nothing to support this in the text.