The Miracle Life of Edgar MintBrady Udall

Perspective: 70’s, native American, MormonConflicts: man vs. society, beating the odds

Important Places: Willie Sherman, St. Divine’s, Apache reservation, Madsen house

Conflicts..• w/self- Edgar’s physical handicaps, accepting

himself, being proud of who he is• w/society- facing adversity, being treated like a

“retarded orphan”, criticized for being “mixed” (white+indian),

• w/man- escaping Barry’s obsession with him, finding the mailman, finding a family

Influence of Setting• During the time period, Native Americans

were not treated fairly by the gov’t and had their own issues on the reservations.

• Willie Sherman taught Edgar how to defend himself, orphans were also mistreated in this era

• The mailman never would have met Edgar had he not moved to Arizona for the dry air

Anyone Under Illusion?• Barry is under the illusion that he will make a

good father figure for Edgar, who wants nothing to do with him because he’s a creep and needs to stick to the drug business.

Idealistic?• Edgar is idealistic in that he doesn’t let the

obstacles he must face in life discourage him from trying to accomplish his goals. He sees good in everyone, even those who have hurt him (like his mother)

Important Mistakes

• Edgar should have listened to Art and avoided Barry

• Rosa and Nick (the mailman) never made an effort to find out if Edgar was really dead

Ch-ch-ch-chaaanges• Barry goes from a helpful friend to an

obsessed drug addict• As a result of his experiences at Willie

Sherman, Edgar grows to be proud of who he is and doesn’t let people walk all over him

David Bowie

Villains??• Barry Pinkle: doesn’t want for Edgar what

Edgar wants for himself, takes advantage of the fact that Edgar is naïve at times

• Nelson: makes Edgar’s life a nightmare at Willie Sherman, but teaches him a lot about sticking up for yourself (which Cecil demonstrates with his arrow)

Friendship• Edgar’s best friend in the novel is clearly Cecil,

who dies trying to escape prison after saving Edgar from Nelson. Their relationship was almost spiritual it was so deep, and it was the fact that they were both outcasts which brought them together.

• Edgar also develops a relationship with Sunny, who takes the time to get to know Edgar

Importance of the Narrator

• The narration goes back and forth between first and third person which is effective because the reader gets Edgar’s perspective on situations but also the tragic humor of the narrator. Udall tells the story with such wit and sarcasm that even tragic events are lighthearted, or even comical.

Family Relationships• A lot of the novel has to do with Edgar trying

to find a family or even one to fit into (ie. Madsen's) Art is probably closet family member, Art looks out for Edgar for all Edgar's life, and Edgar in turn keeps Art's spirits alive. Edgar learns family does not mean a nuclear family but anyone you can find that you love and loves you back.

Human Values Asserted

• selflessness- Edgar leaves Madsen house so that they can sort out their problems even though this means he will leave a good family,

• perseverance- Edgar manages to keep his human spirit alive despite all the odds against him- being an orphan, run over by a mail truck and practically dead, can not write, mix of white and Indian, being a teen with no one to help, boarding school terrors, surviving on his own.

Anyone Lost or Alienated?

• Edgar's mother is too drunk to pay attention to Edgar-- she even gave him up to Rosa and Nicolas because she admitted to being a terrible mother.

• Barry alienated in the end, because Edgar could see that Barry was far gone and had gotten too obsessed with trying to make a life with Edgar.

• Cecil, his best friend, was lost when they went separate ways from Willie Sherman...Edgar went to go visit him and found out he had died. It was one of Edgar's most sincere and true friendships

Cultures at Odds• Edgar was a mixed- white and Indian... it made

whites and Indians both look down upon him, it would have been better to have been one of the other. The Mormon religion is studied by Edgar at Madsen House...he meets people extremely different from him culturally but in the end, the same.

Diction & TOOONE• Tone…. humorous- despite the tragedy, the extreme

events almost make it comical, Udall uses sarcasm and wit to make tragic events less depressing.

• Diction..... Informal/colloquial language, slang, simple sometimes childish vocabulary

Irony• the mailman that ran him over (Nicolas) was

giving his last payment to Gloria to adopt Edgar from her

• Nicolas would never have met Edgar had he not been sick from the war

Alanis Morrissette

THE ENDBy: Ashley & Erin of EZ co.