For the narrator of James Welch's Winter in the Blood, motivation is at the root of all his problems, from the need to leave his mother and the comfort of home, to his problems dealing with the past and finally to his desire to start a life of his own. There is a sense throughout the novel that the narrator, also known as First Raise's son, remains ambiguous because not even he knows who he is. He also says that “the distance [he] felt was not from the country or the people; it came from inside [him]. [He] was as distant from [himself] as a hawk from the moon” (2). Over the course of the novel, as First Raise's son comes to terms with his own person, the reader also begins to discover who he is. But the common theme of this journey is the lack of motivation of the narrator, who must dig through some painful memories to discover who First Raise's son really is. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The narrator initially encounters motivational problems with his life situation. He is a thirty-two year old man who still lives at home and is treated like a teenager. At the beginning of the novel there is also hatred for his home, a place from which he always wants to leave in search of something, anything, else. Even the girl he brings home will not stay in that house. For the narrator, “[coming home] was no longer easy. It was never child's play, but it had become torture" (2). But even though the narrator describes his surroundings in this way, he never goes away for an extended period of time. His trip to Havre also lends itself to great disappointment, and he is actually happy to return home. That particular detail in the novel is a turning point in the narrator's feelings towards his home. He's actually happy to return to something familiar and comfortable. And although this is the beginning of the novel, it is also the beginning of his journey. The past haunts the narrator throughout the novel. The reader implicitly knows that something terrible has happened to the narrator's brother, but it is only at the end of the novel that the truth is revealed. Another death that occurred was that of the narrator's father, who died while walking home drunk one night. The narrator wants to appear distant from these deaths (he pees in the place where his father was found dead), but the two who die are the only ones who truly love the narrator. Perhaps he feels that by moving away from the truth he can avoid the pain that always accompanies it. Even the lack of a name to call him demonstrates a distancing from the public, a way to protect him from criticism. The eventual discovery that his grandfather is Yellow Calf is something he didn't want to know until the end of the novel, when everything seemed to fall into place. This revelation helped First Raise's son develop a sense of who he is through his ancestry. Finally, the narrator has trouble motivating himself to build a life of his own. Throughout the novel, First Raise's son is pursuing a Cree woman that he has brought home with him. Neither her mother nor her grandmother likes the girl (she thinks her grandmother imagines killing her because she is Cree), but she goes off and steals his gun and electric razor. He pursues her and has several relationships with other women, but is never satisfied the next day. All the Cree woman brings him is pain (literally, when his brother beats him), and he is left to pick himself up. The narrator later becomes involved with an inmate, perhaps hoping to find some excitement in Canada. Before he has to make a decision whether to travel with the other man, the man is arrested and the narrator is left alone again. Please note: this is just an example. Get a personalized document now come on.