As Cedar is on her way to visit her biological family, she drives past doomsday billboards that are in a field on the side of the road. She makes these observations about the billboards: “In one enormous, empty field a sign is planted that reads Future Home of the Living God. It’s just a bare field, fallow and weedy, stretching to the pale horizon” (13). Note that Future Home of the Living God is also the title of the book.
What does Erdrich mean by Future Home of the Living God?
In order to understand the meaning behind the phrase, it is important to first consider how the book hints at dark and violent histories of indigenous peoples and imperialism within the United States itself. The reproduction politics that Erdrich sets up in the novel can be seen throughout the book, especially as Cedar progressively loses control and say over her own body because of government influences. This alludes to the acts of taking land and sovereign rule from indigenous people in the United States. Also, when the doctors take away Cedar’s baby at the end of the novel, the reader is reminded how indigenous children were stripped away from their families and placed in “missions” that were used to assimilate them into white culture. The government facilities that house captured pregnant women could be interpreted as symbolizing government reservations as well. These women are being carried away from their families and forced into government-run facilities, isolated from the outside world.
With these thoughts in mind, Future Home of the Living God could be a reference to the religious zeal of imperialists. History shows how many Western imperialist nations used religion, specifically Christianity, to justify the slaughter, theft, and cultural annihilation of indigenous peoples. Many imperialists also had made it their mission to bring God to these lands and wipe out all other religions. This created a new landscape and “home” for them to set up religious institutions and practices without competition from other religions. To them, they have brought God to the “promised land,” where they can set up religious institution to give Him a home in the lands they have taken in His name. In the novel, women are stolen away from their families and homes. The government inseminates them after having children as a way to set up new reproductive institutions, practices, and control. As for Cedar, she is a victim in the new reproductive politics dominating this new apocalyptic world.
What do you think Future Home of the Living God means? Feel free to comment your thoughts below in the comment section of this post.