For the narrator of Winter in the Blood, by James Welch, motivation is the root of all his problems, from his need to leave his mother and the comfort of his hearth. , to his problems with the past and finally to his desire to start his own life. Throughout the novel, there is a sense that the narrator, also known as the son of First Raise, remains ambiguous because even he does not know who he is. He even says that “the distance [he] felt did not come from the country or the people; it came from [him]. [He] was as far from [himself] as a hawk from the moon” (2). Throughout the novel, as First Raise's son comes to terms with himself, the reader also begins to learn who he is. But the common theme throughout this journey is the narrator's lack of motivation, as he must dig through 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 Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The narrator first encounters motivational problems related to 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 a hatred for his home, a place where he always wants to go in search of something, anything, else. Even the girl he brings home won't stay in this house. For the narrator, “[re]turning home was no longer easy. It was never child's play, but it had become torture” (2). But even though the narrator describes his environment this way, he never leaves it for an extended period of time. Even his trip to Le Havre turns out to be a great disappointment, and he is happy to return home. This particular detail in the novel marks a turning point in the narrator's feelings toward his home. He's actually happy to get back to something familiar and comfortable. And although this is the beginning of the novel, it is also the beginning of its 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 not until the end of the novel that the truth is revealed. Another death that occurs is that of the narrator's father, who died while walking home drunk one night. The narrator wants to appear distant from these deaths (he "piss" 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 distancing himself from the truth, he can avoid the pain that always accompanies it. Even the absence of a name to call it shows a distance from the public, a way of protecting it 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 ancestors. Finally, the narrator has difficulty motivating himself to build his own life. Throughout the novel, First Raise's son pursues a Cree woman he has brought home. Neither his mother nor his grandmother like the girl (he thinks his grandmother is planning to kill her because she is Cree), but she leaves and steals his gun and his electric razor. He pursues her and has several relationships with other women, but he is never satisfied the next day. All the Cree woman brings him is pain (literally, when his brother beats him), and he has to get back up. The narrator then commits himself to a convict, perhaps hoping to find some excitement in Canada. Before he needs to make the decision to travel with the other man, he is arrested and the narrator is handed over again.