In The Sentence, Erdrich observes and portrays the unpredictability of life. Tookie endures one challenge after another in life, but she’s also surprised by life’s capacity to bring her love and joy.

Tookie’s lessons in the unpredictability of life began in childhood. Her mother battled substance addiction and moved in and out of her life and was unable to provide a secure and stable environment for Tookie. As a child, Tookie couldn’t rely on her family, highlighting that life is unpredictable because people are unpredictable. Tookie’s arrest comes as a surprise too. Although Tookie doesn’t realize it, transporting Budgie’s body was actually a plan by her crush to transport drugs. Tookie believes in love and transports the body out of passion, not realizing that she’s committing a crime. Her arrest happens quickly after the transport of the body, revealing that life can change in the span of hours. Those hours fundamentally transform Tookie’s future because she goes to prison, becomes a statistic, and is traumatized by her incarceration. In addition, Tookie’s arrest casts this theme in a more positive light when, against all odds, Tookie ends up marrying Pollux, the man who arrested her before her incarceration.