The Theme Of Family In The Round House By Louise Erdrich

Lives for Native Americans on reservations have never quite been easy. There are many struggles that most outsiders are completely oblivious about. In her book The Roundhouse, Louise Erdrich brings those problems to light. She gives her readers a feel of what it is like to be Native American by illustrating the struggles through the life of Joe, a 13-year-old Native American boy living on a North Dakota reservation. This book explores an avenue of advocacy against social injustices. The most observable plight Joe suffers is figuring out how to deal with the injustice acted against his mother, which has caused strife within his entire family and within

This paper addresses the results of interviews, observations, and research of life in the Ottawa tribe, how they see themselves and others in society and in the tribe. I mainly focused on The Little River Band of Ottawa Indian tribe. I researched their languages, pecking order, and interviewed to discover the rituals, and traditions that they believe in. In this essay I revealed how they see themselves in society. How they see other people, how they see each other, what their values were, what a typical day was etc. I initially suspected that I would have got different responses from these questions but in reality the results in the questions were almost completely the same. I studied this topic because mostly all the people that are

Within the justice system lays complex connotations that are either ignored or spun in a way that interprets different meanings. What is even more complex is how to guarantee justice in a society, more specifically the Chippewa society, where the legal system contains cracks that make it hard to bring justice for Native Americans. In The Round House, Erdrich explores this concept of bureaucratic intricacy that divides the United States jurisdiction and the Native American tribal lands. After Joe’s mother, Geraldine, is raped, he learns how the law not only doesn’t protect her, but also how there is no justice being served. Therefore, Joe decides to take law into his own hands and give his mother the justice she deserves. He does so by turning to the old Chippewa traditional system called the wiindigoo justice system. Joe struggles throughout the book with the law and how the justice system works. There is also an internal struggle that he doesn’t realize yet, with the image of Native American women on the reservation and how men, throughout the story, treat them. While jurisdiction plays a big part in how Native Americans receive their justice, it also boils down to how the crimes being committed against Native American women decide the fate of many characters.

Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel, Ceremony, reveals how the crossing of cultures was feared, ridiculed, and shunned in various Native American tribes. The fear of change is a common and overwhelming fear everyone faces at some point in their life. The fear of the unknown, the fear of letting go, and the fear of forgetting all play a part in why people struggle with change. In Ceremony the crossing of cultures creates “half-breeds,” usually bringing disgrace to their family’s name. In Jodi Lundgren’s discourse, “Being a Half-breed”, is about how a girl who struggles with understanding what cultural group she fits into since she is a “half-breed.” Elizabeth Evasdaughter’s essay, “Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Ceremony”: Healing Ethnic Hatred by

Examining Louise Erdrich’s novel Love Medicine and the complex use of individuals used to emphasize the cultural identity of Native American reservation life the theme of love emerges. Marie Kashpaw, especially, demonstrates an exceptional fondness for children; she doles out love to her children and also loves needy and abandoned children. Whereas Marie has love to give, Lipsha spends the novel searching for acknowledgement and love from his parents. Further on, Marie and the theme of love stand out again as Lipsha admires his grandparents’ love. Interestingly enough, the feeling of hate emanates from the characters as well. For instance, Albertine has a tumultuous, hateful relationship with her mother; she also hates reservation life and runs away to pursue an education. Another character, King, hates Lipsha because of paternity issues. Additionally, for a good amount of time, Marie fosters hate towards Lulu for the adulterous

Historically Native American women are an honorable figure. They cook, clean, weaved and care for their families. Once they were settled in the land they would work together with their brothers and sisters under the leadership of their head mother. Although the male and female roles were different for each tribe, most societies were matrilineal, of or based on kinship with the mother or the female line. The women were responsible for all of the household duties: regardless of whether they were strenuous or not. The Native American’s lives began to shift with the arrival of the Europeans. In 1607 when the “White Man” stayed on the Natives

“The Way of a Cherokee” by Foxxy is about her memories and experiences growing up as a young child with her sister, Sierra, and grandpa. She is a Native American that has lived in a world that is different from the world her grandpa grew up in. In addition, she learned to love and appreciate nature just like her grandpa did. I can relate to her relationship with her grandpa because I have created many memories with my grandpa. My grandpa told me stories about his childhood. In Foxxy’s essay she explores the relationship between identity and cultural history through physical location, family relationships, and language differences.

The book “The Round House,” by Louise Erdrich was a very interesting and fascinating story. I really enjoyed every chapter and learnt a lot from each chapter I read. One amazing part of this book was the connection it had with previous stories we had read throughout the class. I can say that Louise Eldritch did a great job with this book, because it is a kind one can get addicted to. From the beginning of the book to the end, it was enveloped with Politics, injustice, race, superstition and religion. The book was all about crime and justice that a 13-year-old Ojibwe boy, Joe, experienced. Joe was sometimes called "Oops." Joe and his family lived in an Indian reservation in North Dakota, where Indian law reigns sovereign and poverty runs rampant. Throughout the story we saw Joe and his friends set out to unveil the truth and restore justice with or without the help of the law of the country after his mother was violently raped.

In Louis Erdrich novel The Round House, Geraldine Coutts was attacked and raped on a small reservation in North Dakota, her husband Bazil Coutts endeavors to bring justice to the case. Thirteen-year-old Joe Coutts is furious that there is little his father can do, so he and his best friends Cappy, Zack, and Angus set out to find the rapist. Erdrich’s novel tells about the unfair justice system on the reservations. The characters of the story show the reader the similarities and differences between the justice system along with how the Natives and whites differently deal with every day and also uncommon issues.

In Sherman Alexie’s book, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” the reader experiences firsthand the overwhelming devastation poverty wreaks on the lives of those living on a reservation. The story’s awkward teenage narrator, Arnold, expresses frustration when he shares how he lives “with his poor-ass family on the poor-ass Spokane Indian

Family support is essential to have a good life. When Dally, Pony, and Johnny were at the Dairy Queen Johnny asked Dally. “‘My parents’ Johnny repeated doggedly, ‘did they ask about me?’ ‘No,’ snapped Dally… Johnny didn’t say anything. But he stared at the dashboard with such hurt bewilderment

The Round House by Louise Erdrich presents the issue of justice and of the right manner in which to seek justice. Due to the legalities associated with proper jurisdiction, and a lack of solid evidence, the law is unable to provide justice for Geraldine. Joe’s decision to bring about justice for his mother is selfless, but it is ultimately immoral. While it is respectable that Joe seeks justice for Geraldine, he does so in such a way that somewhat lowers the value of that justice. By killing Linden, Joe lowers the level of his own morality.

Louise Erdrich is the daughter of Ralph Erdrich, a German immigrant, and Rita Journeau Erdrich who is three quarters Ojibwe. Erdrich grew up on an Indian reservation named Turtle mountain with her parents and six younger siblings. The Ojibwe people love storytelling, and for the young Erdrich family literature was a huge influence. Both Ralph and Rita Erdrich pushed for their children to practice poetry and writing their own stories. Introducing William Shakespeare and homemade book covers to their children at a very young age. Louise’s mother and grandfather told her stories of the Ojibwe people and their traditions while her father told Louise about the great depression and historical events.

The theme of family’s importance is also demonstrated when Amy was in danger. Amy had not been invited to a gathering which caused her to cast her revenge down upon Jo, the one who had refused to bring her along, by burning Jo’s book. Amy, whom seeked forgiveness, followed Jo and her friend Laurence out to the frozen lake one day on which they were going to skate upon. Jo, who had not forgiven Amy, knew that the ice was not safe, but did not inform Amy due to her outrage. Amy started skating, not aware of the danger,

The process of finding healing after injustice is a complex one that draw upon the resources of community. In her novel The Round House, Louise Erdrich portrays this process from start to finish in the supporting character Linda Wishkob. Though it is fiction, The Round House combines elements of injustice and healing in the very real way; Erdrich does not always follow injustice with justice and justice with healing, rather, it is presented in a way that puts light on Linda Wishkob’s negative experiences while emphasizing proper healing in order to demonstrate the unfairness of reality and the strength of true family.