The Round House By Louise Erdrich

Justice has a connotation that no matter what, uplifts the actions that could be taken to achieve what’s desired. In Louise Erdrich’s The Round House, we explore native American lifestyles and witness the quest to find justice for a woman’s rape. Her portrayal of justice illustrates how the need for justice can negatively persuade our decisions.

While focusing on the victim's family and those around them, an ongoing theme of seeking justice occurs. When the victim, Geraldine, is raped, the immediate feeling of sympathy for her is quickly overtaken by anger. At the store, Bazil, the husband of Geraldine, attacked Linden, the perpetrator, with “an instinct of sudden rage” while also being described as “somewhat clumsy,” (Erdrich 244). Since the night of the rape, Bazil has been doing anything he can to ensure Geraldine gets over her trauma. His desire to bring peace to his wife has somewhat over taken him and masked the idea that he may also be searching for peace he needs himself. With that, Joe is left to find out who did this to his mother,

Retributive justice is a form of justice that’s focussed on the punishment of the offender. While Bazil attackd him in the store, Lark “seemed to be smiling” while he was being choked (Erdrich 244). Linden had to have known he was in the wrong, his charges being dropped was an advantage his skin color brought upon him. Joes rage takes him over and he attacks Lark as well. Joe’s joy of attacking Lark is described as a “pure black joy” paired immediatley after withe Lark’s blood running down his face (Erdrich 244). Joy is an emotion typically paired with the color yellow, or anything bright. Erdrich’s choice to describe Joe’s joy as black could potenitally tie to a racial injustice the Coutts long to redeem. Joe being the minority seeing “black joy” toward Linden’s blood illustrates minorties longing for the oppresion to be reciprocated, potentially by their hand (Erdrich