The Round House By Louise Erdrich: An Analysis

Nobody can argue that the attack on Joe’s mother marked him for life, it branded him for eternity! This built in him an incontrollable rage! He needed to quench the burning desire inside him. He needed to satisfy his thirst for vengeance! Therefore he set out to hunt down the perpetrator to bring him to “justice”, even if it was by his own hands. It would only be fair to seek out revenge! It was not going to be any other way! Joe wanted an eye for an eye and he was determined to get it!

It is not easy for a 13- year old to endure the rape of his mom at such a young age! “The Round House” by Louise Erdrich tells the story of a psychological and emotional beating a teenager gets while realizing his mom has been brutally raped and the cruelty that can exists in the body of a so called “human being”. The story begins by

This incident changed her life and the lives of her husband; Judge Bazil Coutts and in particular her son; Joe. The normal life of a 13- year old and what he has known up until now is all gone. His life takes a 180- degree in a single day. He will now have to deal with the aftermath of the violence his mother has had to endure and the fact that their lives have been changed forever!

Joe, the only son of a Tribal Judge, and his mother; a tribal enrollment specialist, were very inquisitive. He was his own best asset alongside his friends; Cappy, Zack and Angus. So the four set out to find clues that would lead them to the individual that had caused Joe’s mother such devastation: “Her serene reserve was gone—a nervous horror welled across her face. The bruises had come out and her eyes were darkly rimmed like a raccoon’s. A sick green pulsed around her temples. Her jaw was indigo. Her eyebrows had always been so expressive of irony and love, but now were held tight by anguish” (Erdrich, L., 2013, p.