The Roundhouse Revenge Quotes

The author uses revenge as a clear theme, specifically in the ending of the book The Roundhouse. Joe takes revenge on his mother's attacker by killing him with the help of his best friend Cappy. Although revenge was accomplished in Joe’s mind, it did not make the characters, such as Joe and Cappy, feel any better about their situation. However, after he and Cappy, had committed the deed, they did not feel happy, it wasn't a sweet revenge at all as they both had haunting nightmares of his mother's attacker in their dreams. They are both afraid and insecure after their kill and felt nervous around almost everyone. They also almost fell into the path of loneliness that Joe's mother had gone through because of this revenge that they were seeking. The author was trying to show the reader that gaining revenge isn’t always as good as it sounds.
The author may be expressing revenge as a clear theme for many reasons. One being that Joe has to kill Linden to maintain his own sanity. He can’t imagine knowing the man that raped his mother was living around his town like nothing has happened. He can see what Linden took from his mother, her compassion and way of life. He doesn’t want to his mother to live her life in fear and the only thing he can think about is killing the attacker. It is sad though

She wanted to show the scandal of the many unprosecuted rapes of reservation Indian women. She certainly succeeded in showing the absolute horror of the attack and its aftermath. The attacker, Linden, was a monster. Yet, he escapes all prosecution because of the question of jurisdiction. . In today’s society there is a lot of unresolved conflict and many people believe that revenge is the only way to solve them. We need to, as a society, realize that revenge will not give you the satisfaction you seek which is what I believe Erdice is trying to portray in this