Finding Oneself In The Round House By Louise Erdrich

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Finding Oneself in Family and Friends Many people can agree that adolescence can be some of the most nasty, gruesome years of a boy's life due. While this may be true, this stage in a boy's life is the one in which he finds out who he truly is. Some people can find who they are with little to no outside influence, others, such as Joe Coutts in The Round House by Louise Erdrich, take almost a whole community to shape who they are. The Round House is a book heavily influenced by Erdrich’s early childhood and upbringing. From a young age, Erdrich lived on an Indian reservation in North Dakota while being raised by a "German American father who was a teacher at Wahpeton Indian School. Her mother, who also worked for the school, was an Ojibwe, …show more content…

In one scene, during the ongoing investigation of Joe's mother, Geraldine, Bazil brings home a stack of legal folders from work, He and Joe go through a huge process of reading through these files, looking for anyone who maybe sound like a culprit of a rape. While Bazil does let Joe take part in this, he is still very wary and does not want to spoil Joe's innocence by introducing him to vile material. Bazil warns Joe that he must not act on any of this information and let the law handle it. Joe’s curiosity overcomes him and he goes to investigate against his father's wishes. “He sat down across from me and I looked into his eyes. I was sure he would explain the incident and tell me just how and why I’d been mistaken. I was sure he’d say, as grownups were supposed to, that ghosts did not exist” (81). It is easy to relate to Joe in this instance because every child at some point in their life gets frustrated at their parents when they “always have to be right." Erdrich makes sure that the reader takes note of how old this main character is with uses of quotes like this and other things such as the way he acts around his adolescent friends. Furthermore, this quote shows that Joe knows his father very well, so well in fact that he can already predict what he will say to him in reaction to Joe’s claim of seeing a …show more content…

He comes to Father Travis, the towns priest, seeking to learn more about religion and become confirmed by the end of the summer. Religion plays a huge part in shaping Joe's identity. “The only thing that God can do, and does all the time, is to draw good from any evil situation” (242). Father Travis instills this idea into Joe’s mind as a way to help him overcome the horrible tragedy that is brought upon his family. Joe is able to find a silver lining in the unpleasant situation that is his life while his mother's rapist is on the loose. He will find that his parents grow stronger and closer because of this. Father Travis is able to help Joe find his way. “'In order to purify yourself, you have to understand yourself', Father Travis went on. 'Everything out in the world is also in you. Good, bad, evil, perfection, death, everything. So we study our souls.'” (248) The Father explains to Joe that he is made of all the elements of mankind, he just needs to know how to control the sinful ones. Father Travis also explains to Joe the importance of selflessness. “'We are never so poor that we cannot bless another human being are we? So it is that every evil, whether moral or material, results in good. you’ll see'” (252). The father once again brings up the topic that all Evil results in

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