Erdrich’s intent of this novel, The Round House is to reveal the lack of justice for Native Americans even on their own tribal land. She does this by using the example of a thinly-veiled fictional reservation in North Dakota, representing the real Ojibwe reservation. The legal theme and its impacts on the lives of the men and women trapped within a Kafka-esque legal system results in a young boy acting as a vigilante to enact a tragic form of justice. Conflicts of jurisdiction and sovereignty have long made it difficult to prosecute non-Native men for the rape of Native American women. The novel operates as a mythic vessel for the beliefs and actions of a Native American, Ojibwe ethical system nearly stamped out of existence. The novel acts
As the afternoon fades away, Bazil starts to worry about his wife, Geraldine because she hasn’t made it home yet. Bazil and Joe walk down to his aunt Clemence’s house to borrow her car because Bazil assumes Geraldine is having car trouble. As Bazil and Joe go to the nearest town, they pass Geraldine in her car. Bazil assumes that she had been to the grocery store, so Bazil and Joe returns home and see Geraldine battered, bloody, vomit on her, and she smelled like gasoline. Bazil puts Geraldine in the back seat and rushes her to the hospital, he and Joe. Bazil found out that Geraldine was raped and needed surgery. No one really tells Joe what happened to his mother, but he over hears that his mother has been raped. Bazil attempts to use the legal system to track down his wife’s attacker and bring him to justice. Bazil is unsuccessful, due to a loophole in the legal system which means that a white man who attacks a Native American woman on tribal land cannot be prosecuted for his crime. Geraldine refuses to speak about what happened to her and she can’t remember where the attack took place. One night, after Bazil forced Geraldine to listen to a silly conversation and he mentions a baby, it reminds Geraldine of the attack that day. Geraldine starts to tell Bazil everything she can remember about the attack, including the girl Mayla and her baby being there. Mayla told Geraldine that she believed she was being stalked and she wants to enroll her baby in the tribe. Mayla and Geraldine were both attacked at the round house. Linden Lark, the attacker threatened to kill Mayla and her baby if Geraldine told what happened. When Geraldine learns that Linden Lark is trying to adopt an orphaned Native American baby, she decides to testify against him. Lark is arrested and the Coutts family begins to return to normal. Soon after the family begins to return to normal, Lark is released
Not understanding what the woman was doing, Sybil watched intensely, as the woman talked to a man. It almost seemed they were having a heated conversation to one another. Suddenly, he rose a hand and struck her across the face. Sybil gasped and a sudden photo of one of her foster homes flashed back into her mind.
Louise Erdrich explores the inner conflicts of an Indian tribe in her novel Tracks. By the end of the novel, the tribes’ accord is broken by the lure of the white man’s money and land reform. The divisions among the tribe are epitomized by the physical separation of the Chippewa people into different colors that correspond to their different land allotments. However, one chapter in particular contrasts with the tribe’s tendency towards discord. Chapter 5, in which Nanapush and Eli overcome their differences and unite in an attempt to avoid starvation lends hope to the ominous series of events throughout Tracks which show conflict developing from unity. The great snow storm they experience together not only binds them but forces Eli to turn to his Chippewa roots in order to survive. Thus, the true lessons of life can be learned through the mentorship of one man’s life becoming transparent though one another.
Older and modern societies tend to have organized castes and hierarchies designed to encompass everyone in society. This is demonstrated in Richard Wright’s acclaimed novel, Native Son. The novel follows the life of a twenty year old African American man named Bigger Thomas, and his experiences living as a black man in 1930s Chicago, Illinois. Unfortunately, he commits two unlawful killings of women, mostly as a result of the pressure and paranoia that had been following him from a young age. He is tried and convicted of the deaths, and is sentenced to die as a result.
James Welch relies heavily on documented Blackfeet history and family stories, but he merges those actual events and people with his imagination and thus creates a tension between fiction and history, weaving a tapestry that reflects a vital tribal community under pressure from outside forces. Welch re-imagines the past in order to document history in a way that includes past and future generations, offers readers insight into the tribal world-views of the Blackfeet, examines women's roles in the tribe, and leads to a recovery of identity. Welch also creates a Blackfeet world of the late 1800s--a tribal culture in the process of economic and social change as a result of the introduction of the horse and gun and the encroachment of the white invaders or "seizers" as Welch identifies them.
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 himself.
The Round House, is a story of justice and tradition and how these two concepts can both help and hinder each other. As Joe, the protagonist of the novel, sets out on a quest to avenge the rape and near murder of his mother, he learns a lot about the culture and traditions that surround him on the reservation. Arguably, the most important aspect of Native American culture that Joe learns of are the stories of the windigoo that Mooshum tells in his dreams. These stories push Joe to seek revenge on his own and help him to develop a better understanding of how and why racial conflict and Native American history are so important in the quest for justice for his mother. Traditional stories are also important in The God of Small Things. The concept of the Love Laws being laid down at the beginning of time influence the relationships of every single character in the novel. When Rahel and Esta are taken to the kathkali dance by their uncle, the reader is able to draw parallels between this ancient story that shows how the Love Laws were broken and the much mor...
These stories have a continued overlapping influence in American Fiction and have remained a part of the American imagination; causing Americans to not trust Native Americans and treat them as they were not human just like African Americans. In conclusion to all these articles, Mary Rowlandson and John Smith set the perception for Native Americans due to their Captivity Narratives.
The Oka Uprising was initially a peaceful protest over the expansion of a golf course on Mohawk territory that turned violent after Quebec’s provincial police, the Sûreté du Québec, responded to the protest with tear gas and flash-bang grenades, eventually escalating to a gun battle between protesters and police. Years after the stand-off, revisionist military historians have praised the Canadian military for avoiding bloodshed because of their “personal commitment [and] calm and attentive approach to native reality,” in which they ought to be commended for “carrying the burden of peace” (Conradi 548). However, Robinson rejects this notion and instead proposes a re-imagining of the Oka conflict through the “adjustment” of First Nations people who fought at Oka with the “bombing of the last Canadian reserve” (Robinson 211). Through “carrying the burden of peace” the Officers are given the power to destroy any semblance of Indigenous tradition, such as the potlatch, and to violently corral all First Nations people to sectioned off “Urban Reserves”. By disrupting popular Canadian perception of law enforcement Robinson succeeds in creating a dystopian image of corrupted power that allows readers to sympathize with the subjection of First Nations people of
Banks, D., Erodes, R. (2004). Dennis Banks and the Rise of the American Indian Movement. Ojibwa Warrior. Retrieved January 20, 2005, from http://www.oupress.com/bookdetail.asp?isbn=0-8061-3580-8
According to conservative conflict theory, society is a struggle for dominance among competing social groups defined by class, race, and gender. Conflict occurs when groups compete over power and resources. (Tepperman, Albanese & Curtis 2012. pg. 167) The dominant group will exploit the minority by creating rules for success in their society, while denying the minority opportunities for such success, thereby ensuring that they continue to monopolize power and privilege. (Crossman.n.d) This paradigm was well presented throughout the film. The European settlers in Canada viewed the natives as obstacles in their quest of expansion by conquering resources and land. They feared that the aboriginal practices and beliefs will disrupt the cohesion of their own society. The Canadian government adopted the method of residential schools for aboriginal children for in an attempt to assimilate the future generations. The children were stripped of their native culture,...
Mary Rowlandson’s “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” and Benjamin Franklin’s “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America” are two different perspectives based on unique experiences the narrators had with “savages.” Benjamin Franklin’s “Remarks Concerning the Savages…” is a comparison between the ways of the Indians and the ways of the Englishmen along with Franklin’s reason why the Indians should not be defined as savages. “A Narrative of the Captivity…” is a written test of faith about a brutally traumatic experience that a woman faced alone while being held captive by Indians. Mary Rowlandson views the Indians in a negative light due to the traumatizing and inhumane experiences she went through namely, their actions and the way in which they lived went against the religious code to which she is used; contrastingly, Benjamin Franklin sees the Indians as everything but savages-- he believes that they are perfect due to their educated ways and virtuous conduct.
Elli talks about daily life in her neighborhood. Her mother does not show any compassion for her. When Elli complains of this, her mother brings up excuses that are unconvincing. Elli believes her mother does not care for her and that her brother is the favorite. Hilter’s reoccurring radio broadcast give nightmares to Elli, whos family is Jewish. The nights when the Hungarian military police would come and stir trouble did not provide anymore comfort for Elli. One night, her brother, Bubi, comes home with news that Germany invaded Budapest, the town where he goes to school. But the next morning, there is no news in the headlines. The father sends him back to school. He learns the next day that a neighbor’s son who goes to school with Bubi has said the same. The day after, the newspapers scream the news of the invasion. Bubi arrives home, and the terror begins.
In Thomas King’s novel, The Inconvenient Indian, the story of North America’s history is discussed from his original viewpoint and perspective. In his first chapter, “Forgetting Columbus,” he voices his opinion about how he feel towards the way white people have told America’s history and portraying it as an adventurous tale of triumph, strength and freedom. King hunts down the evidence needed to reveal more facts on the controversial relationship between the whites and natives and how it has affected the culture of Americans. Mainly untangling the confusion between the idea of Native Americans being savages and whites constantly reigning in glory. He exposes the truth about how Native Americans were treated and how their actual stories were
“What You Pawn I Will Redeem,” by Sherman Alexie gives readers a look at the life of homeless, easygoing, middle aged Native American, Jackson Jackson. The story, which is set in Seattle, describes the conditions that Jackson finds himself in. Alexie’s choice of motifs emphasizes the significance of cultural and historical references. With these concepts in mind, the reader is taken through a journey of self-realization. “What You Pawn I Will Redeem” narrates the internal struggle Jackson feels trying to figure out his personal identity as a Native American. The story chronicles situations that illustrate the common stereotypes about Natives. Through Jackson’s humble personality, the reader can grasp his
Louise Erdrich’s short story “American horse” is a literary piece written by an author whose works emphasize the American experience for a multitude of different people from a plethora of various ethnic backgrounds. While Erdrich utilizes a full arsenal of literary elements to better convey this particular story to the reader, perhaps the two most prominent are theme and point of view. At first glance this story seems to portray the struggle of a mother who has her son ripped from her arms by government authorities; however, if the reader simply steps back to analyze the larger picture, the theme becomes clear. It is important to understand the backgrounds of both the protagonist and antagonists when analyzing theme of this short story. Albetrine, who is the short story’s protagonist, is a Native American woman who characterizes her son Buddy as “the best thing that has ever happened to me”. The antagonist, are westerners who work on behalf of the United States Government. Given this dynamic, the stage is set for a clash between the two forces. The struggle between these two can be viewed as a microcosm for what has occurred throughout history between Native Americans and Caucasians. With all this in mind, the reader can see that the theme of this piece is the battle of Native Americans to maintain their culture and way of life as their homeland is invaded by Caucasians. In addition to the theme, Erdrich’s usage of the third person limited point of view helps the reader understand the short story from several different perspectives while allowing the story to maintain the ambiguity and mysteriousness that was felt by many Natives Americans as they endured similar struggles. These two literary elements help set an underlying atmos...