Undecided... Why is Joe a murderer?

I can't decide how I feel about the end of The Round House. On one hand, it seems rather stupid to me that Joe actually shot Lark. I never thought he could go through with it. But on the other hand, maybe the shooting shows how violent the Native American culture was. There always seems like there are two ways of looking at the issues in The Round House. 

My initial reaction was "Whaaaa....?!" I didn't want Joe to be a murderer. But no matter how I tried to rationalize it, killing Lark was crazy. It was disturbing that he wanted to. Sure, he was protective of his mother, but murder is murder is murder. Maybe I just can't understand Joe's motivation completely because nothing so terrible has ever happened to anyone I've loved. It's one thing when my mom says, "If anyone ever hurts you, I'll kill 'em." That just what she's supposed to say, being my mother. Real murder is an entirely different matter.

However, as I thought about Joe's circumstance more, I began to realize some things. The legal system on the reservation was obviously less than great. It is entirely possible that Joe saw no other option, as his father couldn't kill the guy, and Joe couldn't trust anyone else with the dirty job. I'd like to think that in his situation, I'd at least be able to wait until Mayla was found. 

But maybe, Louise Erdrich had Joe kill Lark for an entirely different reason. We have already explored the violence and fear on Native American reservations (the video Daniel suggested in his comment on my last post was especially poignant). Maybe Joe shooting Lark is meant to show us that it's not only bad guys who perpetrate crimes in these places. It’s an unfortunate part of the culture, and if the Native Americans had better legal systems, maybe this wouldn’t be as big of an issue. Vengeance and vigilante justice are still crimes.

Whatever Erdrich’s reasons for killing off Lark, I’m still not sure about it being Joe who did it. (And Cappy. I don’t have any profound reasons yet for why Cappy shot the guy.) I’m still left with this on-edge, kind of uncomfortable feeling. If Joe could kill someone, couldn’t anyone?

End of the book

First off I thought the book was pretty good well better than I expected. The ending was shocking not that it was predictable because throughout it was foreshadowed that he was going to kill Lark. Joes determination to give his mother justice is so huge that he is willing to kill a man for her. I think it shows how much love is really in their family. Joe grows so much by the end of the book. Just the way he talks in the book shows this. He becomes more mature then when we first met him. I think the act of murdering Lark was the final blow to him causing him to reach a peak in his adolescent. The way he talked about the drive home and how they always stop at the diner when they pass. I saw it as him leaving his childhood behind and he was ok with it. I was so surprised when Sonja took all of Joes money and used it to “start her new life”. She made it so clear as for him to not tell anyone about which makes me think she was planning to take it all along. They said that Lark all of a sudden got a ton a money and Joe thought that it could be his money the Sonja gave to him. But in the end Whitney said that Sonja was coming back to him. That reminds me of Huckleberry Finn when at the end of the book Huck goes back to when we first met him leaving behind all his moral change. I think in this situation Whitney is Huck in him for forgiving Sonja and letting her come back. The ending wasn't what I thought it would be. It ended randomly with no conclusion. Yes Lark is dead but what happens after that and does anyone ever find the girls body? It left me so many questions that I feel should have been answered.

Under-whelmed

Overall I was a bit disappointed in the book. I felt that it could've been so much more then it ended up being. The author did a fantastic job displaying the lasting emotional and psychological effects that a raping can have on a family. Not only is the victim severely damaged but the family is forever changed as well. Seeing this change through Joe's eyes was extremely emotional. It was really touching and interesting to see how he reacted. Despite all this I just felt that the book was just too tangential. The added dirty stories and native american myths seemed to just detract and distract from the core of the book and story. It was also interesting to see what it was like on a reservation. The reservation has a very family like feel. Everyone seems to be very close and have a common bond. Another let down was the ending. I felt like there was really no conclusion. She didn't go much into the after effects of Joe killing the rapist. There seemed to be no real consequences to his action. Also it just ended very suddenly out of nowhere. The Round House painted a very bleak outlook on life. I did enjoy much of the book, however. I found Joe to be a very relatable and enjoyable protagonist. The intricacy of the characters and community was fascinating. I was particularly interested in Sonja and Joe's father. They both had layers to their characters and were very well done.

Page 209... The Novel Thus Far

So far (page 209) I’m enjoying The Round House. Rape is definitely a tough subject to handle, but I think that Louise Erdrich does a great job. She expresses the gravity of the situation that Joe’s family is in while still keeping the book light enough that it’s not impossible to read. Most of the books that I've read that deal with such painful issues seem so dense, like it’s just a huge moral lesson about humanity. It really gets us readers down-in-the-dumps to read that stuff. Yet, Erdrich does not come across as preachy or like those Animal Shelter commercials with the sad little puppies. She paints a realistic picture of a young boy struggling with his place in his family. Joe may have gone through something that few of us (thankfully) will ever be able to empathize with, but we all understand how it feels to feel a little left out and insecure. Which I think is a big part of Joe’s problem, when it gets down to heart of it. He’s upset when his mother slaps him, and wants to know that his father remembers him and thinks he’s grown-up enough to handle the truth.

We would like to wish that Joe's situation was unique, but it isn't. My mom sent me these PowerPoint slides about Native American victimization. The data is the most recent available for the American Indian population. The first slide is pretty self explanatory. The second shows the race of the people who perpetrated the crimes against the Native Americans. As you can see, Caucasians are the majority of the offenders. And what's really interesting is that Native Americans themselves are counted in the lightest gray column. 

Something in The Round House (that isn't as depressing as rape statistics) that I really like is how silly Joe and his friends are. They're vulgar, but sweet. I have never been a preteen boy, but I imagine many are like Joe and his friends. Some readers might be offended by the author's liberal use of crude sexual jokes, but mostly they're in good taste, only the very old and very young discussing it. Joe's parents seem much above all that. Joe's father seems like a very good role model for his son, but after his wife's rape, he seems a bit broken on the inside. I guess it always seems to come back to the rape. That's why there is a novel, after all. If it was just young boys telling each other titillating jokes about their grandparents, there wouldn't be much of a story.

Throughout the book Joe is faced with challenges that force him to mature. I had to remind myself that he is a 12 year old boy. The situations that he is put him is something I can’t imagine. With his family in turmoil he takes control and is so set on finding his mothers attacker he becomes independent. I think its a very powerful message about growing up. The book isn’t just one story it has multiple stories within it. I wonder if the stories being told are truly native american stories. They are like the stories we read at the beginning of the year with the humans and animals. More Native American stories could be researched.

Part of the book contains a pieces of racism with Linda Lark and the conservancy with being raised on the reservation with an Indian family. The tension between the people on the reservation and everyone else seems super harsh. The whites seem to think they are superior and should have control. With the question about who can and can’t do anything about Joes moms case. I think regarding certain things someone of high status should be in charge of what happens. No matter where a crime was taken place because things can’t always get done when they don’t have good resources.

The Assignment and the How-To

Hi Everyone,
In order to post, you need to click that Blogger logo in the upper left corner.  See it? The orange box with the squiggly thing in it?  Then, click on the pencil next to your blog title.  That will allow you to write your post.  When you are done, click "Publish."

Here's Your Assignment:

One thing that we have said repeatedly in our class is that American literature is an ongoing conversation about a few central topics.  These topics are ingrained in our national narrative, the story of who we are as people.  This week, you will begin thinking about topics that connect to this American narrative, and these topics will become the focus of your research after winter break.

To get you started generating topics for research, use your lit circle books.  I'd like two written responses from you this week, both posted to your group blog.  I also expect you to read and respond to each others' posts.  If you were to type your response in Word first, it would be about a page.  DO NOT JUST ANSWER A LIST OF MY QUESTIONS.  Instead, generate two or three paragraphs on the questions that interest you most.  The questions to consider:

• What do you like best about your book?  What do you like least?
• What was the most powerful part of the text?  The most exciting?
• Which of our central questions (American dream/possessions, nature, race and equality, individual power, etc.) does your text address most thoroughly?
• What questions does this book raise for you?  What does it make you wonder?
• What are some topics that you could research (based on your book)?
• What place do you think your text has in the body of American literature?
• How does the text "talk back" to some of the authors we've already read?
• What do you know about the author of your book?  Are you curious to know more about the author's story?