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.