The Impact of the Wiindigoo in The Round House Louise Erdrich was born in 1954 in Little Falls, Minnesota, and identifies as Turtle Mountain Chippewa. Due to Erdrich’s Native American background, she has written many novels centered around Native American themes. Erdrich’s novel, The Round House, is told from Joe, a thirteen-year-old boy’s, point of view, showing how he copes with the event of his mother’s rape. Joe is outraged that the authorities are not doing more to help find the man responsible. Ultimately, Joe ends up taking matters into his own hands, and kills the culprit, Linden Lark, with the help of his friend Cappy. Throughout the novel, justice is examined from many different angles and perspectives. In her novel, Erdrich uses
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In the book, Erdrich sets up the history behind the wiindigoo which will play a larger role later on in the novel when Bazil is evaluating the murder. Bazil says, “There was no justice for your mother, his victim, or for Mayla, and yet justice exists” (305). While this may sound contradictory, the justice he is referring to is tribal justice. In his argument, Bazil emphasizes a traditional precedent, and argues that Linden “met the definition of a wiindigoo, and that with no other recourse, his killing fulfilled the requirements of a very old law” and he got what he deserved. (306). It can be assumed from Erdrich that these Anishinaabe people did not regard U.S. jurisdiction as their own law to follow, because they already had their own jurisdiction. Chief Phillip Michel Brochet is quoted saying, “we had that judicial system and the white people, when they came here, they didn’t see that. They totally screwed up what we already had” (“Aboriginal Concepts”). This quote shows how upset Native Americans were about this issue. It also makes readers understand why tribal justice played a key role in Bazil’s justification for the murder of
In the book, Erdrich sets up the history behind the wiindigoo which will play a larger role later on in the novel when Bazil is evaluating the murder. Bazil says, “There was no justice for your mother, his victim, or for Mayla, and yet justice exists” (305). While this may sound contradictory, the justice he is referring to is tribal justice. In his argument, Bazil emphasizes a traditional precedent, and argues that Linden “met the definition of a wiindigoo, and that with no other recourse, his killing fulfilled the requirements of a very old law” and he got what he deserved. (306). It can be assumed from Erdrich that these Anishinaabe people did not regard U.S. jurisdiction as their own law to follow, because they already had their own jurisdiction. Chief Phillip Michel Brochet is quoted saying, “we had that judicial system and the white people, when they came here, they didn’t see that. They totally screwed up what we already had” (“Aboriginal Concepts”). This quote shows how upset Native Americans were about this issue. It also makes readers understand why tribal justice played a key role in Bazil’s justification for the murder of