The Round House: The Unequal Rights Of Women

Improved Essays
Mary Wollstonecraft once wrote, “I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.” This quote is of importance because many women today still feel like they do not have a say in what happens to them or to their bodies. Rape is an example of the lack of control that women have over themselves and demonstrates how their voices are not being heard. These unequal rights are exhibited in The Round House by Louise Erdrich, when Geraldine is raped her voice is not heard and the man who raped her is able to get away. Women’s voices are also being ignored in today’s society which is shown in recent court rulings when the perpetrator has been able to get away with none to little punishment at all for such a tremendous crime. Although women supposedly have equal rights, they are treated unfairly in society, this is shown in The Roundhouse and in everyday society when women are raped and have little control over their bodies, many times the attackers are able to get away with small consequences while the women suffer tremendously. In the novel The Roundhouse and in society often times women are raped and have little control over themselves and the situation, while men hold all the power and often get away with their crimes. This is shown In The Roundhouse, when Geraldine is raped the rapist is able to get away without being prosecuted; “They let him go, didn’t they, I said. He didn’t answer. Didn’t they, Dad… All of the electric poison that had drained out of me on my bike flooded back and I …show more content…
In The Roundhouse, Geraldine is both emotionally and physically damaged after being raped; “Her hair on the pillow was greasy strings, still black, just a few streaks of gray. I could see her spine Clearly through the thin gown, each vertebra jutted, and her shoulders were knobs. Her arms had wasted to sticks”(Erdrich

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