Bugger's Decisions In The Round House By Louise Erdrich

Louise Erdrich’s “The Round House” consists of many complex ideas and topics, many of which we were unable to touch on in class. One of the most important points in our readings I found was the scene when Joe realizes where Mayla’s body is and the character Bugger’s connection to this awareness. Although he appears in the novel only briefly, the five or so pages that involve Bugger and what he knows are some of the most significant pages in the entire book. What he knows and the decisions Joe makes about that information have made a very significant impact on the outcome of the story. Bugger first important scene happens while Joe is eating lunch with Linda at Mighty’s. Joe sees Bugger steal his bike and ride past the front window and goes

After it registers to him the Linden would have gone to jail Joe decides he will never tell anyone about Mayla’s body. Erdrich writes, “I spun around thinking I should go to the police, then stopped. I could not let the police know I was even thinking this way. I had to get off their radar completely…“ (Erdrich 310). There were ways Joe may have informed the police without incriminating himself, such as leaving an anonymous note or convincing Bugger to go to the police and inform them of what he saw. Even Geraldine is affected by this because she will always have to live and wonder what happened to Mayla after the attack. Mayla will also never get a proper burial with her body never being found. Funeral traditions in Ojibwe culture involved very important traditions in preparing a body for the afterlife. This would involve dressing the body in special clothes and leaving items such as food and water with the body to help the soul travel. Ceremonies where the tribe would gather to help send the deceased to the spirit world were also practiced (Meier). Mayla will never get to have this tradition and although it is never stated, Joe may feel some guilt over this as well. Bugger also never tells the police of the “poor girl” he had seen at the construction site but that may be because he does not remember in his drunken state. It took Joe five or six times repeating their story to Bugger for him to recall what had happened that day, so without Joe prompting him Bugger may never even remember what he saw. Mayla never truly got justice for the attack and Joe must live with that