Conflict In The Roundhouse By Louise Erdrich

It’s amazing how one event may have a big impact on your entire life. We see it firsthand, we witness it in movies and we seem to read about it in most coming-of-age books. We can easily observe how one major conflict significantly impacts the lives of many in Louise Erdrich’s “The Roundhouse”. Leaving some to experience dark moments and others with scars that will never go away. Our main protagonist Joe was just like any other 13-year-old. He was the kind of child who spent an “afternoon prying little trees out of the foundation of his parent’s house” (Erdrich, Page 5). But when his mother becomes a victim of sexual assault, he is forced to mature and realize the gravity of the situation, which turns his previously ideal life upside down.

He had to step up as the stable adult in the household while simultaneously seeking justice for his wife. He had to maintain a strong demeanor in front of his now 14-year-old son despite his want to crumble and completely give up. There were times when he stayed “motionless” after situations where the conflict felt like never ending but eventually he had to put on a strong face and “look up” (page 4) for his son. While Bazil was trying to be strong for his son, he also had to be strong for his wife. He had to be there for her no matter how many nights he had to spend sleeping in the “sewing room” (Page 78), because he was committed to helping her heal, and that involved doing what was necessary to bring her justice. He stayed up most day and night scanning over “Bench briefs, memos, summaries and decisions” he had worked on because he was “convinced” that one of those cases had to be what led to “the man whose act had nearly severed (Joe’s) mother’s spirit from her body” (Page 45). Bazil's life had now changed so much towards caring for others that he finally lost sight of himself and put his own needs last eventually suffering a heart attack “That was when my father had his first heart…(His) face turned dark yellow. He strained for breath” (Page 244). His life changed in the blink of an eye and he had to be prepared to adjust to