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The Round House By Louise Erdrich

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Exploring the subject of History has been portrayed through multiple media to often assist in remembering the events that took place. For instance, The Round House by Louise Erdrich uses literature to make a statement about the current issue in regards to the political relationship and boundary of Native American Indians; moreover, Edrich utilizes the protagonist Joe's journey through life to also make comments about societal issues. Edrich’s ability to portray these issues through the fictional genre and unique writing style allows for the book to ultimately convey a level of AP literature because the utilization of these techniques goes beyond the general basis to evoke a deeper thematic meaning towards societal standards. By encapsulating …show more content…

Within the book, one of the key distinctions from other books becomes apparent when Joe begins to converse with other characters: there are no quotation marks to signal the change from thoughts to vocal measures. Quotation marks are often used to signal vocal activity in the third person point of view and the change from personal thoughts to vocal projection in the first person point of view. In a publication by the University of Connecticut, Stephen Koo states that the elimination of quotation marks could be that the proposed author is “more selective and highbrow” (Koo) regarding their literature. “Selective” and “highbrow” are two terms that refer to the specificity of a person or to invoke specific qualities. In the case of Louise Edrich’s The Round House, being more selective may have been her very reason. The main plot of the book develops from an attack, as the victim is part of an Indian tribe while the attacker is presumed to be from the “outside” or general society. The issue of relationship and boundary begins to process, Edrich may have wanted to create an artistic manner of representing this issue - the elimination of quotation marks. Originally, the marks may have …show more content…

As a more historical topic, the usual steps are to document exact instances to efficiently portray the issue at hand - yet, The Round House goes a completely different pathway because the book isn’t specifically tackling one issue - the book is tackling the entire community of issues that the Native American Indians faced. Towards the middle of the book, Joe says “The thoughts that protected my thoughts had fallen away and now I was left with my real thoughts.” (Edrich 258). Here, “real thoughts” represent the actual notion of the issues that are taking place in reality, but the “thoughts that had fallen away” were the walls of fiction. When utilizing fiction, Edrich can convey a different manner of perspective, one that isn’t limited by “media representation.” In an article by the poetry foundation, “Erdrich’s accomplishment is that she is weaving a body of work that goes beyond portraying contemporary Native American life as descendants of a politically dominated people to explore the great universal questions—questions of identity, pattern versus randomness, and the meaning of life itself” (Poetry Foundation). Edrich wants to keep the spotlight on the issues that Native American Indians are facing but also wants to give light on different issues that derive from the source of

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The author of The Red Convertible Louise Erdrich was born in Little Falls, Minnesota in 1954. As the daughter of a Chippewa Indian mother and a German-American father, Erdrich explores Native-American themes in her works, with major characters representing both sides of her heritage. In an award-winning series of related novels and short stories, Erdrich has visited and re-visited the North Dakota lands where her ancestors met and mingled, representing Chippewa experience in the Anglo-American literary tradition. In addition to her numerous award-winning novels and short story collections, Erdrich has published three critically acclaimed collections of poetry, Jacklight (1984), Baptism of Desire (1989) and Original Fire: New and Selected Poems

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Analyzing Captivity Stories: How Different Tones Support Different Themes In A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, Mary Rowlandson retells her story as a captive of the Wampanoag Indians. In Louise Erdrich’s poem “Captivity”, Erdrich responds to Rowlandson by telling a story about a captive of a Native American tribe through the eyes of the captive. Throughout their stories, both authors utilize diction to produce a specific tone that conveys their overall theme. Through analysis of both authors’ diction choice, it is evident that Rowlandson’s hopeful tone supports her theme of exclusive belief in God, whereas Erdrich’s desperate tone supports her message that beliefs are susceptible to change.

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The unjustified legal system failing the Native American women by allowing the white men to take advantage of these women without any punishment results in silencing them. This affects the women heavily, which affects the people around them. The Round house, by Louise Erdrich shows a woman, Geraldine; that was taken advantage of by a white man, resulting in her to shut down and be silenced by the legal system that won't do any justice for her. Her son, Joe; notices the unusual behavior and wants revenge for his mom. By the system being corrupt, it allows the ugly acts to be done over and over again, hurting more and more Native Americans.

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The novel explores themes of family, identity, and trauma. It revolves around a group of Native American characters fighting against the government’s plans to terminate the tribe and displace them from their land. The characters’ experiences

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Charles Alexander Eastman utilizes his novels to inform society about Native American history. His work analysis’s the lives of Natives tribes and provides his readers with personal memoirs. This autobiography implements detailed accounts of communication among the Native Indians and the American Government. Chapter VII is set within the 1890’s. It delivers a first-person narrative from a Native Indian standpoint.

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This explanation the speaker gave of Joe telling his father about breaking their tradition gave us a an ideal illustration of the lack of punctuation that is demonstrated throughout the entire novel. The author chose to not use any quotation marks, or much punctuation so he could create a better image for the reader of the casual and child like conversations amidst the father and son in the novel. Nevertheless the syntax used in the novel also spoke for the honest, loving, and respectful relationship that was shared among Joe and his

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