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What Is The Loss Of Innocence In The Round House

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Coming of Age in a World of Tragedy: Joe’s Loss of Childhood in The Round House The loss of Joe’s innocence can not be traced back to a singular event but is more of a gradual process that unfolds as Joe becomes more aware of the reality of his community. While childhood is often marked by the years one through eighteen, in Louise Erdriches The Round House, it is viewed more as a mentality. The first change in Joe's mentality can be seen when the milk goes sour in his fridge, representing the loss of innocence and stability in Joe's life. After accidentally drinking the sour milk, Joe rushes up to his mother's room and says, “‘Mom, the milk was sour’...She had never let the milk go sour before."(Erdrich 23) The souring of the milk, while …show more content…

After realizing that Whitey was beating Sonja, Joe remarks, “My blood pulsed and swam. The poison that was wasting in me thrilled along my nerves. I thought I’d kill Whitey. I was not afraid. ‘Whitey!’. . . ‘Come out and fight me!’” Since Joe has only been shown the idealized relationship between his parents, experiencing the imperfect nature Whitey and Sonja's love exposes him to the harsh reality of his community and transforms him into a different person despite his young age. While the attack Joe witnessed was a physical event, Erdrich also masterfully uses the symbolism of trees and nature to track Joe's personal development throughout the novel. The peak of this analogy is reached when Joe looks back on these events saying, “It occurred to me how even pulling trees that day, just months ago, I was in heaven. Unaware. I had known nothing even as the evil was occurring. I hadn’t been touched yet.”(Erdrich 294) Joe’s realization of how much he has grown in the last months suggests that age in The Round House is not bound by a linear timeline but instead shaped by lived experiences. The loss of innocence that Joe experiences is not a sudden occurrence but a gradual process; however, it is marked by key events and symbolism, such as the souring of the milk, the exposure to

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There is a large presence of power when Joe is introduced into the story. Joe has dominance over Eatonville as well as over Janie. What strived the control over Janie and the people of Eatonville was the desire of power. His power caused the townspeople to appreciate his effort of change in the town however, they also fear his strength.

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803 Words | 4 Pages

Joe once thinks of selling his land to the Devine owning to the financial problems in raising his family. However, after much persuading by Ruby Archuleta and Charlie Bloom, a progressive lawyer who fights for the rights of the villagers, Joe decides to continue to work in his beanfield despite all the difficulties he has to endure. The Devine keeps on oppressing him by sending its minions to thwart Joe’s efforts to irrigate his beanfield. In one of the incidents, the Devine tries to accuse Joe for allowing his cow to graze the grass of the Federal Government, but fails miserably as Joe is advocated by the villagers who exculpate him from the acrimonious allegation. With the help of Charlie Bloom, Ruby and the villagers, Joe becomes the hero of the village, the leader who successfully suppress the evil land developer’s movement.

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1356 Words | 6 Pages

He is alone; he has no job opportunity in Washington because Roy has died. But Joe is happy. Joe has finally faced unlocked that “hidden thing” and he has embraced it. Joe’s secret exists no more, and he gains that confidence and sureness that he was missing. Although Joe loses everyone else, he finds himself.

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1206 Words | 5 Pages

The key theme of The Round House is pursuit of justice. Initially Joe wanted his father, Bazil, who works as a tribal judge on the reservation, to find and punish his mother’s perpetrator. He was actively trying to help his dad as much as possible by reading case files from his father’s previous cases, but over time however he realized, “All of the cases that my father judged were nearly as small, as ridiculous, as petty.” (Erdrich, 48) When he realizes that his father has never handled a case like this, he is enraged. This also motivates to take justice in his own hands and start his own small investigation at the Round House, “I had

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201 Words | 1 Pages

On November 30th, Joe ran away from his master, Thomas Bowyer. Joe is about forty-six years old, and around the height of 5 ’10. When speaking to this man he has a very smooth, and soft voice. When drinking liquor he becomes a very religious man. Bowyer says that he can read print very well, is a great liar, and can deceive anyone that does not know him.

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810 Words | 4 Pages

It’s been shown that Joe is very self-absorbent and only cares about his reputation. His superiority complex is what is ruining him and everything decent thing around him. Joe is constantly mixing around his values and turning them into something horrible. He is so worried about being perceived as a weak man that he puts all of that into making sure Janie is perfect, “But Jody was set on it. Her hair was NOT going to show in the store.

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790 Words | 4 Pages

He became materialistic, which was complete contrast from his positive, big hearted Joe. What we learn about Joe is that he is very superficial, he is charmed by Slemmons and easily fooled by people’s façade. Consequently, the conflict intensifies as Joe intends to show of Missie May to Slemmons in the opening of the ice cream parlor. In the text he says, “Go ‘head on now, honey and put on yo’ clothes.

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545 Words | 3 Pages

Janie tells Joe “And now you got tuh die tuh find out dat you got tuh pacify somebody besides yo’self if you wants any love and any sympathy in dis world. You ain’t tried tuh pacify nobody but yo’self. Too busy listening tuh yo’ own big voice.” (Pg 87) Janie thinks very little of Joe.

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757 Words | 4 Pages

A Coming-of-Age at Only Age 13 Imagine killing a man for the security of your family. That's exactly what 13-year-old Joe Coutts did. Louise Erdrich's The Round House comprises of Joe's coming-of-age story, who attempts to fix a distressing situation his family is in. Through this, Joe finds himself in various events which change his perception of life and of himself. Joe barely turned 13 in the beginning of the summer of 1988, but is pushed into a life-changing situation which devastates the entire family.

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437 Words | 2 Pages

Indeed, Joe has the ability to control the people of Eatonville by haranguing them with discourses. For instance, in chapter 5, Joe uses the words “let it shine, let it shine, let it shine” (p.73) at the end of his speech to refer to the street lights he bought for the town. It could be a reference to a gospel hymn about Jesus as the Light of the World, or even as the Genesis when God says “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). In each case, the religious reference that Joe makes in his speech is not destined to create any kind of pictures for the people to see, but a way to create a parallel between him and God. Thereby, with his money and ambition, he positions himself as superior to the rest of the town and demonstrates a form of hubris that differentiates him from the other storytellers.

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846 Words | 4 Pages

This attack changed Joe's family, but it also changed his mother. “She slowed and then stopped. She turned to my father, staring out of the covers as out of a cave. Her eyes were black, black in her grey face. She spoke in a low, harsh voice that grew large between my ears.

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1172 Words | 5 Pages

He lost his ability to hear, see, taste, talk and no longer has legs, arms or a face. He is now trying to figure out how and why he got to the point of where he is. Through memories, thoughts, and dreams, Joe finds out what he has lost and what he has gained through the war and comes to a realization that war is unnecessary unless you have an actual reason to be fighting. Charlie, the main character of the movie Shenandoah, always thought that war was unnecessary because there was no true reason for him and his family to be fighting. I

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2338 Words | 10 Pages

The coming of age of a person could be at the age of twelve, or twenty, or forty – it all depends on each person’s ability to reach a certain level of maturity – not necessarily meaning when one is independent, but rather when one seems sensible and reliable. In terms of maturity, humans have different levels of development some mature faster, while others develop quite gradually. Most of the time, the experiences that one goes through determines the speed of the rate of the maturity of that person because past experiences affect the way that we make decisions that benefit ourselves, and the people around us. Louise Erdrich’s The Round House is a coming-of-age story about Joe Coutts, a thirteen-year-old Native American, who is thrust into adulthood

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470 Words | 2 Pages

Joe Coutts in Louise Erdrich's The Round House transfigures from a sordid boy obsessed with his aunt's breasts to a man with responsibility and the ability to wipe his own ass. Joe's behavior in the beginning of the story differs minimally from any boy in another coming-of-age story. As the story unravels, the boy finds himself understanding more and more about the concepts of vengeance and justice. In the final chapter of the novel, Joe has grown old with many of the other characters and feels the full burden of adulthood. Most of Joe Coutts's expulsions of his former philistine ways are attributed to the evolution of his morals.

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348 Words | 2 Pages

In Chapter 12, Joe behaves abnormally after coming back from Miss Havisham’s place and receiving twenty-five pounds from her as Pip’s wage. However honest and artless Joe was before, he is for sure dramatically different after the trip to Miss Havisham’s, which makes me wonder what might possibly cause this extreme change to happen (my question). I first thought that since the author has portrayed the lady’s mansion as a ghostly and deserted place where Pip has even once saw a ghost, maybe it’s the place that has caused this change in Joe. In the book, Joe hypocritically flatters Mrs. Joe, who is angry by the fact that the lady invites Joe to the mansion and not her, by making up greetings to Mrs. Joe from the lady, who in fact may not

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