The Round House by Louis Erdrich - Essay Example

How does the novel treat the question of justice on Indian reservations? According to the perception that is brought out by the society the law is supposed to put out any brush fire with regards to the concept of justice. However, in the Native American history the aspect of law as well as justice has often been addressed more of like the wind. The question of justice on Indian reservation as narrated by Joe the son of an Indian woman who is raped by a white man is addressed in a rather scanty manner. Justice is not well delivered with regards to the case of the raped woman. Based on the plot of the novel Edrich turns the question of justice to relate to a powerful human story. Her novel focuses on a Native American woman who is raped in the set of a sacred round house and the quest of seeking justice for this inhuman act becomes really devastating more like the crime itself (Erdrich, 22). Justice on the Indian reservations is based on primitive laws which do not regard the value of human rights regardless of the origin of the offender. Justice is disregarded and is based mainly on the culture and policy of the region without giving attention to the victim offended or even the nature of the crime with regards to the society. The Round house the vicinity where the rape ordeal takes place is located on reservation land and this is where the tribal courts are in control. However, the suspect of the rape case is white and according to the law of the land the tribal courts are not allowed to prosecute non-native people (Erdrich, 23). According to Joe’s narration years on later when he has become apublic prosecutor, he recalls the terrifying events he had to go through after his mother was raped and trying to get justice for the crime was fruitless. Joe tries to show how the issue of crime is surrounded by many roots. Justice in this case follows the tribal traditions and therefore it has its own rules which are regarded important despite the nature of crimes committed. Edrich tries to analyse the legal system with regards to the United States system which according to her has failed to protect the rights of the Indians who are living in the reservations. There havebeen many oaths which have been broken and the decisions of justice placed on the hands of the reservation authorities. The question of justice based on the unfolding of the story is treated with respect to the legal black holes. It is through this approach that the laws of the society where the case took place created a platform for predators to commit crimes and later escape without being punished or prosecuted. According to the plot of the story the justice that is portrayed is that of the kind of a vigilante. There are certain attributes of justice that are escaped and hence it is clearly seen that justice on Indian reservations is disregarded or in other words there is little that a victim can do in case a crime is committed against him/her and the culprit is not from the vicinity. The Round House generally addresses the perception of justice in the North Dakota where the Indian reservations are as well as its neighbouring communities. Justice in this context is based on old crimes as well as family dramas. A lot can be stated with regards to the level of justice that was given to the Indian reservations but one thing that stands out is the fact that there was a lot of discrimination in the way justice was administered on crimes committed in the society (Nielsen & Robert, 55). Joe narrates how he had to mature faster due to the fact that he took up the quest of finding justice for his mother. His role was not easy at all since all he got from the authorities was a cold shoulder and his plight fell on deaf ears. Does the novel suggest that justice was done in this case? The novel does not suggest that justice was received for the rape case. This is due to the fact that Joe at his tender age of 13 years decided to take revenge on the man who raped his mother after investigations on the case did not seem to progress. Justice was at this point unobtainable and hence Joe decided to take up the responsibility of healing his mother by personally taking up the responsibility of investigating the man responsible. Joe’s father Bazil was a judge in the tribal court but neither could he be able to go against the tribal laws that were being followed in the region. He was torn between his position of being a tribal judge and that of using his efforts and power to find the man who raped his wife. It is known that on any election maps of the states the reservations are spotted as blue places. The native people are mainly democrats, progressives and they are by no means connected to gun-toting vigilantes (Nielsen & Robert, 55). With regards to Joe he was pushed to the corner due to the fact that his mother’s case was not making any progress and neither were the police aggressive in locating and arresting the criminal. This to Joe was agonizing and thus he took up the case himself. Justice in this case was not served due to the fact that there were some jurisdictions on the tribal land that kept some brutal crimes from being investigated and later on tried in the courts. With regards to the case of Joe’s mother this was just one among the many cases that were left to go unpunished. Tribal courts were only meant to prosecute the tribal members and thus in the case the accused was non-native (Nielsen & Robert, 55). Personally, I do not agree with the way the case was handled. This is due to the fact that it is not right for any person who falls pray of a violent act to be subjected to mental torture or physiological pain. The problem that is at present is that most of the perpetrators of the rape cases are not natives and hence most of the cases go unpunished. The legal systems in all regions should enforce laws that are of equal measure to all the people in the society regardless of age, race, gender or even origin. Human rights should be equal to all people worldwide and thus the discriminative laws that exist should be abolished as soon as possible. Justice should not be subjected to any boundary that surpasses the legal grounds as well as human rights. Violent acts based on most of the crimes that are faced by the natives in the reservations are mainly disregarded if they involved a non-native and this should not be the case. Works Cited Erdrich, L. The Round House LP: A Novel. HarperCollins Canada, Limited,2012. Nielsen, Marianne O, and Robert A. Silverman. Criminal Justice in Native America. Tucson, Ariz: University of Arizona Press, 2009. Print. Erdrich, Louise. The Round House. New York: Constable & Robinson, 2013. Internet resource. Read More