The Round House Literary Elements

Drama, Historical Fiction, Crime, Murder Mytery

The novel is set on an Ojibwe reservation in 1988. The events in the novel take place over the course of a year, and they are told in flashback.

The story is narrated in the first person by protagonist Joe Coutts. The plot is told in flashback, and the events occur when Joe is thirteen years old.

The tone of the novel is assertive, distressing, and macabre. The mood is dark and distressed.

The protagonist in the novel is Joe Coutts, and the antagonist is Linden Lark.

The major conflict of the novel occurs within the book's opening pages. After Linden Lark has brutally raped Joe's mother, Geraldine, Joe seeks revenge.

The climactic moment of the story occurs when Joe and Cappy shoot Linden, ultimately killing him.

One example of foreshadowing is when Joe weeds saplings that have infiltrated the foundation of his house. In this scene, Erdrich alludes to the fact that outside forces will rattle Joe's reality, and he will try his best to solve the problems that emerge.

Soon after killing Linden, Cappy assures Joe that he is unaffected by his involvement in Lark's murder. However, Cappy is not telling the truth—he is deeply disturbed and racked with guilt. As a result, Cappy becomes an alcoholic. His alcoholism laters contributes to his death at the end of the novel.

There are numerous historical allusions throughout the novel. Namely, Erdrich cites court cases such as The United States .v 43 Gallons of Whisky, Johnson v. M'Intosh, and Oliphant v. Suquamish.

Toward the latter part of the novel, Erdrich uses visual imagery to describe Cappy and Joe on the golf course overlook. In describing the openness and limits of their view, Erdrich foreshadows how this perspective will play a part in planning the murder of Linden Lark.

The behavior of the Lark family can be seen as paradoxical. They initially shun Linda and refuse to have a relationship with her, but then they aim to reignite their familial ties after she inherits land.

There is parallelism between the story of Nanapush and Joe: both are young men that stand by their mothers after they are attacked by men.

The round house can be analyzed as a "metonymic feminine body." An example of synecdoche is Curtis Yeltow's gubernatorial actions: they represent the whole of American injustices used to disenfranchise Native Americans.

In the first chapter, Joe personifies the trees that have taken over the foundation of his family's house. He explains that the trees "attacked," thus underscoring their strength and significance.