Notes de lecture. The round house.

THE ROUND HOUSE

Passage in the novel that you found particularly interesting or impactful:

“ We were not churchgoers. This was our ritual. Our breaking bread, our communion. And it all began with that trusting moment where my father walked up behind my mother and she smiled at his approach without turning. But now they stood staring at each other helplessly over the broken dish. (…) She took a gasping breath and put her had to her wounded face. Then she stepped over the mess on the floor and walked carefully away. (…) Anything would have been better than the frozen suspension of feeling in which she mounted the stairs.” p.43

I found this passage to be particularly impactful and interesting, because in this moment in time, Joe truly realizes the effect of the rape on his mother. He notices the way that the usual routine the three of them had previously established over the years which consisted of his father walking up behind his mother as she made diner and Joe setting the table, would never be the same. This passage also demonstrates to the numerous characters, as well as to the readers, the impact of the rape on Geraldine. Indeed, somehow, this event has made her put up this wall of fear and insecurity even around her loved ones.

Narration:

• References to reader p.2 “You would think then that I would had stopped, a thirteen- year-old boy with better things to do, but on the contrary.
• p.142 “You have read this far and you know that I’m writing this story at a removal of time, from that summer in 1988, when my mother (…).”

Characters:

• Father: strong minded p.3
• Joe: the events which took place somehow forced him to grow up faster p.3, p.7 and p.13

• Feeling of desperation when seeing the condition in which his mother is and the impression that the life has been taken away from his family p.93

• Mother: Feels the need to convince herself and her loved ones that she is okay p.10

• After the rape took place, she seems to isolate herself from the world and her loved ones p.75
• The events have somehow taken the life out of her. p.45 reference to the title of chapter 2 “Lonely Among Us”
• Emotionless and numb to the world: doesn’t react to anything p.35
• Mother strikes Joe in the face as he seeks and searchers for comforts and reassurance as he is scared. p. 23, p.26, p.34

• Father Travis

• Description p.95-96 and p.107-108

Symbolism:

• Steep incline?? P.14
• Protective/lucky stone p.17
• The show TNG and the meaning it represents to Joe and his friends: read last paragraph highlighted p. 20
• Ghost of a mother (after dropping pan in kitchen) p.43

• impression of a ghost description of the mother how she is wearing a nightgown: her spirit died when the event took place. The event to the life out of her

• Ghost outside in yard p.80-81
• Seems angel/ghost p. 150
• When telling her life story to Joe, Linda confirms that she once had the impression that she was floating p.125
• Sour milk; even the milk had gone bad: somehow represents the lack of presence of Geraldine and how she seems to have given up on herself and her family, constantly sleeping and resting p.22-23
• Shoes : demonstrate how Cappy desires to support Joe throughout these difficult times and wishes to bring a little bit of happiness and light into his life p.72 & 75

Themes:

• Racism p.8 (with pregnant woman in the hospital room)
• Police dilemma (whom will be responsible of the rape and figuring out who the attacker was: Indian government or FBI – federal government) p. 12; 41; 30; 93; p.160

• If crime took place of Indian and of the round house, Geraldine’s rape case is in the hand of the Indian government
• If crime took place on federal land, rape case is in the hand of the us government, FBI etc.: and in this case, will Geraldine’s case be truly taken into hands and seriously?

• Importance of rituals in the Indian community p.39

• Shaking tent ritual p.53
• Rituals held at the Round House p. 60
• Indian history and the different challenges their ancestors had to face p.100
• Doodem ceremony which would help Joe find his luck according to Mooshum p. 133
• Indian mythe/ Ojibwe law; importance of tribe system p. 154
• Importance: rituals and ceremonies are extremely important in the Indian culture

Setting: example of the description of setting p.137 (description of Whitney and Sonja’s home)

General information:

• Suspects:

• #1 suspect: someone who has matches from the golf course p. 27
• Clue: was carrying and Indian suitcase p.31
• #2 suspect: Landen Lark p.52
• #3 suspect: the new priest Travis p.77

• Bazil explains to Joe how Geradine escaped her aggressor (key hidden near the car wheel) p. 29
• Joe somehow has put his father on a pedestaled: created this idea of him and his responsibilities at work in his head – role model p.48
• Joe goes to the Round house to try and have a more precise idea on how the crime took place – he reenacts the attackers crime (puts himself in the attacker’s shoes and position) p. 61 & 63 and finds the gas can he used p.60 description of event p.62
• Joe has the impression that his mom knows and remembers her aggression: the rapist as well as where it took place p. 90
• Joe speaks to Mooshum and the ghost he previously saw to figure out the meaning behind such manifestation p.133
• Joe finds his luck: he finds a plastic doll attached to a dock floating in the lake – doll was filled with money p. 134
• Joe, his father and agent Bjerke try and question Geraldine concerning the phone call she received before leaving to get the file p.151
• Geraldine reveals to Bazil and joe what she remembers from that night, as well as the information about the file p.159; p.160-162
• Joe meets Landen at the gas station for the first time p.170