Overcoming Trauma and Restoring Peace in Louise Erdrich's The Round House

Muhammad, Muhammad Agami Hassan

doi:10.21608/jwadi.2025.409725

Overcoming Trauma and Restoring Peace in Louise Erdrich's The Round House

نوع المستند : المقالة الأصلية

المؤلف

Muhammad Agami Hassan Muhammad

Associate professor in the Dept. of English Language and Literature Al-Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh- KSA

10.21608/jwadi.2025.409725

المستخلص

Louise Erdrich is one of the prominent writers in contemporary American literature. She devotes her oeuvre to promote her indigenous Americans’ culture, advocate their rights and speak out how they are still suffering in the reservations made by the Federal government. In The Round House, Erdrich attracts attention to the short comings of the Federal legal system which unfortunately has some loophole allowing non-indigenous perpetrators to commit crimes with impunity. She illustrates how such criminal acts aggravate the native community’s - particularly women’s- sense of insecurity and deepen their intergenerational trauma. The article will discuss the different traumas resulting from the sexual assault Geraldine Coutts goes through at the hands of white racist, Lark. It will also identify and explain the psychological consequences on the raped wife, Geraldine, Bazil Coutts, her husband, and Joe, their son. It will probe into each one’s reaction to their traumas: the wife's PTSD, Bazil’s resilient response and Joe’s violent response. It will further explain how the son's revengeful act helps the whole family to restore peace according to Indigenous worldview. Psychological and social trauma theories, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and the indigenous philosophy of justice will function as theoretical basis for the interdisciplinary analysis in the article.

الكلمات الرئيسية