409725

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

Article

Last updated: 08 Feb 2025

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اللغات الأجنبية

Abstract

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.

DOI

10.21608/jwadi.2025.409725

Keywords

Indigenous Americans, Louise Erdrich, The Round House, trauma theory, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Indigenous Legal system

Authors

First Name

Muhammad Agami Hassan

Last Name

Muhammad

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

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

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Volume

45

Article Issue

45

Related Issue

53575

Issue Date

2025-01-01

Receive Date

2025-02-03

Publish Date

2025-01-01

Page Start

79

Page End

102

Print ISSN

2536-9555

Online ISSN

2682-4582

Link

https://jwadi.journals.ekb.eg/article_409725.html

Detail API

http://journals.ekb.eg?_action=service&article_code=409725

Order

409,725

Type

المقالة الأصلية

Type Code

1,243

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

مجلة وادي النيل للدراسات والبحوث الإنسانية والاجتماعية والتربويه

Publication Link

https://jwadi.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

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

Details

Type

Article

Created At

08 Feb 2025