Summary
Bazil and Joe look over a series of Bazil’s previous court cases. In one case, they read about a casino employee who was wrongly accused of stealing company property. In another, Joe learns about George and Grace Lark, owners of a local gas station. In the Lark case, it was alleged that the couple charged customers from the reservation 20% more on transactions. Although George and Grace Lark have passed away, their children, Linda and Linden, are troubling figures in the community.
Linda, who was born with birth defects, was abandoned by the Larks and raised by a Native American family known as the Wishkobs. After the Wishkob guardians passed away, Linda inherited land from the family. Grace then tried to become Linda’s legal guardian in order to have access to her new assets. When word of Grace’s conniving circulated around the community, everyone began to boycott the gas station. As a result of this boycott, Whitey’s gas station came to fruition and thrived. Bazil explains that this history could serve as a motive for Linden Lark to commit a crime.
In the last case file, Joe reads about an incident that took place at the round house. A few years ago, a group of young boys were drinking excessively during a native ritual at the round house. A tribal police officer named Vince Madwesin, who was serving as a security guard that night, asked for the boys to leave since their behavior was disrespectful. One of the boys who left later passed out and choked on his own vomit, thus leading to his death. Although the family tried to press charges against Vince Madwesin, he was determined to be innocent. Joe puts two and two together and realizes that Geraldine’s assault took place at the round house.
After learning about the scene of the crime, Joe visits the round house with Cappy, Zack, and Angus. Joe is the first to arrive, and he spends his time surveying the grounds. Joe believes that he hears a sound coming from the round house, but finds nothing upon his investigation. Joe explains that Chippewa religious rituals were once prohibited, and the round house was a secret place in which they could worship without condemnation. Joe cries when he realizes that his mother’s attack took place here.
Thinking about what Joe has learned about Geraldine’s case, he begins retracing the steps of his mother’s escape. Interestingly, Joe puts himself in the shoes of Geraldine’s attacker. He thinks about where he would dispose of the gas tank and hypothesizes that the attacker would throw it into the lake. Joe dives into the water and finds the gas tank to be exactly where he thought. Joe is overcome with emotion upon his realization that Geraldine’s attacker planned to set her on fire.
Cappy, Zack, and Angus arrive on the scene. Joe tells them that he wants to find Geraldine’s attacker. He begins running through his supposed timeline of the crime, and the boys go searching in the woods for additional evidence. Angus finds two unopened six-packs of beer, and the boys follow him to the beer’s location. There, they find potential evidence: a pile of clothes and a cooler. Joe voices his annoyance at the police’s incompetence, since it is unlikely that they searched the area.
Hungry, the boy’s head to Zack’s grandmother’s house for dinner. She is known as Grandma Thunder, and she is a strong character—she has a lewd sense of humor and makes the boys uncomfortable with her sexually explicit stories. Joe calls his father to tell him about his whereabouts, but Bazil is uninterested. Back at home, Joe eavesdrops as Bazil and Edward discuss Geraldine’s current state of distress. They talk about the new priest in town, Father Travis, and determine that he could be a potential suspect due to religious motivations.
Bazil heads upstairs to fall asleep in the small guest bedroom, which bothers Joe. Before falling asleep, Joe notices that something has caught the eye of Pearl, the dog. Joe is certain that there is a figure in the yard, and he determines that it is a ghostly spirit. The next morning, he talks about the ghost with Bazil, who does not deny Joe’s claims. He urges Joe to understand the spirit’s presence and its message. Later in their conversation, Joe admits to going to the round house in an attempt to investigate the crime against his mother.
Analysis
Joe spends more time with his father, hoping to uncover clues surrounding Geraldine’s attacker. Under these circumstances, Joe is introduced to the Lark family, and he begins to understand the long-fraught tensions that exist between his own family and theirs. The Larks can be seen as a foil to the Coutts. Erdrich compares the two families, and the different worlds that they come from, in order to juxtapose Western family structure with Native American family structure. Linda, who was given up for adoption due to her “undesirable” birth defects, is adopted by a Chippewa family. In this portrayal, Erdrich shows how the Larks are selfishly motivated. Erdrich also underscores how many Native American families emphasize a community-based system of care.
The Lark family’s selfishness is further explored in their evolving relationship with Linda. After ignoring Linda for her entire life, the Larks re-enter the picture once Linda’s adopted mother, Betty Wishkob, passes away. Following Betty’s death, Linda has inherited a sizable portion of tribal land—and the Larks want a piece of the pie. It is ironic that after many decades of rejection, Linda is now so highly coveted. This story helps inform Joe about the Larks' family dynamics. Meanwhile, Joe’s sleuthing intensifies and he realizes that Linden Lark is a potential suspect in the attack on his mother.
In this section, we see Erdrich continuing to explore the theme of storytelling. Much of what Joe knows is pieced together from stories told to him by his family—most notably, Mooshum and Bazil. For many indigenous communities, oral storytelling is a long-held tradition that has chronicled tribal history for centuries. When Joe hears about the incidents that have taken place at the round house in the past, he has a strong feeling that this is the place of his mother’s attack. In this way, stories—which inform Joe of his ancestral lineage—guide the protagonist in the present day.
The round house, as the title of the novel would suggest, is deeply symbolic. Throughout history, the round house was a meeting place where members of the Chippewa tribe would practice their religion and convene for rituals. It was regarded as a safe space, hidden from the eyes of the colonizers. After Joe is led to the round house and he realizes that this is the space where Geraldine has been attacked, he is moved to tears. The sanctity of the round house has been corrupted, and Joe realizes how the crime against Geraldine is representative of a larger pattern of crime against Native women by men not affiliated with tribes.
After Joe returns home, he is convinced that he sees an apparition in the yard. Throughout the novel, Erdrich uses the motif of ghosts to underscore trauma’s haunting and lingering qualities. At various points in the story, Joe sees ghosts. These supernatural encounters often occur when Joe is particularly vulnerable. Joe’s experiences with the supernatural demonstrate his inability to make sense of his tragic reality. Unfortunately, Joe feels as though he is living a nightmare.
