When Traditional Justice Fails

I have a firm belief in Karma- what goes around comes around. If you hold open the door for a sweet old lady, you might find twenty bucks on the ground. If you kill a bird with your car, the next day your favorite sweater will rip. The universe has a funny way of always balancing out good and evil. We see this circle of justice in Louise Erdrich's novel The Round House. In the coming of age novel about a young boy named Joe, we learn about the complicated lives of Native American's living on a reservation in 1988. In the book, Joe's mother is attacked, raped, and almost burned alive by a white racist man named Linden Lark. The laws, that are supposed to protect innocent civilians and uphold the common good, failed Geraldine (Joe's mom). Because the judicial system did not prosecute Linden, Joe took matters into his own hands and attempted to eliminate him. Unable to finish the job, his best friend Cappy had to send the fatal shot.

Linden Lark was the worst type of person: racist, rapist, murder. He kidnapped and killed a new mother, Mayla Wolfskin, because he claimed to love her and was raging that she had a baby with another man. He made no positive contributions to society and is a destructive sociopath. So does it make it just for Joe to kill Linden? A categorical thinker would argue that it was absolutely immoral and unjust for Linden to be murdered. They locate morality in the action itself: murder is wrong under all circumstances. Contrasting, a consequence thinker would argue Joe's actions brought justice because Linden's death produced peace for his family and the community.

A consequence theorist would insist one must be proactive and can defy one's morals to protect the one's we love. You could say that by avenging all the lives Linden destroyed, Joe brought back balance and order; that we should rejoice that Linden was eliminated form our gene pool. However, I associate myself as a categorical thinker: act upon your morally instincts no matter the circumstances.

After Lark's death, Joe learns he reacted to quickly too the situation, "(Bugger) had seen her dead body. If we hadn't killed Lark, he'd have gone to jail for life anyway" (310). Lark would not of been charged for rape of Gerdaline, however he would've been jailed for first degree murder of Mayla. Instead of patiently waiting for the inevitable outcome, Joe is haunted by his actions and the involvement of his deceased friend for the rest of his life. When the universe's judicial balance has been disturbed, it has an odd way of re-balancing balancing the scales. So make sure you always have Karma on your side.