Theme Of Justice In Louise Erdrich's Larose

One tenet of Christianity that I wrestle with continuously is how to seek justice while loving mercy. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells Peter to forgive someone who has wronged him “not seventy times, but seventy times seven.” I often struggle to forgive someone once. How do I, or how does anyone, embark on the difficult journey of forgiving those who have hurt us deeply? What does justice look like? When I am overwhelmed by questions of how to push through pain to find redemption, I return to Louise Erdrich’s LaRose, a novel that unflinchingly examines the themes of forgiveness, justice, and conflict transformation. Set on a sleepy North Dakota reservation, LaRose follows the saga of two families, the Irons and the Raviches. Landreaux