Truth or Not? (The Round House)

    Joe's mother is violently raped in the beginning of the novel. When he is trying to make sense of what actually happened, he doesn't understand the intensity of the issues, in fact, he doesn't even know exactly how serious rape is. When he asks his aunt if his mother was raped she just says "yes" and after elaborating further she says " -it's more complicated," and leaves it at that. She doesn't allow Joe to get the full scope of the event which keeps him naive to the topic.

    His view is then further blurred by Bazil (joe's father). Joe begins to ask more questions at dinner, "What evidence do you have that this one guy did it? My father considered not answering. I could tell. But he finally did. He had trouble saying some of the words." Bazil then proceeds to tell him information that doesn't add up to the facts of the crime. It's almost solid proof that Bazil is lying to protect him.

    Joe is only 13 and it makes sense that his parents and elders are trying to protect him. But with a crime that affected someone so close to him, it isn't acceptable that he doesn't know the facts. Without know everything, he might try to solve the case himself which could lead to harm to him and his family.

    So the real suggested question of the book right now, is if it's ok to lie to someone to keep them safe. I read this article from Time and it said:

"The debate over lying is not only about whether honest information can help the situation, but also whether that information is delivered at the right time. 'One thing people care about is whether honest information will distract them from something important,'"

So maybe we will see Bazil talk more with Joe about the case later after we see more of his character development.