Curtis Yeltow is the governor of South Dakota (in the world of the novel). He is well known for giving lip service to his commitment to Native causes, which he hypocritically pairs with policy that oppresses and disadvantages people living on reservations. Curtis Yeltow has also been caught on tape saying extremely bigoted things about Native people. When Mayla goes to work for him as a high school student, Curtis, a much older man, begins a relationship with her. When Mayla gets pregnant with Yeltow’s baby, Yeltow pays Mayla for her silence and he tries to adopt the child after Mayla’s murder. Yeltow, who never gets punished in the book, seems to represent how powerful people and politicians can grossly mistreat Native people (both as a group and as individuals) without recourse or reproach.
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Curtis Yeltow Character Timeline in The Round House
The timeline below shows where the character Curtis Yeltow appears in The Round House. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter Three: Justice
...Bazil says he is not sure. Bazil explains that Linden was recently working for Curtis Yeltow, the governor of South Dakota. Linden now lives in Grace’s old house.
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Chapter Eight: Hide and Q
...also intends to talk with the governor of Minnesota, who Bazil notes spoke with Curtis Yeltow, the governor of South Dakota, about the fact that he is trying to adopt a...
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...Joe and Pearl home with them. As they drive home, Joe asks Whitey about Curtis Yeltow and Whitey lists the many ways that Yeltow has perpetuated the oppression of Native people...
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...a program that places Native students in government jobs, and went to work for Curtis Yeltow.
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Chapter Nine: The Big Good-bye
...he was arrested. Nothing significant was found. The police connected that the child that Curtis Yeltow wanted to adopt was Mayla’s child. Social workers claimed to have found the baby in...
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Chapter Eleven: The Child
...Linden’s obsession with Mayla. When Geraldine filed Mayla’s daughter’s tribal enrollment form, Mayla named Curtis Yeltow, not Linden, as the father. This meant that Mayla had gotten pregnant while she was...
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Linda imagines that Linden wanted to find the enrollment form in order to blackmail Yeltow, and that Geraldine would not give it to him. Linda says that Linden raping Geraldine...
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...finds a manila folder. Inside, Joe sees Mayla’s enrollment form for her daughter, with Curtis Yeltow listed as the father. Joe puts it back. Then he writes a note to his...
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...Cappy about finding Mayla’s file in Bazil’s desk and how Mayla’s baby’s father was Curtis Yeltow. Joe surmises that Mayla stored the money that Yeltow had given her in her daughter’s...
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