It Will Look Like A Sunset By Kelly Sundberg Summary

The National Coalition against Domestic Violence found that twenty people fall victim to physical violence every minute in the United States , illustrating the severity of this growing issue across the country. Unfortunately, over half of the people involved in domestic violence cases do not even recognize the fact that they are in unhealthy relationships because the love that they have for their abusers often overpowers their judgement, leading victims to endure countless years of pain and suffering in hopes their loved ones will one day change. Over the years, thousands of victims have spoken up about their experiences in an effort to raise awareness about this national epidemic, including Kelly Sundberg who is the author of the short story

“It Will Look Like a Sunset” . Sundberg’s piece was selected to be in the 2015 edition of The Best American Essays, but was originally published in 2014 in Guernica, a magazine of global arts and politics, which looks to publish works from single voices that answer critical questions. “It Will Look Like a Sunset” is a perfect fit for this magazine, for it answers a question that goes through a majority of Americans’ minds every time they see a domestic violence case on the news; why did they not leave the relationship sooner? The complicated structure of Sundberg’s “It Will Look Like a Sunset” allows the readers to better understand why abuse victims stay in toxic relationships, and serves as an important reference for people to reflect back upon when examining other accounts of domestic violence.
When people turn on the news and hear about abuse victims living through years of assault without showing any signs, people find it difficult to understand why victims did not reach out for help sooner.

Although it is hard to completely depict a situation that few have ever been in themselves, Kelly Sundberg’s “It Will Look Like a Sunset” helps readers understand why she, as well as why other domestic abuse victims have trouble leaving the people responsible for their suffering. Throughout the narrative, Sundberg’s paragraphs are written in unchronological order and bounce back and forth between instances of cruel abuse and happy times to show the confusing world in which she lived in. Kelly describes how her abuser Caleb had the ability to bring her a lot of joy in addition to pain. For a majority of the narrative, Sundberg describes the times in which Caleb did charity work for others, made her laugh until she couldn’t breathe, took her on adventures, and loved the family they shared unconditionally. Through the other paragraphs in the essay, she mixes in feelings of loneliness and intimidation that she felt by documenting the nights of verbal and physical abuse. By weaving these two counteracting experiences together, she is displaying how she could still think the thought, “I still loved him. I told myself he would get better” even through the abuse. It is unimaginably difficult for someone to forget the love they have for someone just because something goes wrong. When

people are emotionally invested in their marriage or their family, they constantly feel like the person they once loved might still exist.
By reading into the news with this mindset, a reader is able to better understand why there are so many delayed abuse charges and why some women choose to stay with those who abuse them. In 2014, former Ravens running back Ray Rice was caught punching his then-fiancé in the face while on an elevator, which knocked her unconscious. Despite this chilling incident, Janay married Ray months later. Thousands questioned their marriage, but those involved with domestic abuse understood, such as Rebecca Donley of the Domestic Abuse Hotline by saying that “We have just seen this one piece of their relationship and it is very likely that she really does care for this person, she is married to him, and she wants things to work out” . Sundberg helps us understand this idea by spending the same amount of time, if not more, describing the positive characteristics of Caleb in comparison to the negative.
As a reader, we often trust the narrator of a personal story to accurately relay the emotions behind the situation they are describing.

By talking about these positive characteristics in detail every other paragraph, we are constantly reminded of the good Caleb brought to the life of Kelly rather than just the bad. Therefore, it is hard for the reader to despise him because Sundberg forces them to feel sympathy for the two people that they could not make the love they once shared last forever. If Kelly had quickly gone over the goodness in Caleb’s heart at the beginning of the story, and then filled the last few pages with the bad, feeling hatred towards Caleb for ruining the life of such a great woman would be a lot easier. It is very clear that Kelly was not trying to evoke sympathy through telling this story, but speak for the millions of domestic abuse victims that are constantly criticized for staying in relationships that are harmful to their

well-being.
The importance of “It Will Look Like a Sunset” lies in the fact that it answers a critical question many readers have, which is why it is so difficult for a victim of domestic abuse to make the choice to either stay or leave the harmful relationship. There are always two sides to every story, including the character of an abusive person, which is easier to recognize for the person who saw them as loving at one time rather than a third party who has only heard the bad. By leaving the reader conflicted over the separation of the Kelly and Caleb, the author sets a precedent for dealing with other incidents of abuse. The structure of Sundberg’s story allows the reader to enter the mind of an abuse victim as best they can, which makes the essay a very worthwhile and educational read.