Lessons From A Dead Girl Analysis

Sexual Assault Against Minors as Portrayed in Literature
According to the National Center for Victims of Crime: Child Sexual Abuse Statistics, “1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys is a victim of child sexual abuse.” Sexual abuse in adolescents is running rampant in today’s society, but has been depicted in literature for many years. Though literature has displayed this abuse as a cause in need of fixing, many people remain ignorant to the efforts used in trying to prevent such acts on adolescents. This ignorance may be a result of a secondary viewing on the situation at hand, which has shifted the tides to primarily first-hand experiences in writing as being accurate.
When it comes to victims of rape, the perpetrators are most likely known by the victim. They are usually a parent, close relative, or family friend. In the case of Lessons From a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles, the perpetrator is a best friend. In this novel, the main character, Laine is an unpopular outsider who attracts the attention of the most popular girl in school, Leah. Leah declared as her and Laine as “friends forever” but Leah isn’t your typical best friend.
“Abuse and Abuser” shows how

Elizabeth goes about describing the events that occurred during her time in captivity and how her experiences have allowed her to relate to other victims of sexual abuse. Elizabeth recounts the original night of her abduction and how she constantly prayed for an escape (CNN). Smart then goes into the criticism she faced after she had been emancipated and how vile it is to judge a child who had been a victim of sexual assault by saying, "You can never judge a child or a victim of any crime on what they should have done, because you weren't there and you don't know and you have no right just to sit in your armchair at home and say 'Well, why didn't you escape? Why didn't you do this?' I mean, they just don't know.”