The story of Alice Sebold’s memoir begins with her as a freshman at Syracuse University and the scene in which she is brutally raped. Sebold writes in vivid detail on how the rape went throughout the beginning of the chapter. She was walking back to her dormitory through a park during nighttime when she was suddenly assaulted and raped by a black man. After the traumatizing experience, she makes her back to her dorm where she told her friends about the rape. One of her roommate’s black friends gives her a hug in order to apologize on behalf of the black men and to make her not judge them as rapists due to the incident. After meeting with her friends, they take her emergency room. A police officer later tells her that she was “lucky” because a female was also raped at the same place but had been murdered and dismembered instead. Sebold soon officially starts her story after arriving back to her home in Pennsylvania with her mother by writing, “My life was over; my life had just begun” (33), implying that her life has been dramatically altered and wouldn’t be the same again.
Sebold later writes about her detailed information that she needed to provide the police. She mentions everything from when it happened to when it ended. She also tells her family about her rape but without the excruciating details of it. When at home, Sebold reminisces or begins to tell about her when she was younger. She was considered as a “good girl” and was a virgin until she was raped that day. She reveals that she had a very poor perception of her body image to the point in which her parents even called her fat. Her parents did not have a great marriage due to lack of romance. Her mother had continuous panic attacks a majority of the time so her older s...
... middle of paper ...
...w exactly how she felt at the time, not hesitant and ready for anything that is coming at her.
I would recommend this book to a friend. This book had a very daunting perspective of a real rape victim and the author really captured the invigorating feelings and emotions of the victim that made the book alluring. I enjoyed the amount of vivid details that the author put into telling her story and believe that she could capture the attention of any reader, girl or boy. Sebold’s memoir of her rape gave a clear perspective and goes through the traumatizing experiences that she faced which draws the reader out from their world into her very own. Some parts of the book, about her past, were a little draggy and boring but along the way, her story is still able to bring you back into it. This gruesome yet strangely enchanting book would make for a truly good read for anyone.
I found the book to be easy, exciting reading because the story line was very realistic and easily relatable. This book flowed for me to a point when, at times, it was difficult to put down. Several scenes pleasantly caught me off guard and some were extremely hilarious, namely, the visit to Martha Oldcrow. I found myself really fond of the char...
Rape is a hidden epidemic that affects many lives world wide. It is a problem that is so terrifying and uncomfortable that people do not talk about it. John Krakauer, author of Missoula, focuses on this issue of rape in the college town of Missoula, Montana. His focus is specifically on the case of Allison Huguet and Beau Donaldson. As the progression of Allison 's case continues we learn of more and more rape cases that happened to women on this same campus. A majority of women do not report these cases, we later learn as Krakauer continues through Allison 's case, because reporting and pursuing the case would be giving their life away. [4] Of course Allison decides to go through the trails of Beau Donaldson, however it is obvious that it is extremely difficult to convict someone with little evidence. As hard of a read as Missoula
I think that this book sends a very important message, it tells the reader about the dangers that adolescent girls face and survive every day. It also gives many different perspectives on issues that teens face because she gives us her own opinion and also those of her patients and their parents. I think that the reason this book is so eye-opening is because it gives you the honest truth, it's not candy coated. She tells stories that really happened, and the reality of the book is one of its best qualities.
Sebold’s mom was a local newspaper journalist in Pennsylvania (Guardian, 1). Her dad was a Spanish professor (Spring, 1). Sebold has an older sister named Mary. Mary would temporarily take care of their mom when she went into panic attacks. Sebold was the main one that would nurture her mom, and was blaming her sister on things. Ever since Sebold was a little girl she wanted to be a writer, but her parents paid more attention to Mary. Whenever Sebold was in her teenage years, she described herself in negative thoughts. She even often argued with her parents. The Sebold family was known to have fierce arguments at the table about something that was usually misunderstood. Sebold said that when she was young she did not go to church regularly (Guardian, 1). When she was in church she would read comic books in the pews. One fact about Sebold is that she does not believe in afterlife or God. She says that religious things are trash (Guardian, 1). Even Catholic language makes her uncomfortable (Alice Rape, 1). Another fact about her is that she loves gardening. She says that it’s a place where she can find and lose herself (Guardian, 1). In 1980, Sebold graduated from Great Valley High School (Spring, 1). It was on the last day of school in the evening of Sebold’s freshman year at Syracuse University, when she was raped (Alice Biography, 1). When Sebold was raped
After hearing a brief description of the story you might think that there aren’t many good things about they story. However, this is false, there are many good things in this book that makes it a good read. First being that it is a very intriguing book. This is good for teenage readers because often times they don’t willingly want to read, and this story will force the teenage or any reader to continue the book and continue reading the series. Secondly, this is a “good” book because it has a good balance of violence. This is a good thing because it provides readers with an exciting read. We hear and even see violence in our everyday life and I believe that it is something teenagers should be exposed to. This book gives children an insig...
The article “Interracial Rape Cases in North Carolina” reminds me one of Harper Lee’s famous novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” as Tom Robinson was accused from raping Mayella. The entire trial, to the guilty verdict, were all racially biased. Yet, there is a long way to go for the world to get rids of its injustices, and injustices will comply with the society for many years to come. Race and inequality are often related together because of the racial segregation in the 1800s. During that time, racial inequalities had increased dramatically. To study this scenario, the article “Interracial Rape Cases in North Carolina” portrayed several evidences of how blacks slaves were falsely accused rape; they seem hopeless and eventually sentenced to death. Yet they did have evidences to prove them innocent, however, everything does not go as was hoped. What it was like
And since that day, our voices have only grown louder. I tell my story, not because it is unique, but because it is not. It is the story of many girls.” She realized opportunity through this trial would give her if she spoke up about what happened to her, she understood if she gave up the voices of many girls would be unheard, she knew that is was up to her to be the voice of those who can not voice their stories.
*All in all I would say that this novel is definitely a good read. I found my self at times relating my own thoughts and experiences to that of the characters in the book. This is the very reason I would recommend that you give your class next semester the option of reading either this book or another. From my point of view, I think that most men can not relate to certain situations that occur, which lessens the overall significance of her writing.
This book shows the struggles that the main character, Precious Jones, has to go through after she was raped by her father twice. Not only is she raped, but her mother does nothing about it and just wants her to live with what ha...
Harriet Jacobs’ feminist approach to her autobiographical narrative Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl brought to life the bondage placed on women, in particular enslaved black women, during the nineteenth-century America. In an effort to raise awareness about the conditions of enslaved women and to promote the cause of abolition, Jacobs decided to have her personal story of sexual exploitation and escape published. The author’s slave narrative focuses on the experiences of women, the treatment of sexual exploitation, its importance on family life and maternal principles, and its appeal to white, female readers. Likewise, through the use of the Feminist/Gender Theory, issues relating to gender and sexuality can be applied to the author’s slave narrative. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and its lack of reception during its own time disclose the strict boundaries and unique challenges Harriet Jacobs encountered and overcame as a woman in antebellum America.
From a very young age children have been taught by their parents that girls do one thing while guys do another. The reason for this is because our parents have been taught by their parents who were taught by their parents and so on and so fourth. When talking to most people about gender roles, they will start to see a pattern in the way they responses they receive, which will leave them with a good idea about how our society has formed the ideas and roles of sexes. Rape culture in modern day society is real and the biggest factors that contribute to it are we have been taught that boys need to grow up tough, girls need to be careful of some men, and that women need to be able to take care of a man and his needs. This way is poisonous to the
I suggest that rape and the threat of rape influenced the development of a culture of dissemblance among Black women. By dissemblance I mean the behavior and attitudes of Black women that created the appearance of openness and disclosure but actually shielded the truth of their inner lives and selves from their oppressors (1989).
The book is laced with emotionally and erotically boosted encounters. A person who would enjoy reading about vampires, the urge to keep reading comes within the first few chapters; in this story early as chapter three. The novel is a new vampire paradigm that casts a steady eye on racism, sexism, poverty, and ignorance. Relationships in this story, as loving and loyal as they are yet, are very different. There is no moral questioning at all, but this total acceptance of paedophilia is not only seen in those having sex with children, also by every single other character. Even though being black brought Shori some str...
The story of the five-year-old boy is reminiscent of Emmett Till, the teenager lynched in 1955, his body was sunk in the river. Both of their bodies were found “ravaged” (209) and left in the water for days. Tommy Odds shared a story with Lynne of the nine-year-old black girl raped by a white man, “they pulled her out of the river, dead, with a stick shoved up her” (179). There is a habitual pattern of mourning, the tears building up, waiting for the next black person to die unjustly. The women at Saxon college act similarly, by retelling the stories of Wile Chile, Louvinie and Fast Mary they are “ritualizing their suffering, the Saxon women recognize that their own lives are part of a continuum. Their circle includes those women that have suffered before them.” (43 Downey) Although, the black community is always looking for something to stop this cycle, they protest violently and non-violently, attempting to vote, sharing stories or praying. Meridian, when the activist Medgar Evers was assassinated, planted a wild sweet shrub bush in the gardens at Saxon College and when she carried the body of the five-year-old boy “it was as if she carried a large bouquet of long-stemmed roses” (209). As if she was taking flowers to a grave of a
...he offenders mentioned in the book actually believed the victim was not going to speak out and accuse them, it seemed like common sense to know they would. Another thing that impressed me was the fact that many of them said they had a hard time getting an erection because they were not physically aroused by the victim , and or they had problems during penetration. While reading I realized that I disliked the fact that one of the offenders said he was able to fool his therapist and make himself seem like he was perfectly fine when in fact he wasn’t . It seems a bit frightening to know that there are therapist that do not realize when the person is in fact lying. Overall, the book was a great learning experience for me because not only did I learn the difference in types of rape, but also the fact that each offender is different and that not all think or act the same.