The Theme Of Rape In Susan Shaw's 'Safe'

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Rape is the act of forcing someone to submit to sexual acts. (Wulffson and Lynn par. 1) Safe is a fiction novel written by Susan Shaw which dwells on the topic of the rape of a 13-year-old girl, but mostly is about her recovery and journey into her acceptance of what happened on June fifteenth. Tracy, the victim, struggles with isolating others, even her close friends. She even has flashbacks to what happened, which is common in victims of rape (Wulffson and Lynn par. 3). Specifically, she lets go of her closest friend Caroline because she feels as if she’s only friends with Tracy because she feels bad for her. She doesn’t want to go to therapy, and doesn’t even accept that she is raped until months after the incident happened. She finally gets better after accepting the fact, and reunites with her friends for the first night in months that feels “normal”. …show more content…

The details of the incident are never mentioned, but the details of Tracy’s recovery are much more prominent. When the book began, Tracy felt safe when remembering her mother, who passed away when she was three, but after her rape, it takes months for her to feel like her mother is with her again. Rape victims often suffer from PTSD, anxiety, and depression after their rape (Wulffson and Lynn par. 3). This is exactly what happens to Tracy, as she suffers from anxiety attacks and periods of isolation throughout the book. One significant anxiety attack is on pages 42-45, where Tracy remembers specific details of her attacker, Burgess, and what he did to her on June 15th. However, her conflict is resolved slowly through focusing on piano, and finally accepting the fact of what happened to

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