Yesterday in Contemporary Lit we read a short story "Girl With The Blackened Eye" by Joyce Carol Oates. The story was about a 15 year old girl who got abducted by a guy and was raped/beaten. He thought her as different from the others because she didn't beg for her life. Because of this she stayed alive and soon gained his trust in being able to wash herself despite the filthy place they lived. The span of this time was only eight days but to her it felt a whole lot more. When one day they went for a car ride people where staring at her and just kind of ignored her figuring that she deserved whatever had happened to her. The guy abducted another woman which he made the girl watch as he raped the woman. He later took the woman into the woods, after she begged him to spare her life because she had a daughter at home, and killed her. When she had a chance to get away she didn't have the will to because of the trust her abductor has in her, she couldn't betray that trust as she said.
I would have to support her decision in not running away because if I was as weak from being stuck in a filthy house all day and not being able to eat food because you're so beat up, the possibilities of being able to get away would be small, given that you're on foot and he has a vehicle. Even though you're with a killer/rapist your safety is a whole lot better if you just stay with him versus trying to get away and have him beat you up worse or kill you.
When she was in the car with him going into town and people just sort of ignored the condition she was in I think that a lot of people do that but not on that type of level. For example when you're at a grocery store or somewhere public and there's some little kids with their parents and the kids are doing something that isn't even that bad and the parents are screaming/ yelling/swearing at the kid to shut up/stop or else they wont get any supper and go to bed early. To me that itself is child abuse and I think the parents should have to get classes on how to parent. Of course if you said something to them they would tell you do stick your words up somewhere the sun doesn't shine. It's just unfair to the child to grow up in that type of household and then become a young adult/adult and end up having depression problems, thinking they aren't good enough for anything and having suicidal thoughts. Not all cases are like this though granted. Some peoples bad childhoods turn into anger and take it out on other people like their parents did to them.
I would have to support her decision in not running away because if I was as weak from being stuck in a filthy house all day and not being able to eat food because you're so beat up, the possibilities of being able to get away would be small, given that you're on foot and he has a vehicle. Even though you're with a killer/rapist your safety is a whole lot better if you just stay with him versus trying to get away and have him beat you up worse or kill you.
When she was in the car with him going into town and people just sort of ignored the condition she was in I think that a lot of people do that but not on that type of level. For example when you're at a grocery store or somewhere public and there's some little kids with their parents and the kids are doing something that isn't even that bad and the parents are screaming/ yelling/swearing at the kid to shut up/stop or else they wont get any supper and go to bed early. To me that itself is child abuse and I think the parents should have to get classes on how to parent. Of course if you said something to them they would tell you do stick your words up somewhere the sun doesn't shine. It's just unfair to the child to grow up in that type of household and then become a young adult/adult and end up having depression problems, thinking they aren't good enough for anything and having suicidal thoughts. Not all cases are like this though granted. Some peoples bad childhoods turn into anger and take it out on other people like their parents did to them.
Labels: Short Story, Teenager
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