Oof. This story is so quiet and devastating and beautiful. Biblical is certainly the word. I loved it. I hated it. The writing is on another level.
But I wanted to comment from a non-writing angle. So much of my work over the last five years has dealt with child sexual abuse. Its devastation is always twofold: the incident itself and reac…
Oof. This story is so quiet and devastating and beautiful. Biblical is certainly the word. I loved it. I hated it. The writing is on another level.
But I wanted to comment from a non-writing angle. So much of my work over the last five years has dealt with child sexual abuse. Its devastation is always twofold: the incident itself and reaction of the community afterwards. Because a child doesn't respond to trauma in a way that adults think they're "supposed to," they're often not believed. Their lack of emotion or recall makes adults think they're making it up. I've watched entire communities turn on child abuse survivors. I've watched those children believe, as Arnold does, other people's assessment of themselves.
All of this is to say that Gina Berriault's story so accurately and devastatingly depicts this trauma cycle that I couldn't read it without my heart in my throat.
Loved your comment and your description of the story. It mirrors very much how I felt. I feel that tension of loving it and hating it at the same time.
Thank you, Rachel. I suppose every child reacts to trauma in their own unique way. Shutting down is probably quite common. As a child, as an adult. And I think especially when a child feels betrayed by adults; or, by life.
Oof. This story is so quiet and devastating and beautiful. Biblical is certainly the word. I loved it. I hated it. The writing is on another level.
But I wanted to comment from a non-writing angle. So much of my work over the last five years has dealt with child sexual abuse. Its devastation is always twofold: the incident itself and reaction of the community afterwards. Because a child doesn't respond to trauma in a way that adults think they're "supposed to," they're often not believed. Their lack of emotion or recall makes adults think they're making it up. I've watched entire communities turn on child abuse survivors. I've watched those children believe, as Arnold does, other people's assessment of themselves.
All of this is to say that Gina Berriault's story so accurately and devastatingly depicts this trauma cycle that I couldn't read it without my heart in my throat.
Loved your comment and your description of the story. It mirrors very much how I felt. I feel that tension of loving it and hating it at the same time.
Thank you, Rachel. I suppose every child reacts to trauma in their own unique way. Shutting down is probably quite common. As a child, as an adult. And I think especially when a child feels betrayed by adults; or, by life.