This presentation will explore Violence, Trauma, and Knowledge as interlocking concepts in Octavia Butler’s Kindred. While it may be obvious that violence and trauma are integral parts of both the slave narrative and neo-slave narrative traditions, the part these concepts play in the slaves’, or their decedents, acquisition of knowledge may be more subversive. In Kindred, the protagonist, Dana, is somehow teleported to save her white male ancestor in slave era Maryland. During these times, she has to live as a slave in order to blend in, and she experiences the same violence and trauma as a slave during this era would. Throughout the novel, she is confront with the chose to let her white ancestor die, or to kill him or his father when they…
Behind the gruesome image of the broken and bloodied body was a handsome young man of 13 years of age. If it wasn’t for the savage beating the guards gave him for insulting the local lord’s son he would be considered quite a handsome boy. “Don’t you dare look at the Lord’s son again it is insulting to him to have such a lowlife such as you look upon him” the head guard of the village yelled at him before they savagely beat him. Rin regained consciousness his entire body ached and groaned as he tried pushing himself up.…
The stepfather reported that the child has spoken with him about multiple dreams that have been disturbing to her. He indicated that the dreams consist of her father taking her from the home and stating that she will never see her mother again. There was one when the child stated that the father picked her up and jump off a cliff and killed them both. Drea indicated that the dreams consist of the father hurting her family.…
When children endure high-level stress situations that mix with a lack of loving, supportive relationships, children endanger their brain's and can achieve permanent brain damage . In Davis Grubb's gothic novel, The Night of the Hunter, a blameless child named Pearl experiences traumatic situations and lacks a supportive relationship. The Preacher’s perfect storm causes Pearl to back-track and makes her figuratively experience short-term memory loss. Thourgh the character of Pearl, Grubb suggests that in order for our minds to function properly, we must have at least one relationship which is supportive and loving.…
During Frank Money’s childhood, his family was forced out of Bandera County, Texas. Consequently, the family had to leave their land, their livestock and crops. They had to seek refuge from relatives in Georgia. Frank’s father had to work as a sharecropper while his mother “picked cotton during the day and swept lumber shacks during the night” (Morrison chap. 3).…
This book is truly centered on the darkness of sexual abuse and the immorality of a man oppressing the will of females. This novel demonstrates the evil of black male patriarchy. Mr. Blank is the father of two young girls, Celie and Nettie, which he basically uses for his own disturbing desires. Not only does he try to sexually control them, but also he dehumanizes them by his mistreatment. Being merely children, he forces himself onto them very aggressively. Their daily experience is described by this quote: “ he start to choke me, saying you better shut up and get use to it. But I don’t ever get use to it. And know I feels sick every time I be the one to cook.” He also orders Celie around like a slave and threatens her into submission. Mr. Blank has also dedicated himself to draining every inch of self-confidence Celie has, which he uses to keep her weak. “Well next time you come look at her. She ugly. Don’t even look like she kin to Nettie. But she’ll make a better wife. She aint smart either, and I’ll just be fair, you have to watch her or she’ll give away everything you own. But she can work like a man.” Mr. Blank takes away their freedom as women to do as they wish and strive for success in life. He condemns them to a life of terror and…
“It’s like a crater, a hole where something happened” (Donoghue 321). Yet, this crater is flooded with so much more than the dust that provides a thin sheet of remembrance between the event in time and reality. It symbolizes not only the loss of innocence, but also the stripping away of freedom, both intellectually and physiologically, leaving the victim with a deluge of emotional struggles as he or he begins their journey towards a sense of normalcy. Unfortunately, this brutal reality is apparent for every single kidnapping victim.…
‘’But this has never been an option because the Dream rests on our backs, the bedding made from our bodies.’’ Out of this thematic message of ‘’The Dream’’ come the many supporting reasons why this is the most powerful message. ‘’The Dream’’ is supported by situations such as unjust killings by police officers amounting to nothing but paid vacations, guns and drugs in the Black Community and violence. Together, all of these lead to something that Coates describes as a ‘’breakable body.’’ To clarify, ‘’The Dream’’ is made by Black ‘’breakable bodies’’ and the things that cause Black bodies to break are the situations listed above and many more where Black rights are disregarded. As a whole, Coates skillfully explains these various ideas into a singular, sensible thread, a chain even, that more appropriately explains to his son and all readers, just how orchestrated ‘’The Dream’’…
Portrays the female victim as innately weak and oppressed, particularly in honor based killings or domestic violence who is seen as oppressed by their partner…
Sethe’s scars and choices she made to keep her child from a brutal and filthy life of slavery will harm many around her. Paul D has numerous appalling flashbacks from their past that displayed the social class whites had back in the eighteen…
nurturement that it offers to her black children becomes insignificant. Sethe explains that her milk for her children “made her fight and holler for it, and have so little left” (114). For the enslaved black woman, her womanhood and blackness are not respected nor sacred.…
In Native Son by Richard Wright, society poses as the ongoing force of marginalization towards African Americans, specifically African American men. Bigger Thomas, the epitome of a poor black young man struggling to survive in the South side of Chicago, suffered directly from this lash of racism. The novel illustrates the harsh reality of growing up naive, a black male, and impoverished. Bigger’s preconceived jagged perspective of the world that takes place outside of his mind led to the gruesome yet symbolic murder of Mary Dalton. Wright morphes the character of Bigger Thomas from the effects of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, which is the condition when a population has experienced multigenerational trauma resulting from centuries of slavery…
The first step to the degradation of the body is the loss of respect and control over one’s self, illustrated by Grace’s multiple rape. Connecting the relation between power and truth, the aggressors try to use Grace’s own arguments to justify the depravity of her body: Chuck reminds her that she apologized for having stopped his touch and Ben justifying himself in that she had showed understand for his weakness for prostitutes and the costs of the freight industry. Grace gives Liz some advice when the latter admires her hand, until Liz can return the favour once Grace’s hands deteriorate because of the physical labour she had to endure: Liz takes back power she thought to…
Rape causes long lasting scars on peoples lives. Rape is forcing another person to submit to sexual intercourse. The person committing the rape receives a sense of power over the person he is raping. When Chipper Dove and friends rape Franny they do not do it only for sexual satisfaction. Franny is in love with Chipper Dove and she is willing to have sex with him, but he feels the need to rape her anyway. She was "prepared for him, [she'd] even imagined it - with him. [She] always knew it would be him - the first time - somehow ... [She] even told him that they didn't have to force [her], that [she'd] let him," (The Hotel New Hampshire, Page 99). She tells herself that "when someone touches you and you don't want to be touched, that's not being touched ... they don't really get the you in you," (The Hotel New Hampshire, Page 101). However Suzie, who is an expert on rape counselling, says that this is not possible. Chipper Dove continues to have this hold on Franny for a very long time afterwards. She becomes a lesbian while in Vienna. It is not until after they return to New York that Chipper Dove enters their lives again. To get him back, they put on a show and make him think that he is about to get raped by "a bear in heat,"(The Hotel New Hampshire, Page 357). Seeing him scared in this way shows Franny that he does not have the power and control that she thought he had. This allows her to get on with her life. This shows once again the effect rape has. Chipper Dove sees how…
This trauma was something she would have to deal with for a big part of her life. While in her recovery process, she would have to learn how to let go of the fear of someone coming into her room and touching her while she was sleeping; and also learn how to sleep with the door unlocked, and even eventually with it open. The physical pain she would develop in her childhood would last a lifetime, from curling up…