Bullying is a serious issue, and it might have severe psychological consequences for the victims. Victims might ‘snap’ at the maximum point of tolerance and do something that they will later regret, such as murdering their bullies.
The short story “Sorry for the loss” by Bridget Keehan deals with the psychological consequences of bullying and the consequences of victims snapping.
The main character of the short story is Evie who is a catholic prison chaplain. Even though she has been working in the prison for over a year, she is still intimidated by the environment. She is a very cautious, nervous, yet empathic and caring person. She also helps running “Enhanced Thinking Skills” which is a prison service designed to help rehabilitate inmates by educating them. She’s generally very kind towards the prisoners, and helps calming them down if they are upset after visiting time. She has to deliver her first death notice on her own, and she is nervous about how the prisoner is going to take it.
Victor Zamara is one of the inmates, and is described as a handsome young man, perhaps too young to be in a regular prison. “His eyes have spark and his olive skin makes the blue of his eyes appear all the brighter” (p. 3, l. 79-80). According to the faith database he is catholic, but not very practicing. He is, however, very curious about new, alternate religions and new things in general. We are told by an officer that he is in prison for murdering a bully – he snapped at the point of maximum tolerance and committed a murder. His grandmother has just passed away and he is delivered the death notice by the chaplain, Evie. He has great sympathy for the birds that are mistreated by his neighbor, however he does not even flinch at the news of his grandmother’s death. He has taken the ETS in his last nick, but he wants to do the SORRY Course this nick. He is also participating in King Lear by Shakespeare, which he quotes “Why would a dog, a horse, a pigeon