Queen Of The North Analysis

The structure of Eden Robinson’s “Queen of the North” demonstrates how abuse complicates the relationship between past and present. In the story, the portrayal of time as non-linear mimics the portrayal of trauma as inescapable, as traumatic incidences from the past can affect aspects of the present. In “Queen of the North”, Robinson uses a non-linear style of writing to articulate how abuse affects every aspect of an individual’s life and how the resulting trauma has a lasting effect on a person’s ability to have a standard childhood, have romantic and non-romantic relationships, and form rational decisions. Robinson uses the character Adelaine to demonstrate that sexual abuse disrupts childhood. Robinson does this through the disturbing
For example, when Adelaine and her cousin Ronny throw a party using the money that Uncle Josh gave to Adelaine to buy her silence about the abuse, Adelaine wants to tell Ronny about where the money came from but decides not to. Just before Adelaine is about to tell Ronny about the money, she decides that “[she does not] want to tell her after all . . . [because] She had a big mouth, and anything [she] told her [she] might as well stand on a street corner and shout to the world” (293). Even though Adelaine and Ronny are family and have been friends since childhood, Adelaine does not trust Ronny enough to keep her secret about the sexual abuse. Likewise, Adelaine also does not trust her boyfriend Jimmy with her secret. For example, when Jimmy enters Adelaine’s house, he realizes what has been happening between her and her uncle Josh. When Adelaine is about to come down the stairs to see Jimmy, she sees him “sitting at the kitchen table with the present that [she had] meant for Uncle Josh, looking at the note. Without seeing [her], he [closes] the box, neatly [folds] the note, and [walks] out the door” (305). Adelaine never considers telling Jimmy her secret before he finds the gift she has left for Uncle Josh because she cannot bring herself to trust others. The sexual abuse Adelaine experiences in her childhood lead her to not trust others, including those closest to her such as Ronny and Jimmy. As Robinson shows through writing “Queen of the North” in a non-linear way, Adelaine remembers incidences of sexual abuse from her past that are a constant reminder of the disruption of her childhood and of the trust her put in Uncle Josh and he broke. Uncle Josh breaking Adelaine’s trust when she was a child has led her to become less trusting in the present, especially when it comes to her sexual