Academic Papers

Strong Role Model (Comp 1)

Author's Note: There are a lot of weird things going on in this paper (bolded quotes, underlined author name, etc). Just ignore it. It's due to the instructor's requirements. I just haven't been bothered to go and change it all into a normal presentation. 

Introduction

Alice Sebold's Lucky is about her experience of being raped and its aftermath. Being raped has horrid consequences mentally and physically. Sebold was violently attacked. She says that the rapist "pounded my skull into the brick" (6). Sebold has gone on to live a happy life. This is how Sebold became a strong role model: she faced her fears, she trusted people, and she was honest.

Fear

First, Sebold is a good role model because she fought her fears. What is fear? Oxford University says that "[fear is] the emotion of pain or uneasiness caused by the sense of impending danger, or by the prospect of some possible evil" (780). Fear is something that can halt even the most seasoned warriors. Robert L. Leahy discusses how the fear of Ebola has spread panic throughout the country. He says, "The more recent a negative event, the more likely we think it will happen again—and soon. . . . The more dramatic the threat the greater the perceived risk." This suggests that the more anxious we are about something, the more fearful we become.

When someone goes through something traumatic, people around them may be fearful that the person is going to have a mental break down. Sebold's parent fought to have her stay at home and go to a local all girls' college. Her parents thought she would feel safe there, and they could watch over her and protect her. Alice fought to go back to Syracuse by saying that "the rapist had already taken so much from me. I was not going to let him take anything more" (91-92). She wanted to show people that despite being attacked, she was not going let the attacker control her life via fear.

Fear also can make any person wary of a decision. We assume by facing our fears, something bad will happen. For example, fear of rejection keeps us from asking someone out, and fear of heights keeps us from going to an edge. Sebold eventually convinced her parents to let her go back to Syracuse, but it was difficult for all involved. They were all fearful of something bad happening.

Sebold did not let this fear stop her, though. She says, "That's not to say I wasn't scared [of going back to Syracuse]. I was. So were my parents" (92). Her father called the school and Sebold was given a new room that she did not have to share with anyone in an all-girls hall. Sebold did not walk anywhere at night without a security guard there to escort her; she stayed out of student bars and did not meet with people after five at night. People stared and whispered about her. Someone asked her why she had even bothered coming back. Sebold was upset that people knew, and it made her feel even more alienated than she already felt. Fear was with Sebold at all times, but she continued to put her trust in others.

Trust

Second, Sebold continued to trust people. Robyn L. Gobin and Jennifer J. Freyd discuss how betrayal blindness occurs when someone has gone through a traumatic experience. The victims cover up any feelings of betrayal and drown out the memories, forcing themselves to forget. Gobin and Freyd say, "Although betrayal blindness can be adaptive in abusive contexts, its overutilization can increase vulnerability in later relationships, perhaps interfering with the ability to make wise decisions about trust" (505). This suggests that betrayal blindness can negatively affect relationships later because the victim still feels the threat of revictimization. Unfortunately, betrayal blindness has victims trusting the wrong people. Sebold spoke with and trusted Sergeant Lorenz after her rape. She never would have thought that Lorenz did not trust her.