The woman doesn't look up. It's as if she's deaf. Maybe she is. Maybe she's like the Cambodian women I've read about, the ones who witnessed so many atrocities that they have willed themselves blind. Maybe that's what you have to do sometimes to survive. You kill off part of yourself, your hearing or eyesight, your capacity for hope.
Interpretation
The quote illustrates the survival mechanisms people develop in response to trauma.
This quote reflects on the deep psychological impact of trauma, suggesting that some individuals may subconsciously shut down their senses or emotions as a coping strategy to endure extreme suffering. It hints at the idea that survival often comes at a cost, leading individuals to sacrifice their ability to perceive joy or hope in order to navigate through harsh realities.
In practice
In a discussion about mental health, this quote can illustrate the effects of trauma on perception.
She realized that being starved for words was the same as being starved for food, because both left a hollow place inside you, a place you needed filled to make it through another day. Rachel remembered how growing up she’d thought living on a farm with just a father was as lonely as you could be. (130)
Short fiction is the medium I love the most, because it requires that I bring everything I've learned about poetry - the concision, the ability to say something as vividly as possible - but also the ability to create a narrative that, though lacking a novel's length, satisfies the reader.
It struck her how eating was a comfort during a hard time because it reminded you that there had been other days, good days, when you’d eaten the same thing. Reminded you there were good days in life, when precious little else did. (268)
Everyone threw the blame on me ... they nearly always do. I suppose ... they think I shall be able to bear it best.
To his enemies the householder must be a hero. Them he must resist. That is the duty of the householder. He must not sit down in a corner and weep, and talk nonsense about non-resistance. If he does not show himself a hero to his enemies he has not done his duty.
Too long have the workers of the world waited for some Moses to lead them out of bondage... I would not lead you out if I could; for if you could be led out, you could be led back again. I would have you make up your minds there is nothing that you cannot do for yourselves.
Cowards die many times before their actual deaths.
I don't have a feeling of inferiority. Never had. I'm as good as anybody, but no better.
All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.
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