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Analysis Of Lucky By Alice Sebold

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Alice Sebold’s Lucky offers a first hand perspective of a victim’s life post her rape as a college freshman. She faces the struggle of legal proceedings following this event, as well as social rejection, and the rape of a close friend shortly after her own attacker is convicted. Through this emotionally and physically debilitating experience, Sebold is able to provide a refreshingly honest account of a subject that is often ignored. By doing this, she constructs and effectively conveys how a traumatic event can continue to negatively affect a person despite the achievements and support that come with it. Throughout her memoir, Sebold consistently finds herself in situations where she is ostracized, whether it is intentional or unintentional. Once she comes home, she notices that “While the rest of the family sat at the dinner table wearing the normal clothes of summer, I sat in my chair wearing a long white gown” (58). By …show more content…

She also refers to her family as “normal”, but fails to do this for herself in order to strengthen how misplaced she feels in comparison to them. While touching on the stark contrast of Sebold’s presence compared to those around her, she also highlights the obvious lack of understanding and empathy her peers carry for her situation. After she is visited by a neighbor, Sebold recounts, “At one point she said, ‘What happened to me is nothing like what happened to you. You’re young and beautiful. No one’s interested in me that way.’” (68). Because Myra unknowingly spoke on behalf of Sebold’s rape, she seems to convey a confused tone on the subject. By saying “no one’s interested in me that way” she alters the rapist’s image from one with malicious intentions, to one who simply is seeking a romantic relationship. Not only is Sebold forced to handle comments like

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