How Does Lisa's Relationship Develop Throughout The Novel

Intimacy is significant to the plots of Eden Robinson’s novel Monkey Beach and Rawi Hage’s novel Cockroach. Intimacy can be defined as “a close, familiar, and usually affectionate or loving personal relationship with another person or group.” In both novels, different forms of intimacy can be found intertwined throughout the plot. This essay proceeds in three parts. First, I discuss how intimacy is used as a form of assault against characters both novels. Second, I discuss how both novel features intimacy between family members, and how these relationships differ between the novels. Third, I discuss Cockroach’s and Lisa’s intimate relationship with the supernatural world. Intimacy is a significant theme in Monkey Beach and Cockroach, intimacy

Lisa refuses Cheese at the beginning of the novel and makes it clear that she does not want to be intimate with him. This doesn’t stop Cheese, who after supposedly slipping something in her drink, rapes her outside while she’s in and out of a conscious state. Robinson explores sexual violence against Indigenous women on page 250, when Erica is being followed by a car full of white men that are yelling sexual threats against her. Aunt Trudy tells Lisa “no one would have cared. you would have been hurt or dead, and no one would have given a flying fuck.” (255) Intimacy in Monkey Beach is not always something that is consented upon, and Robinson uses the novel to highlight the sexual abuse that occurs towards Indigenous women. The novel explores how intimacy is not always chosen, and the negative impacts it has on the victim and the community of Kittamatt. Forced intimacy is the main reason that Jimmy murder’s Josh on the boat, the picture of the priest and the little boy suggests a legacy of abuse, and a cycle of abuse. As readers, we can assume that Josh was abused and then abused Karaoke. Ultimately the abuse on Karaoke effects the outcome of the novel resulting in Jimmy killing Josh. Monkey Beach is a novel specifically about sexual violence and intimacy as a form of abuse.

Intimacy in these novels takes on different forms and meanings, including forced intimacy, familial intimacy and intimacy with the supernatural. Forced intimacy in the form of sexual violence and assault effects many characters in Monkey Beach. Lisa is raped by her friend Cheese, Erica is followed by a van of white men yelling sexual threats against her and Karaoke is abused by Josh. As a reader, we can also assume that Josh himself has been the victim of abuse, furthermore showing the readers that there is a legacy of abuse within the community due to multiple factors including residential schools. Robinson’s novel shows the negative impacts of sexual violence in Indigenous communities within Canada. Cockroach is concerned with forced intimacy and sexual violence, we see this through the character of Cockroach’s sister, Shohreh and Farhoud, who have all been the subject of sexual assault in their native country of Iran. Another significant form of intimacy within the two novels is familial intimacy and the relationships between family members. Lisa’s relationship with Mick is vital to understanding Lisa’s character and the story as a whole. Mick acts as a mentor to Lisa, a protector and a role model while she’s growing up. Cockroach’s relationship to his sister can be interpreted as sexually intimate, and so strong