What Is The Significance Of Floren's Trauma In A Mercy

Abandonment, the earliest form of trauma that a child can be presented to. A trauma that will truly never escape the victims mind, leading them to have a dark and corrupt view of the world. A society who lacks motherhood or some sort of parental upbringing, lacks the ability to develop love and compassion. Those who grow up having been accustomed to the loss of loved ones, typically face its effects throughout their life. The damage caused is much like a scar that will forever be embedded in everything they do or feel. Kids who have grown up in this environment orchestrate methods to cope with their trauma, even if these methods are in harming others or themself. They drown in their own self-pity, unable to successfully do anything without

These harsh emotional effects are vividly portrayed in A Mercy, as the novel dives into the numerous characteristics of Florens, a girl who was abandoned early on. To be abandoned is a burden large enough to crush any soul, but a whole new level of damage when the person at hand is a slave girl in the seventeenth century. She has no one to turn to.No one to care for. Most importantly, no one to be appreciated by. Florens spends the better part of her childhood and adolescence searching for what she longs, but what she truly desires is her mother. A mother who she will never be able to have. In A Mercy, Toni Morrison explores the devastating effects of abandonment and loss through Florens, a young slave girl who is forced to navigate through a violent world all by herself, causing her to become emotionally fragile, reliant on others and lacking comfort from her

Her demeanour reflects the deep wounds left in her soul by her mother, making her vulnerable to the slightest provocations. This is demonstrated when Morrison compares Florens to a “frightened animal” when saying “the raccoon limped off, perhaps to the mother forced to abandon it or more likely into other claws”(17). This metaphor reflects on the heart-wrenching experience Florens went through, as she too was abandoned by her and sent to fend off for herself. The term “claws” has a strong negative connotation, as it is commonly associated with predators. This indicates the racoon, much like Florens, had already fought and survived another predator, but was “likely” to fall into the sights of another. The raccoon seems as though it is lost and defeated, wardering helplessly for safety in the same way Florens does with her desire to find a suitable place to stay. Additionally, Florens does not seem to be able to fill the emptiness in her heart, despite how hard she tries. This is made evident when Lina describes Florens’ “Mother hunger––to be one or have one” (103) to others as Florens is sleeping beside her, dreaming about her mother. She wants a mother figure in her life so desperately, whether that being “one or hav[ing] one”. Florens’ believes even if she is the mother, she could regain what she has lost and so she searches for someone to bring