Usually I like to include some kind of funny .gif or image in my posts, but considering the level of heaviness contained within our reading, I think it's best to go without humor this week. There is nothing light-hearted about abduction, rape, torture or murder. That's probably why so many people opt out of any conversations that include it. It's a difficult subject to talk and think about because it points to the dark side of human nature that is far beyond the line that many would think impossible to cross. To acknowledge that a fellow human being is capable of such heinous crimes takes away a part of our security and peace of mind. This is also why some people choose to ignore it when it is right in front of them. This is what Oates addresses in her work, "The Girl With the Blackened Eye".
Oates' story is a survivor discourse told by a narrator who endured a life-altering trauma. After experiencing such trauma, victims usually have gaps in their memories after repressing unpleasant moments. They experience fragmented memories that might not make sense out of context. The narrator also seems unsure about certain events, like when she wasn't sure who she was: "Weird how your mind works: I was thinking I was that woman, in the front seat wrapped in the blanket, so the rest of it had not yet happened." pg. 206. This shows the state of her psyche at that moment. Was it from the torture or from being malnourished? This confusion can also be seen in her future self in the second paragraph when she says, "Sometimes now I see myself in a mirror, like in the middle of the night getting up to use the bathroom, I see a blurred face, a woman's face I don't recognize. And I see that eye." We can see that this event changed her, in a physical way (which was temporary), and a mental way (which is still with her many years later, and probably for the rest of her life).
The black eye is symbolic for the damage she received after the eight days with the unnamed abductor. It was ignored by people. At first it was a physical mark that people ignored. Eventually it faded, but it seemed a black eye developed within her, that people are just as ignorant about. Only she can see it as she looks in a mirror. She hides it so that she doesn't have to wonder what people think when they look at her. The girl that she was when she was tortured is still within her, suffering inside the cabin of isolation that is absent of time and thoughts.
The author uses detail to evoke emotion and understanding of the ordeal. One example of this is the motif of the man's rings. By bringing up the rings several times throughout the reading, this shows that the girl looked at his hands a lot. She did this because they were the objects attached to the things that grabbed her, inflicted pain on her, and ironically, nourished her with chicken. She even refers to him as "The man with the rings on his fingers" (203). She uses this also to show the fear the narrator had in looking at his face. She would rather look at his hands then into his eyes, where she would get a good description of him, possibly leading to her death. It was survival and terror, which same a central theme in the story.
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