Last week, Fay made a really good point on her blog by stating, “the thing that really bothered me about the book was how every time Veronica Hegarty recalled a past memory, or even just narrated something that was happening in the present, she would conclude it by saying something like “This is real, I think. This is real. Though I am not sure that it is, actually.”
Throughout the novel, we see that Veronica is struggling with the truth. As she shares her memories from her childhood, she shares that she’s not always 100 percent sure that it actually occurred. She always says, I think this is real.
“There are things I do, actually know. I know that my brother Liam was sexually abused by Lambert Nugent. Or was probably sexually abused by Lambert Nugent”
“These are the things I don’t know: I was touched by Lambert Nugent, that my Uncle Brendan was driven mad by him, that my mother was rendered stupid by him, that my Aunt Rose and my sister Kitty got away” (224).
It appears that Veronica is very confused about her past. This interested me because I felt like I could relate.
Essentially, 1 in 4 girls is sexually abused before the age of 18 and 1 in 6 boys is sexually abused before the age of 18. (not sure how accurate that statistic is) I hope I’m not being too open but I feel I must tell you to support the validity of my ideas. I became one of those statistics when I was 11 years old.
As I read the novel I felt pity for Veronica because maybe I felt a little bit like her. (I’m not obsessed with talking about penises though!)
http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/content/stress/art1964.html?getPage=1
I can understand how Veronica might have confused her past. There is a website in which I attached above, that discusses what happens to the brain and memory after severe trauma. The website mostly focuses on sexual abuse and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
“Recent studies have shown that victims of childhood abuse and combat veterans actually experience physical changes to the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in learning and memory, as well as in the handling of stress”
I think the above statement describes Veronica well, because she seems to struggle with memory. I believe that the death of her brother may have also caused more stress leading to more confusion and disorientation.
“Many abuse victims report that they remember seemingly random or minor details of the abuse event, while forgetting central events. For instance, one woman who had been locked in a closet had an isolated memory of the smell of old clothes and the sound of a clock ticking.”
I won’t post too many quotes, I will let you read the article for yourself but I think it is very interesting.
PTSD can also affect emotional response in the brain which might explain Veronica’s relationship with her husband.
In conclusion, I think this is why Anne Enright wrote the novel the way she did. There’s definitely a pattern in the way that these novels we have read this semester are written. The humor and wittiness can definitely be associated with Irish culture. I suppose I would describe it as outspoken. Perhaps this is connected to the trauma that the county experienced and it has affected the mentalities of all Irish people.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hey Nicole,
ReplyDeleteIt is nice to find that others agreed with my frustration in Veronica’s uncertainty about…well everything.
I am a little confused as to if you believe that Veronica was molested herself my Nugent. I do remember reading in the novel Veronica mention the possibly of her having been molested which you posted in your blog. “These are the things I don’t know: I was touched by Lambert Nugent, that my Uncle Brendan was driven mad by him, that my mother was rendered stupid by him, that my Aunt Rose and my sister Kitty got away” (224). When I had originally read this in the novel I had thought that it was just another memory that she was distorting in her mind, but after reading your blog it seemed as if you believed that she was. Do you think that that was one of the things that was ‘haunting’ her? When I was reading the book I found myself getting frustrated with Veronica and her bitter attitude. Originally I had assumed her bitterness and hatred to be a manifestation of her own guilty about witnessing Liam’s abuse and doing nothing to stop it. Now I am wondering if her bitterness was a result of her own molestation. The information that you provided on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder does lend strongly to the idea that Veronica was molested herself. The quote that you posted about victims of PTSD “experience physical changes to the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in learning and memory, as well as in the handling of stress” definitely could explain Veronica’s warped memory. I think that we can all agree that her memory was deeply altered! While this is all very convincing information, I cannot help but think that we could just be feeding into Veronica’s warped and delusional thoughts and memories.
Nicole,
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you read my comments to Fay's post from last week, but I too am one of those statistics of 1 in 4 girls that was sexually abused. And as usual the abuse is at the hands of someone close to the family or part of the family. It's very brave of you to talk about your situation as I struggled a lot while reading this book as you might have noticed from my response last week. It's sometime hard to be open about this issue because there is such a stigma around abuse.
Your comments about PTSD and the changes that can occur in the brain are very true. You stated,
"PTSD can also affect emotional response in the brain which might explain Veronica’s relationship with her husband."
And I can't agree with you more. I think that someone who has been sexually abused can have an awful time in future relationships and things can just "pop up" out of the blue from your past that can practically destroy a relationship if you and your partner aren't able to work through it.
You also quoted,
“Many abuse victims report that they remember seemingly random or minor details of the abuse event, while forgetting central events. For instance, one woman who had been locked in a closet had an isolated memory of the smell of old clothes and the sound of a clock ticking.”
I think this is also so often true for people who have been abused. It's essentially the brain's mechanism to protect the person from reliving the trauma they've experienced. Again, hopefully I'm not sharing too much but I know for example I had a very, very difficult time or almost sheer panic if someone around me snapped a leather belt. Having been physically beaten with a belt by my mother's boyfriend when I was about 4-5 years old; I can only remember bits and pieces of the episodes but my reaction to that sound is deeply ingrained into my brain, so I felt a lot of sympathy for Veronica and her struggles to remember what really happened. As for her bitterness...personally, I can completely understand why; it's a hard thing to overcome but it can be done.
Thanks again for sharing, for some odd reason it always makes me feel a little more normal knowing that others have indeed unfortunately shared my experiences. There's something about knowing you're not alone because personally there is often a lot of shame surrounding the whole situation of abuse.