As previously argued in my prior posts, a traumatic moment has the capability to stay with the traumatized individual, haunting, shaping, and effecting them for the rest of their life. There are certain moments that have an everlasting effect on us, they shape and form our identity and influence who we will ultimately be. I will prove and argue this through the case study of the character Beli.
I will argue that the traumatic moment where Beli is taken into the cane field and horrifically beaten remains with her for the remainder of her life, a memory that shaped her into the type of mother she is to her children, Lola and Oscar. Yunior, the narrator, states in reference to Beli’s assault: All that can be said is that it was the end of language, the end of hope. It was the sort of beating that breaks people, breaks them utterly. (Díaz 147) This is a beautiful description of the power of a traumatic moment. Here, the narrator is describing a “point of no return” moment, a moment where nothing again will ever be the same. In many ways, Beli was broken by this brutal beating, the traumatic event itself, triggering a reorganization of her brain, a re-mapping of sorts, that opened the gateway to personal haunting. Beli is haunted by her personal trauma, and it is for this reason that she treats Lola and Oscar in the way that she does. Beli is characterized by the narrator as the kind of mother “who makes you doubt, yourself, who would wipe you out if you let her” (Díaz 56). Beli shows the toughest of love to her children, especially to Lola. As a mother, she is portrayed to be the opposite of nurturing. Instead, she is characterized by her insensitive and blunt nature. I will argue that her traumatic past directly shaped her approach to motherhood. Beli acts in the ways that she does because deep down she truly believes her approach is in the best interest of her children, she wants to help them form hard exterior to protect from rest of the world, the same world that stripped her of her hope entirely. Yes, Beli is haunted and shaped the specific traumatic memory, but also, she herself has passed down her own personal trauma to her children. Beli is seen as a haunting force to Oscar and Lola, her children totally fear her. We see the effects of generational trauma in how the traumatic event itself, repeats and manifests itself in the life of Oscar. Oscar too is horrifically beaten in the cane field and after making it out alive once, is taken back to the field and shot down. The fact that both mother and son are taken and beaten in the cane field is so incredibly significant of the haunting nature of the trauma, specifically of the traumatic moment.
1 Comment
Ragav
11/20/2017 08:30:02 pm
Meredith,
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