Saturday, October 27, 2007

Lucky final paper

When Alice Sebold began college she was brutally attacked and raped. In the book, Lucky, Alice tells her side of the attack as well as what she goes through when trying to deal with the raping. Alice wrote the book to tell others that being raped changes your life through her use of tone, word choice and imagery.
Throughout the book Alice uses tone to express the main message that being raped changes your life. For example, Alice returns home from college and her mother decides to tell the priest at their church what happened to Alice. The entire congregation then begins to treat her differently," As I walked into church I felt every ones eyes on me, I was no longer Alice the nice girl next door, but I was the filthy rape victim."(44) Alice's serious tone in this quote tells the reader that one aspect of her life that changed was how people viewed her. The tone also tells the reader that Alice wishes she was not viewed as "the rape victim". Another example of tone that expresses Alice's message is when she talks about Lila's family's reaction to Lila being raped and hanging out with Alice,"I was to be banished from seeing Lila. I had a disease, it was catching."(224) Alice's sad tone tells you she is upset that she no longer can see her friend Lila because of what happened to Alice in the past. Alice feels helpless and also responsible for what happened to her friend. Overall Alice Sebold's use of tone throughout the book, Lucky, shows the reader that being raped changes your life.
Another way that Alice expresses her main message throughout the book is by word choice. " I was now convinced no nice boy would ever want me. I was all those horrible words used for rape; I was changed, bloodied, damaged goods, ruined."(45) Alice uses alot of depressing words to describe how she feels about herself after being raped. Not only do others (nice boys) not want her, but she thinks of herself as horrible too. The grave word choice shows you that Alice is very serious about what she is saying. Another example is when Alice talks about how she sees herself after being raped,"The wounds on the outside are gone, but I am more wounded than ever."(78) The word choice in this quote tells you that Alice is emotional scared from the incident. The word ever is especially important because it tells you she is more hurt than she ever has been before. Alices sad and serious word choice shows the reader that being raped changed her life.
Lastly, Alice uses imagery to stress the main message she is trying to get across. When Alice describes the details of the night she was being raped she creates a mental picture in the readers mind that is so clear, its scary. She puts the reader in her position, a victim."He raped his hands around my neck and began to squeeze. I began to loose conciessnes. I could feel my life slowly slipping away. First I began to see spots, then I could barely think. I then ralized I was looking into the eyes of the man who would kill me"(8). The image Alice gives the reader is very clear. The reader is allowed to loose conciesness with Alice and expirience the raping first hand, wich later on allows you to be able to understand why Alices life changed after being raped. Alice Sebold's use of imagery strongly enforces to the reader that being raped changes your life.
In conclusion Alice Sebold wrote the book, Lucky, to tell others that being raped chagnes your life. She re-enforeced this message by using tone, word choice, and imagery. Wether Alice was talking about church, how people viewed her after being raped, or simply how she viewed herself, the literary techniques in the book strongly re-enforce the overal message the being raped changes your life.

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