The book “Lucky” by Alice Sebold unfolds the rape ordeal that the author went through at the age of 18 years as well as the aftermath of the heinous act on her personal life. Alice recounts how she suffered after the attack even though she relentlessly tried to ignore the ordeal from haunting her (Sebold 14). She explains how it affected her individual and family life as well. She concentrates mainly on the physical, psychological, and financial impacts that she went through.
Meanwhile, the book attempts to shed light on society’s attitude towards victims of rape. It is also apparent that Alice was seriously assaulted when she was being interrogated by police officers. However, she later spotted her assailant who was sentenced to maximum jail term having been found guilty of the offense.
It is imperative to note that rape causes intense physical pain to a victim (Sebold 13). She sustained myriad physical injuries such as skin bruising as a result of being rolled down several times. Besides, her lips were also cut off (Sebold 13). Through the horrible encounter, Alice sustained serious vaginal injury leading to profuse bleeding. All these amounted to physical pain.
Psychologically, Alice was emotionally traumatized bearing in mind that she couldn’t recall everything that happened when she was attacked. By the end of the rape ordeal, she experienced extreme emotional disturbance (Sebold 19). She felt embarrassed and developed a lot of emotional stress and fear and agony. She felt embarrassed telling her ordeal to her parents, friends, and policemen. She feared that all her classmates would discover the ordeal (Sebold 27). Alice found it hard to cope with normal school life since the ordeal persistently haunted her. She felt guilty for a long though she triumphantly got over it after intense counseling.
Besides psychological and physical impacts, victims are likely to undergo financial losses especially due to medical expenses as was the case with Alice who had to spend quite a significant amount of money in accessing health (Sebold 25). The process of healing after the medication was indeed hectic for Alice.
Sincerely speaking, it is definite that the author went through psychological, financial, and physical challenges after the ordeal. The experience was quite devastating as already mentioned. However, both psychological and physical effects were more intense than the physical pain she went through (Sebold 30).
Some of her friends were very helpful in trying to get her out of bad memories. For instance, her close friend Mary gave her the much-needed company and comfort that she needed while in hospital (Sebold 24). Others like Diane were deeply moved by the ordeal that she went through. Tree, who was her colleague in school, helped her at the shower stall (Sebold 26). However, some of her classmates were puzzled and responded coldly to the whole experience. In other words, they avoided providing any emotional or financial help.
Meanwhile, her family was shocked when they learned of the rape. Her father could not accept that she had been raped. He wondered how the whole thing happened. Their reactions to the assault were not easy for her. Moreover, they could not bear standing by her for trial in court. Eventually, Alice faced subsequent assaults at the hand of justice professionals as they cross-examined her (Sebold 176). The questions posed to her were provocative to cope with. To some extent, the lawyers defended the perpetrator. However, her hard-earned victory to narrate her ordeal saw the perpetrator being jailed.
The different reactions from people affected how she handled the rape turmoil. For instance, her friends started acting differently when they were informed of the incident. Nevertheless, she was resilient enough to narrate her experience. Even when her father failed to offer the much-needed psychological, she was determined to express her feelings. She even had the guts to write and recite poems that relieved her from trauma (Sebold 106). Moreover, she was courageous enough to give evidence in court. Although there were several setbacks, she profoundly survived the trauma.
Double victimization is a process whereby an individual who has already gone through an ordeal continues to face further emotional, physical, and financial pains. Therefore, they are denied a speedy trial and quick access to justice stats as victims. Alice’s case was a critical example of double victimization bearing in mind that she was not only raped, she also went through a torturous experience through the hands of law enforcing officers who assaulted her during interrogation (Sebold 15). Moreover, her family members could not provide the much-needed emotional support (Sebold 205). Although she emerged victoriously, the court sessions were equally traumatizing. This trauma was prolonged even after trials were concluded.
Needless to say, I would have treated the victim differently. Having obtained the much-needed evidence from the rape scene, I would have been sensitive to aggregate justice. Moreover, there would be no need of asking assaultive questions to the victim since this would prolong victimization.
Sincerely speaking, there should be some positive change in the criminal justice system to ensure that victims are not exposed to double victimization. For instance, the criminal justice process should be expedited to avoid delay when delivering justice which may highly likely lead to double victimization. This may also reduce the chances of piling up cases as victims continue to suffer in custody.
Works Cited
Sebold, Alice. Lucky. New York: Simon and Schuster Publishing Inc., 1999. Print.