Dealing with Traumatic Experience by Acknowledging History - Essay Example

Dealing with Traumatic Experience by Acknowledging history Getting over a traumatic experience takes a lot of time and effort from the victim of a traumatic event. There are some people who never completely get over a traumatic event and this affects their daily lives. In some extreme cases, some people who have gone through traumatic experiences have committed suicide. This paper looks at the story of "Cereus Blooms at Night" by Shani Mootoo and "Corregidora" by Gayl Jones showing how the traumatic events in the main characters affected their live and whether they were overcome by acknowledging history and changing their perspectives. In "Corregidora", Ursa is the protagonist and suffers a major traumatic event that changes her life. Ursa was a blues singer and this angered her husband Butt. He was jealous of her performing on stage infront of other man saying that the men had sex with her with their eyes. Ursa was not willing to abandon her career as a singer and one night her husband assaults her when she is pregnant. She falls down the stairs and loses her baby and her womb through a surgery that also. She decides to marry her long time friend and admirer who leave her for another woman because he was unable to get sexual satisfaction because Ursa was not sexually attracted to him (Jones, 12). This story is important as it portrays the truth about the history of the black woman in the American. Ursa position as a woman is affected by the history of her great grandmother, her grandmother and mother in terms of their relationship with men. She finds herself suffering in the hands of Corregidora: a man who had impregnated both her mother and grandmother. She had followed the instructions of the women in her life that pushed her to reproduce and make a generation. This pressure could be the reasons that she was unable to freely allow herself to love (Jones, 56). At this time, a woman’s value was tagged on her sexual ability. When Ursa lost her womb, she lost her purpose in life as a woman. By losing her womb, she was now unable to pass her history and role to the next generation. She sees herself as a flawed woman because she cannot bear children but at the same time she is aware of her sexual needs that are yet to be satisfied. Her focus on getting sexual satisfaction while she lacked a womb became a problem. According to her grandmother, the grandmother and her mother were considered valuable objects of sexual exchange. She tells her women during the slavery were considered valuable because of their vagina. They were treated as sexual objects. Treatment of women as sexual object had not ended with the end of slavery as Ursa husband still called her “his pussy”. Corregidora, who is not present in the book as a character is seen as a sign of violence and sexual abuse that is experienced by the Corregidora women. Ursa in her blues sings about the survival and the pain that her family suffers. Although Ursa does eventually get over the traumatic event, her move to get back with her abusive husband at the end of the movie is questionable. She does not the use the knowledge of the history that she gets about her mother’s sexual cavity. Instead of fighting it, she eventually gives in to it (Jones,, 88). The move to get back with her husband could also be a sign that she had eventually forgiven him for his abusive behavior. However, she was in danger of exposing herself to further abuse and this would bring back the memories of the terrible trauma. In the story  "Cereus Blooms at Night" by Shani Mootoo, it is after the story about Mala is infolded and what actually happened in the issue surrounding her father’s death that she is able to recover and gets reunited with her sister Asha. The novel talks about Mala a young woman who is taken to the Paradise Alms House for the mentally ill. The nurses shun her because they believe that she murdered her father. Tyler, the only male nurse at the hospital is the only one willing to take care of her. They get close and Mala reveals about what happened to her in the past. It is this reaction that makes her overcome the trauma of being physically and sexually abused by her father. Mala is greatly traumatized that at first she is not able to talk and the only sounds she can make are imitation of animals such as crickets, birds and frogs (Mootoo, 78). However, with time, she warms up to Tyler and tells her the story of her past. Her father Chandin Ramchandin had abused her and led her to get involved sexually with an older man. Chandin had been married to Sarah and at some time discovered with Sarah was a lesbian and had a relationship with Lavonia. Sarah ran away with her lover leaving Chandin alone with his two daughters. Soon Chandin who became the laughing stock for being left by her wife for another woman began to abuse both her daughter s sexually. Mala and Asha would be sexually abused at home and during the day attend classes just like the other children. This went on for a long time until Mala met Ambrose who was her childhood admirer and a friend to her father. She got sexually involved with this man and when her father discovers of the affair, he rapes her repeatedly. It is then revealed that Ambrose discovers that Chandin had abused Mala, he kills him. Ambrose son goes to Chandin homes dressed in his father’s clothes. Mala, confusing him for his father takes him to see Chandin decaying body. The son thinks that Mala killed Chandin and that is when she was taken to hospital for the mentally ill. In the end Ambrose wife confesses that her husband was the one responsible for the death of Chandin. Tyler tells this story as a way of helping Mala reach out for her sister Asha. In the end, the two sisters are reunited and Mala regains her sanity (Mootoo, 130). From the story of Mala, it can be observed that by reviewing the traumatic events that she went through such as being abused by his father and Mr. Ambrose and watching her father being murdered. She is able to regain her senses. Psychologist through various studies have shown that time is an important factors in healing of traumatic effect suffered by individual who have experienced life devastating events. With time, a person is able to acknowledge the extent of the trauma and can be able to move on. Moreover, persons are able to review the circumstances surrounding the traumatic event and can be able to be objective about it. In the book Corregidora, Ursa the main character by reviewing the story of the sexual abuse and mistreatment that the African American women received from men as per the story given by her grandmother, she is finally able to forget her anger and frustration with her former husband and reconciles with her. In conclusion, from the stories that have been analyzed in this paper, it can be observed that traumatic events in the major characters had devastating effects on the two key characters. The events affected the way the different characters behaved. For instance, Ursa after losing her womb was unable to fall in love or even get sexual satisfaction. However, with time she gave in to the pressures of people around her where women were treated as sexual object. Instead of fighting the system, she joined them and decided to reconcile with her first husband forgetting the wrongs he had done her. Mala on the other hand after telling the story about her life, it was discovered that she was not the one responsible for her father’s death and eventually regain her sanity and reunites with her sister Asha. Work Cited Jones, Gayl. Corregidora. Boston: Beacon Press, 1986. Internet resource. Mootoo, Shani. Cereus Blooms at Night. New York: Grove Press, 2009. Print. Read More