Black Press
- This is a preview of the essay.
To view the full text you must login!
What Alice had to endure is every woman's nightmare. The pain and anguish that follows the aftermath of a brutal rape is difficult for any woman, but Alice built enough strength and courage to fight through the barrier of self-pity and depression. She was able to take this horrible event and use it as fuel to try to move on and build her life positively again. Goffman's idea of impression management flourishes throughout the novel. He believed that in a particular situation individuals desire to give a positive view of themselves and that in society people play roles as if in a theatrical performance.
In the novel, Alice gives off the impression that she is not greatly affected by the rape. Her family is more distraught and uncomfortable about the situation than she is. The best example is when Alice's sister Mary locked herself in the bathroom because she was so distraught and confused about the rape. She had just got home from school and she did not know how to act around her sister. She could not understand where her sister could get the strength to remain and appear unaffected by her rape...