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Ways out of guilt: --- Iris’s blaming on others. Iris is guilt-ridden. The death of Laura. The ignorance of Laura’s being raped. The death of Aimee.
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Iris is guilt-ridden The death of Laura The ignorance of Laura’s being raped The death of Aimee • Now I am coming to the part that still haunts me. Now I should have bitten by tongue, now I should have kept my mouth shut. Out of love, I should have lied, or say anything else: anything but the truth. (Diana Sweets, p595, after Laura says her purpose for coming back is Alex.) • That was the whole story. Everything was known. It had been there all along, right before my very eyes. How could I have been so blind?( The Golden Lock, p611) • Perhaps I should have stretched out my arms. I should have hugged her. I should have cried. Then I should have sat down with her and told her this story that I’m now telling you. But I didn’t do that. I missed the chance, and I regret it bitterly. (Brightly Shine the Moon, p533, after the argue with Aimee.)
Forassigning her guiltandwinning the sympathy of others,Iris tends torationalize /justifywhat she have done, which makes her position shifts from a victim(the lost of her sister) to a victimizer. • Making herself a victim • Victim-blaming how? Iris Laura or others
“Victim-blaming” --William Ryan <Diana Sweets> “The conversation was taking a turn I hadn’t expected. I’d assumed I’d be consoling Laura, commiserating with her, hearing a sad tale, but instead she was lecturing me.” (592) “There it was, then, right out on the table. This was the cross- roads: either Laura had been mad, or Richard had been lying.” (592) “There was still room for doubt, but this time I believed Laura.” (593) “My newfound reliance on Laura’s sanity was crumbing: we were back in the realm of her loony metaphysics.” (594) “ I wanted to shake her….My finger itched with spite. I knew what had happened next. I’d pushed her off.”(595) Discontent Questioning annoyed attacking
More Victim-blaming examples Why does Iris need to---- • recount the mental instability of Laura since her childhood? • recount those events which Laura shows ungrateful? ……..and so forth
More examples of making herself a victim-------- • Mentioning the quest( taking care of Laura) asked by their parents? • talking about her being sold to Richard? • repeating the mean attitudes Winifred toward her? • Pointing the reason why she was ignorant to the death of her father/ Laura’s being sent to Bella Vista? ……..and so forth
** Assigning the guilt ** winning the sympathy from others • “Don’t blame yourself”, said Winifred, hoping I would do just that—if I blame myself enough, I wouldn’t get around to blaming anyone else.” (victory comes and goes, p612)
The End Thanks for your attention ^^