ith her father. Her natural role as a daughter is non-existent, and is replaced by her position as a sexual object. When he rapes her, she is forced to become sexually mature, in the midst of this profane and incestuous act. She learns to use her abuse as revenge; she is interacting with the only man her mother supposedly loved, a man who had her mother’s invitation for intimacy. She could not embrace her mother’s thighs, but he could. Now, she must succumb to her newfound ability to control and manipulate: “I had that power possessed by the sexually desirable, control over those her were not wanted for their bodies, those whose bodies were not wanted. My father used to weep sometimes when I said no” (193). She becomes aware that she can find power in the physical: her body. She is forced to use her womanhood, her femininity to inflict pain and find punishment. These acts are surrounded by the same philosophy that her mother used to punish her. She could not give her maternal body to her daughter in love, but denied her in order to have sexual intimacy with men. Therefore, Isabel knows the purpose of this affair: “Our needs were complementary…he needed to hurt my mother, and so did I” (195). She needed to show her mother her new tool: her so-called womanhood.Even before the affair and rape by her father occurs, while Isabel is still a schoolgirl, the forced maturity rendered on her by her mother manifests itself in Isabel’s actions. One particular example (an almost perfect analogy to Isabel’s life) comes when her Mom-mom decides to breed Persian cats. Alone and impatient, Isabel wants the kittens to advance their growth so she may have playmates. She had no use for their premature and blind state, forcing each fused eyelid to open. But when she discovers that they are unable to see she becomes disappointed and then remorseful, “…I was stricken with fear a...
