ks his wife is killed by nazi’s in an American hospital is clearly affected in his mental and emotional being. You could also say that this individual, unlike Dorothy Allison, has not fully recovered from his emotional wounds. Now comparing the healing process of a death camp survivor and the sexual abuse of Allison is worth a whole study. Not only because the environment is totally different, but also because each individual deals with emotional wounds differently. Dorothy Allison struggles with love and her need to be loved. On page 50 she describes how she used to hide herself away from her feelings of being hurt and desperate. She would try to help other women but not herself. It took her years to admit to those feelings. On page 55 she also tells about how love was a mystery, ‘’ a curse that somehow skipped me”. This is of course a self-protection wall she had build up over the years since her stepfather hurt her. I also think it has to do with all the women around her she saw being hurt by the men they loved. Sex however she was familiar with and she described metaphorically how love and sex were different countries to her. Now how did she exactly come to a peaceful state of mind about the matter? The question has a thousand answers. If you read between the lines you can imagine some of the things that helped her. As a rape victim for instance you feel helpless because someone else is controlling your body. The karate helps her regain control over her body both physically but more important mentally. The emotions that I described earlier (not being able to love or be loved) come when she finally starts loving herself. Page 67 “two or three things I know for sure, and one of them is how long it takes to learn to love yourself, how long it took me, how much love I need now” describes her coming to peace with herself and her emotions.Now who am I too write about my views on global wounds and thei...
