As I mentioned in my seminar guide, I was able to relate to this book much more than I expected. This may seem cliche, but as I was reviewing everyone’s comments, and Dr. Miller’s presentation, I got a notification on my phone. It was from Co-Star, a horoscope app, and mine for the day said, “the essence of your trauma isn’t revealed as soon as you experience it.” Oddly enough, that resonated with me and the work that I was doing in that moment.
Trauma is not always something that instantly noticeable, especially growing up. At a young age, many things feel overly dramatic, I remember thinking on several occasions that all of life was unfair simply because my sister got a better birthday gift than I, or something of the like. On the opposite end of that spectrum, I have had seriously life altering events happen, and at the time, I didn’t even give it a second thought.
I think we see a lot of this in Westover’s memoir. She begins the novel going into deep detail of various instances from her childhood including helping her mother midwife, getting in two car wrecks, and working brutal shifts with her father, yet she passes over each of them as just fact. It is not until she gets into more traumatic instances in her teenage years that she analyzes how certain events may have effected her. I think this may be because she was hesitant to rely on the truth of her childhood memories that may have been dramatized and/normalized in her mind, nor did she want to dredge up accusations that may not be called for. As she gets older, however, she trusts herself and her memories more, allowing her narrative voice to be more certain and have a new perspective on her trauma.
Inky Impressions 