Summary

In Chapter 2, “Terminus” (51), Trethewey explains that she has tried to forget the things that occurred in 1973-1985. In the summer of 1972, Trethewey and her mother moved to Atlanta, which Gwendolyn hoped would be a more racially tolerant place. She has a letter her mother wrote to her father stating that “The trip went well” (55), but she remembers it being harrowing, as the car broke down outside Atlanta city limits. Trethewey recalls feeling nervous and vaguely responsible for this debacle as the tow truck driver sprayed a fire extinguisher over their smoking car. She suggests that these feelings and others she experienced during childhood were the product of trauma. Trethewey liked her new school in Atlanta, but she missed her family in Mississippi and she was plagued by nightmares. She was further troubled by her mother's mercurial moods. Shortly after moving to Atlanta, Gwendolyn...