Grief

Graciela and Lock’s grief after their sexual assaults is both a private and a shared process that takes various forms in the novel and forms the central conflict between the future couple. Before Lock comes to Astin in the fall, Graciela finds herself grieving mostly in private because she does not want to tell anybody what happened to her. As she was assaulted at a party over the summer, she has a few months to herself before she must face the cruelty of her fellow students and their mocking. She tries her best to avoid her family and previous friends, certain that the evidence of what happened is plainly visible to all. Graciela’s response is not uncommon for a survivor of sexual assault as she tries to process the loss of her feelings of safety and the resulting feelings of helplessness, weakness, and vulnerability...