Rape is Not About Sexual Pleasure or Desire

The numerous rapes of the narrator by her husband clearly demonstrate that rape is neither about sexual desire nor about pleasure. The main way this is shown is through the narrator’s realization that even if she has sex voluntarily with her husband, he will still rape her afterwards. Even though his sexual desires have been quenched, he will still feel the need to abuse her body sexually to let out his frustrations.

In some ways, rape is shown to be about anger not even directed at the narrator herself. For example, the narrator realizes that some of the anger her husband lets lose on her through the rapes is actually directed at the men who have had sex with her in the past, not at her directly. He cannot take out this anger on the men, so he...