She sees the attack not as a violent life changing event but as a romanticized avenue toward gaining the love and attention of her parents.
Sadly in addition to this Jane has romanticized Rachel's position as the victim. Jane feels that because she is not the pretty one, who resembles her mother and enjoys studying herself in the mirror she has again lost out on her parents' attention. She therefore romanticizes the violent act and wishes it upon herself so her parents may finally come to her aide and venerate her in the same manner as they have her sister. She wishes to make herself a victim, by leaving the door unlocked and leaving the papers on the doorstop so "he" may recognize her vulnerability arrive to do harm and then allow her parents to recognize her as equal to or just as valuable as her sister, who now as a shell of her former self is still garnering all the attention.
Though Jane does not graphically imagine the violence of her sister's attack she still seems willing to endure it, laying herself at the foot of danger, laying in wait and asking for it, as a way to garner the attention of her parents. This is even after her growth into a woman, as she has to return home to be there for her sister, who is now a shell of her former self, in the throws of PTSD and an acute mental breakdown, as a result of her rape. Jane sees her sister's fall as one that must have been extreme because she has always felt that her sister has held a venerated...
Her parents might say that they paid less attention to her because she was more self-sufficient smarter and more trustworthy. Parents often feel compelled to treat different children differently because of their attitude toward the world and children who are perceived as strong are more likely to be trusted and therefore given less attention. Jane wishes to exhibit just a part of the frailty that her sister has shown through this period of extreme social and psychological disillusionment.
This work, though a piece of fiction, and written by a man gives testament to the idea that rape is a romanticized idea. The destabilizing way in which it enters the psyche of its victims, rendering them unable to create words to express their experience leaves those who have not experienced it at a loss for the ability to empathize and respond in an appropriate manner.
This work gives evidence to that in the cryptic way, it simply omits the word rape and completely leave out the graphic representation of the act as anything but an avenue for attention on the part of Jane the perceived neglected and unloved, un-favored sibling.
Jane, Steven Molen
