The Irreparable Damage: A Letter From Paulina's Son

The Psychological Impact of Trauma

Write a letter to Ariel Dorfman the writer of Death and the Maiden from the perspective of a victim, a partner or a family member of a victim (in this last area you might choose a context of time that is significantly different to that of publication.

The written task is a written perspective of Paulina’s son based on the situations that turned out to present themselves on one stormy night in the Play Death of a Maiden. this is a great perspective to the story as the situations presented in the story is true beyond its context and the people around the victim in such situations are more affected by the scenario. The whole incident that affected Paulina is disturbing and moreover the government did not consider her a victim as she survived the ordeal.

As the son of such a woman I, as her son write a letter to the author to show how other aspects behind the situation she faced and how that turned her so vicious. This was also due to the situation she faced in the justification of her actions to husband and the society. in this letter I try to explain to the author how that one incident turned her life around and how vague is the idea of irreparable damage in the society. I saw her breaking down within herself a number of times, while maintaining a façade of a happy content woman but this never left her life. The incident has scarred her in more ways than one and while the incident should be the one forgotten but the psychological aspect of the treatment she received. Chile was a hard place to live before being democratized and Paulina, my mother survives as an example to it.

In this letter, I choose to write why my mother Paulina could never be complete and that was the reason in the she completely flipped when she faced the man, I am not talking about justice, I talk about lost hopes and homes that have been damaged beyond repair thanks to the war. My mother did nit just loose herself, she lost her husband, her belief on society, the death of the maiden and her mental peace. Still, since she was alive society takes the liberty of deciding that since she was alive she would become okay. The physical wounds healed like they always do but she had lost herself in the long run. The society thinks about maintaining the pretense of civility rather than helping the trampled souls.

Living a Pretense of Happiness

My father had a very strong role to play in reinforcing the notion in her mind. She wept cried and she fought her way through the two-month long ordeal only to find a cheating husband. The situation was worse when he could not take the side of my mother as her loss according to him was not irreparable since she had learnt to live in the pretense of happiness. She on the other hand had suffered an irreparable damage which was accentuated by her husband’s selfishness and the lack of empathy towards her. I on the other hand saw a woman always eager to do her job and complete it but nothing more. She had become an automaton living in a pretentious happiness.

Paulina has used the irreparable expression three times. The first run through, Paulina ridicules Gerardo's impractical reasoning that lone murder is unsalvageable. The second time, she derides his loathsomeness at seeing the detained Dr. Miranda, Gerardo's first up close and personal experience of viciousness with irreversible results. At long last, she heaves in his face his conviction that harping on reality, in each corrupt detail, can destroy a human relationship hopeless. The same Gerardo who started by recommending that nothing aside from death is unsalvageable has now conceded that in the realm of governmental issues that he has come to acknowledge, truth may be as unsalvageable as murder. Paulina drives him to comprehend the genuine nature of the welcome the President has expanded: Yes, the Investigating Commission offers seek after a conclusion to the chain of brutality yet just if Paulina and those like her will pardon.

She had suffered a huge loss but she lived on thinking nothing can be done about it and for once when the justice to be given could be her responsibility because no matter how depraved his actions were or how much harm he caused her. He could not be charged lawfully as she was living and this killed her as she felt dying was an easier alternative to what she went through when she was at the camp. Moreover, she wants to make sure since she has her chance she gives justified sentence to him. In would also like to add that in their two-month long ordeal they took away from my mother what we call the regular pleasure of like. She liked Schubert’s Death and the Maiden but the constant playing of the music when she was raped and tortured made het hate the music.  It took away from her the very basic pleasures of life. She was irreparable because the only thing that could repair her reminded her of her wound even more.

The Society's Lack of Empathy

The logical approach of my father was beyond me and I think what was done to my mother is a more heinous crime than murder as it took away her will to live. The constant reminder of the pain she got was beyond its limits when she saw the doctor. There are things we try to comprehend and rationalize to fit our beliefs but sometimes emotions are beyond the limited boundaries of rationality. The rationale of the actions of my mother was nothing but the memory of the voice of the doctor which according to my father was not enough to call someone culprit, but my mother knew it was him and she was sure. When all the other senses were deprived she could only hear the person and the malice in his voice. It is not very uncommon that someone should have a similar voice to a person but it highly unlikely that they are known by the same. To me my mother talked about the moments of feeling powerful and free once again. To her commanding the doctor was the reclaim to the soul she had one lost in the hard times. She had to go through a lot of pain and the doctor that was supposed treat her made the condition by raping her playing Schubert death and the maiden.

She also wants to understand why is it always the weak and the victimized who are supposed to be quiet and why do the people think about their self interest before helping such a person in the society. even my father was more worried about the validity of her actions rather than the state of mind she was committing the crime. I feel the society is equally responsible for the pain such victims go through because beneath the overall show of caring and the helping society are a bunch of judgmental people who do not believe in their ancient traditions to be broken. Considering the scenario that we live in an era of modernity and want political democracy but we are still bound but the age-old customs and beliefs which still cloud our judgement and thinking.

It is just not my mother but every weak person who was the victim of the strong and was ostracized by their own society undergoes the pain. My mother’s actions justified or not shoe the amount to pain she was hiding to live in the pretense of the life she was living. Though it was not very logical but at that moment it was not the member of a civilized society who was thinking but a woman who had seen pain in its worst form. Being her son, I never felt that she was under pressure or pain until she told me the story and it was a beautiful mask that when remove revealed a prettier face. She may have pretended her whole life but the confession had allowed her to bury her past and live for what it was today. I just feel that I the due time the Society will be better if the victims were not victimized. If they do not have to harbor the pain alone in their hearts they may forget it altogether in the due time. It has to be a cumulative step so that the victims of crime like my mother do not become the criminal themselves.

Therefore, all I can say is that the society is not safe unless it gives up the idea of the victim being the perpetrator in the sexual abuse cases or the outcome will always be drastic. A healthy and the collaborative society needs to develop on the basis of common humanity for all and understand that taking away someone’s will to survive is tantamount to murder. The society needs to know that if some one pushes a person to the brinks of sanity the victim has the right to retaliate. Since the crime was perfect and no one saw it does not make it perfect. The society’s overlooking makes it perfect. This needs to be done so that there are no incomplete people with their hopes stolen pretending to be whole.