Thoughts on Oate's The Girl with the Blackened Eye

    This week in class, we are reading the fiction story, The Girl with the Blackened Eye. This story is really intriguing once you read the first couple of paragraphs. The language and the details pulled me in and I did not stop reading it until the story was at its end. It truly was fascinating on how the author could write such an emotional story. Reading it, two things popped into my mind. The first thought was that I wondered if this story was based on a true story. The second, was that I wondered how she was able to put her words together, because it seems like she had a personal situation that she was able to put into the story? Or maybe she's just a great writer that can make stories very personal. That's the cool thing about writing stories. With the right words and language. you can make it seem like the story was your own personal experience, when in fact that has never happened to you. It's amazing. There are somethings about the story that I really liked.
    I thought that it was really interesting of the fact that the kidnapper of the narrator kept her alive the whole time she was abducted. He always killed his victims, but there had to be something special about her for him to dismiss his repeated actions. Was it because it was the away she obeyed him? Was it because he had a gut feeling that made him keep her alive? We will never know. The readers are just happy she was found and the killer was eliminated. Or at least, I was. Reading this, I felt horrible for her. She was just a girl, halfway through high school, and this event changed her whole life. I can't help but wonder, would her life still change if this trauma didn't happened? Would she still be married and have kids? Regardless, she was able to get over the trauma and was able to live her life almost normal again. Since she was a parent, I would feel very protective of my children, in fear that there might be some invisible cycle and they would be abducted too.
    Another thing that I thought was interesting about the story was the fact that the main character was so traumatized, she obeyed her abductor and seemed like she had Stockholm Syndrome. She knew she wanted to leave her captor, she even had an opportunity to escape, however she didn't. She obeyed him and would've never left or have been found if it wasn't for eye witnesses identifying him. I also thought it was a little weird that he would kidnap women in public places, but no one ever saw him until the end. I feel like nowadays that would be different and kidnappers would be caught earlier. Regardless, being kidnapped is terrifying and I can see why at first the girl obeyed him, so she could stay alive. Another thing I found a little odd, was the fact that she never remembered his actual face. To her, his face was always blurry. If I was in her shoes, I would do anything to get a good description of him so I could figure out away to get him exposed and caught.
      Overall, this story was chilling and great. The language and details draw you in to keep reading until the end. This is probably one of my favorite fictions we have read so far. Since the scenario is a little different than typical kidnap stories, I thought it was nice and not a cliche. I hope that we have more stories like this. This story also gives a good example on how to show and not tell in your work. The details put you right into the story, as if you were the one being kidnapped and tortured.