Essay On Lucky

The book Lucky was both enlightening and inspiring in countless ways. It was enlightening to read about a subject that many people shy away from or feel uncomfortable discussing. It was inspiring because it allowed you to read, in a very intimate way, the strengths and weaknesses of one woman as she dealt with the aftermath of being raped. Most importantly, the book Lucky allowed me the opportunity to think and reflect about the victim’s family and friends, statistics involving rape, and the physical/emotional toil the victim under goes. It was disconcerting that, prior to reading Lucky, I had always believed that the only victim was the individual raped. My reasoning for this was that the act itself was only committed onto that person,

She was questioned and her answers were scrutinized by the police, family members, and in the court room. At times her responses were minimized and made to appear as they were unimportant. The morning after her rape and upon the completion of her affidavit Officer Lorenz stated, “All that doesn’t matter.” He just wanted the “facts” and everything else was inconsequential. Alice’s dad was distraught when he found out that the rapist had lost the knife before forcing Alice into the tunnel. Alice was forced to recount how her inability to fight had ceased with the realization that she wanted to live at all cost. Her fathers’ words almost implied that she had been a willing victim. In several ways the legal system and people who stated they wanted to help her were solely responsible for secondary victimization. When Alice was able to identify the rapist and agreed to testify against him the court case and the cross examination appeared to be a further assault on her. The tactics and conduct of the defense attorney were truly horrible. As Alice recounted her story and provided some statistics I became curious and visited the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the following findings were