The Hard Truth
In Margret Atwood’s short story “Stone Mattress”, the protagonist, Verna, is picked by Bob to accompany him to a high school danced. There Verna dances around the gym, pressed closely to Bob because she did not know how to dance. Later Bob drove her down a side road surrounded by forest, and gave her rye to drink then raped her. If that wasn’t bad enough, Bob’s best friend Ken came to help him out. After, Bob made her get out and walk because she was crying. It was Ken that came back to get her and told her not to say anything, and she never did say anything. Once it is realized that Verna is pregnant, she is shipped off to have the baby, never to come home again. Bob is an unsympathetic character that deserves to die for…show more content… Going through trauma like rape at such a young age has more of a mental impact on people because of their innocent, naïve way of thinking. Many people that have been through this kind of trauma adopt the frame of mind that only bad things happen to bad people, therefore, she must be bad. In Verna’s case, the nurse contributes to this felling by saying “that girls like this make unfit mothers” (Atwood 224), so according to the nurse it is not a bad thing that she is unable to have anymore children after an infection and scarring left her barren. Not being able to ever have children was another blow to Verna’s already fragile mental status. The idea that only strangers rape is a preconceived notion that many victims have, so for Verna, to be raped by someone she knew was something that just did not happen. At the time of her trauma there was not any mental help to aid Verna in dealing with what had happened to her, nothing to make her understand that what happened to her was not her fault, and nothing to show her that she was not the bad person. As if being raped was not bad enough, Bob had to destroy her socially as…show more content… Since Verna was a meek girl, her life had been chores, studies, and church, it was unthinkable to have Bob do this unspeakable thing to her and run around town telling everyone his version: that the slutty, drunk Verna had given it up willingly. In the age where decent girls just did not do that kind of thing, she was subject to bullying and name calling for something she did not have any control over. In such a small town, it was not long before the tale was around and her mother heard of it. When Verna’s mother did she told Verna that she “had made her own bed, and now she would have to lie in it” (223). Then when Verna discovered that she was pregnant, Verna’s mother wasted no time shipping her off to a home for unwed mothers. Having a baby at fourteen and unmarried was not acceptable for a girl hoping to marry a respectable man. Once at the home she had to slave away, praying for her salvation, and being told that what happened to her was deserved. After having the baby, she was not able to face going home. Knowing that the town, as well as her family, would talk and treat her like she had some disease that could be contracted. Verna decided never to return home and “if she was as trashy and worthless as everyone” (224) thought she would act the
