The reflective process of the perpetrator: representations of rape in novels of C.N. Adichie and V.T. Nguyen

ABSTRACT

This article examines a new iteration of the representation of rape that is centered on the perspective of the perpetrator of sexual violence. By outlining advances in feminist discourses, critical men’s studies, and literary criticism, this article situates the current development within a tradition of theory and representations of sexual violence, which is followed by the author’s reading of rape in The Sympathizer (2015) and Half of a Yellow Sun (2006). Narrated as men who slide into passivity in the build-up to rape, the protagonists of these novels are at the same time not condoned and learn to accept their guilt, shame, and responsibility. These representations follow established literary conventions of repression and silence, but then move beyond the unspoken to a constant articulation of the meaning of rape for the perpetrator. Following calls for contextually sensitive approaches to the study of violent men, this article explores how both novels narrate the perpetrator’s circumstances, choices, reflection, and growing awareness of the implications of rape. The meanings of rape for perpetrators, as represented in fiction, and their potential to create narratives with which to combat sexual violence are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexual violence
• rape
• men’s rehabilitation
• literature

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Orin Posner, Paul Gilden, and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 See, for example, Tracey Nicholls’s Dismantling Rape Culture (2021) for a recent analysis of rape culture and the #MeToo movement, or Courtney Fraser’s ‘From ‘Ladies First’ to ‘Asking for It’: Benevolent Sexism in the Maintenance of Rape Culture’ (2015).

2 See also their TED talk ‘Our Story of Rape and Reconciliation’ (Elva & Stranger, 2016): https://www.ted.com/talks/thordis_elva_and_tom_stranger_our_story_of_rape_and_reconciliation.

3 Parenthetically, before narrating rape, Nguyen foreshadows the difficulties of representation by conveying the horror of his protagonists who watch a brutal cinematic representation of rape.

4 In Nguyen’s sequel to The Sympathizer, The Committed (2021), the memory of the agent serves as a reminded of what the protagonist should do when his conscience demands to stand against the torture of another.

5 See, for example, online popular media: ‘Interview, Inside the Mind of Jeffrey Dahmer: Serial Killer’s Chilling Jailhouse’ (2018); ‘Sam Keen Interview with Convicted Murderer David Rice’ (2009).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Omri Cohen

Omri Cohen is a PhD student at The Department of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University. His previous work includes research of minority literatures, and theoretical and practical work in education and Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding.