Missoula: Victims & Rapists

The victims and rapists obviously act much different in cases of rape. The victims feel withdrawn, scared, hurt, and sometimes even numb, while the rapists feel no remorse until they are on trial, and then they feel upset (about themselves), "confused," and sometimes guilty. Within Missoula, it's easy to see the difference between the way the victims and rapists act when the different experiences of rape is brought to light. Although it's obvious that they would act different, it's interesting to see how they act. Sometimes the rapists even act more upset than the victims, which is just ludicrous.

In the case of Allison and Beau Donaldson, it's easy to see the differences in their acts. Allison's friend recalls Allison's actions right after her rape when she says: “I remember Allison sitting on the couch down in the basement of my house, wrapped in blankets. She wasn’t saying anything, but you could see it looping in her mind. You could see it in her face” (p. 55). Allison was clearly withdrawn, in shock, and felt weird in her own body after this rape. To make matters work, she was probably confused at why someone she knew from childhood would do something like this to her. A little later on, Allison says: "“If I hadn’t grown up with you,” Allison said, “if I wasn’t one of your friends— If you had done this to some random girl, and she walks down to the police station and tells them, your whole life is ruined, Beau….” (p. 52). In this case, Allison is taking a bit of responsibility for this rape and justifying the fact that it was better it happened to her, someone who knew Beau, rather than a random girl. In this case, Allison feels a bit guilty that she was the girl that Beau had sex with raped and, in doing so, cheated on his girlfriend with. It seems as though Allison is placing blame on herself as to not hate her childhood friend, and to speak for Beau's past and future victims.

On the other hand, Beau acts much differently. “Donaldson said he understood. “I just about killed myself that night,” he claimed. After he quit chasing Allison down the alley, he said, “I curled up in my truck in the carport with my fucking handgun in my hand.” (p. 51). In this case, Donaldson is playing the victim and acting like his actions after his rape matter. The pathos he is trying to portray is misguided because, instead, it makes me as a reader feel disgust and anger that he thinks his pain matters. His pain is towards the fact that he couldn't help himself and is therefor a rapist, not towards his victim that he just raped in his sleep. Not all rapists and victims have this encounter, but this one was remarkably displeasing to me as a reader.