This
cycle I decided to read the nonfiction book Girl in the Woods by Aspen
Matis. The book is written about Aspen’s experience in her first semester as a
freshman in college. She recounts a time when she was raped, and speaks about
how she felt as though she did not have any support. Her mother didn’t
understand, she never mentioned it to her father, her brother told her to get
over it, and her counselor could not do much to help get the rapist in trouble
due to the little evidence they had. Aspen’s reaction was to escape. She didn’t
want to continue to go to college because she could not stand to be near her
rapist, but she felt as if she was letting her family down since everyone else
went to very prestigious schools and had successful careers. In the first half
of the book, the author uses description to explain scenarios she experienced
and the life she lived during her freshman year.
In
the book, Aspen uses description to help the author visualize and understand
the situations she was in and the feelings she felt. She explains her feelings
after she realized that no one could help her by saying “I lay there, angry and
scared, realizing finally that my school would not help her. The rape counselor
didn’t. My parents couldn’t. I had to help myself. I had to leave this place.”
Although this may be blunt, her telling us exactly how she is feeling makes it
easy to picture a girl laying in her bed in her dorm room with a big frown on
her face coupled with furrowed eyebrows. She also states, The air in my room
tasted rancid, of damp dirty socks and old dried period blood. But I wasn’t on
my period. I couldn’t breathe this air. My phone lit up—MOM—but I didn’t
answer. I had to go outside, get out, right away.” This may be a little gross,
but it is definitely easier to visualize what was happening at the exact moment
that Aspen is describing. The description she uses helps progress the plot and
make it easier for the reader to understand what is happening as the author
describes it.
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