Lucky: A Memoir pg 1-42

Summary

Lucky a memoir by Alice Sebold starts out with the day she was raped. Alice Sebold was coming back from a end-of-the-year party from Syracuse University in New York. Alice Sebold was grabbed by a man she has never seen before and was forced to sleep with him. When it was all over the man who raped her slept for a while. He wakes up when Alice tries to escape and starts to apologize for what he did. He starts to be sincere and ask to carry her book or if she needs a ride home. She refuses his help and goes to the University clinic where every boy and girl stare at her because they see blood running down her legs. The Nurse gives her some Demerol which is suppose to relax her since she is shaken up by the the event that has taken place. Mary Alice, Sebold's friend, comes to visit her at the clinic. The doctor, nurses, and police start to search and examine her body for evidence. The police find a lock of hair left from her attacker on her body and use that to try and identify him. Alice refuses to tell her mother what has happened fearing her mother would have a major panic attack. Alice takes a shower and starts to have visualization about the man ho raped her. She starts to get mental images of the incident that occured earlier. Alice Sebold later decides to prosecute the man who did this to her. I wonder what happens next? If she finds the man and if the man pays for what he did?



Quote

"Leaving with anything other than what he had: all of me, except my brain and my belongings. I wanted to leave the tunnel with both of them" (Sebold 22).

Reaction

This quote shows that the man who raped her, still unidentified, took everything from her, except he brain and belongings. He took her virginity, he took her pride, and her security. She might not be comfortable to go out alone with any boy because of what happened. This quote shows the damage that the man has done to her. Even though the man might see it as something that happened 'mistakenly', Alice sees it has him taking everything from her.