The Daughter's Seduction: Sexual Violence and Literary History

In “The Daughter’s Seduction: Sexual Violence and Literary History”, author Christine Froula talks about the how a daughter can become a victim of the father, and the exchange of power between the two. The daughter’s power is stolen, leaving her in a fixed state, while the father increases in power and keeps that power by forbidding the daughter to tell anyone she has been violated. The daughter is made to believe that she will not be believed or that her telling will cause the breakup of her family, in short using guilt to keep her silent. Froula cites Frued saying “Freud developed his "seduction theory"-the theory that hysterical symptoms have their origin in sexual abuse suffered in childhood, which is repressed and eventually assimilated to later sexual experience.(629)” She continues with a short history of the Frued’s theory on the seduction theory. She does not get into the discussion of I Know why the Caged Bird Sings until page 635. She discusses the rape of Maya by her mother’s boyfriend, Mr. Freedman and the terror that telling the truth and having her family turn against her, or lying and sinning against God and still losing her family because she told a lie. Maya withdraws and refuses to speak after her uncles seek revenge on Freeman and kill him. Maya believes that her words killed him and it is only after memorizing a two thousand word poem by Shakespeare, Rape of Lucrece. “Maya's feat of memory signals a double seduction: by the white culture that her grandmother wished her black child not to love and by the male culture which imposes upon the rape victim.” Froula goes on to say that, Maya is doubly seduced, first by her “father” figure, and then by the images of white society. She doesn’t really go into much detail about his, but quickly moves on to discuss The Color Purple.
I do feel that this essay will help to make my argument in the similarities between Pecola and Maya, as well as the differences in family support of the victim.