Analysis Of Leslie Bell's Hard To Get: Twenty-Something Women
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Truth is how valid something is, but more specifically, how valid something is from individual perspective. To an adult human, water has a certain truth which holds that it is necessary for survival, but to an infant who does not have the cognitive capability to comprehend this truth, this truth simply is not true. This relative and subjective nature of the truth is essential to understanding how the truth is communicated. In Leslie Bell’s Hard to Get: Twenty-Something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom, the author taps into the lives of women who have been victims of sexual abuse and violence that influence their sex and love lives. The traumatic events of these women have impacted their way of revealing or communicating the truth regarding…show more content… Gladwell analyzed, “The guards, some of whom had previously identified themselves as pacifists, fell quickly into the role of hard-bitten disciplinarians” (158). This pacifist ideology was a predisposition held by these guards prior to volunteering for this experiment, and their quick transition “into the role of hard-bitten disciplinarians,” was a reaction to their situation. This transition and their behavior as violent, anti-pacifist guards was a method by which these guards communicated a truth about their predisposed pacifist ideology. They mention how, “It was part of the whole atmosphere of terror,” and how “It was completely the opposite from the way I [a guard] conduct myself now...I think I was positively creative in terms of my mental cruelty” (Gladwell 158). In that environment, according to Gladwell, the guards’ inherent predispositions were overwhelmed and thus challenged. Therefore, the truth which they communicate by reacting in this experiment, is that they called for a reassessment of their pacifist ideology as possibly being incorrect since the “atmosphere of terror,” had squandered all possible hope of clinging to their pacifism. By doing so, these guards reflect the subjective nature of this truth. All of the guards held this truth of pacifism to be self-evident and absolute, however, when confronted with this…show more content… He says the guy was his best friend in the world” (316). Rat’s reaction to his best friend’s death was this letter. He writes this letter in order to explain what happened to Curt and how crazy the guy was in Vietnam. His attempt to communicate this truth through this letter reflects the subjective nature of the truth. By expressing his brotherly love to Curt in his letter, Rat attempts to communicate to Curt’s sister the truth regarding Curt’s death and their relationship, but since Rat and Curt’s sister are from two different places and understand things differently, this truth cannot be conveyed to the sister. This results in an obscene understanding of this situation wherein O’Brien notes how incredibly sad and true this war story is because the sister never wrote back (317). It is not that the sister could not write back, it is that she could not comprehend the truth regarding the letter. How could Curt’s sister comprehend the fraternal love between Rat and Lemon? How could Curt’s sister comprehend the game of catch involving a smoke grenade that Lemon and Rat played? How could Curt’s sister comprehend the very nature of the war? She could not, and it is this very lack of comprehension which makes “it’s difficult to separate what