Victimhood vs. Complicity

By illustrating the war through Sarat’s experience of it - beginning from the age of six up until her final revenge in adulthood - the novel calls into question if Sarat is a victim or an aggressor of the war.

As a child, Sarat is characterized by her naiveté and innocence. She remains ignorant of the political situation of her country and is unaware that, in the scope of the Southern cause, Northerners are perceived as traitors. She is mostly concerned with her own thoughts and her direct experience of her surroundings, remarking on trivial things such as her sister’s propensity for dress-up and the captivating elements of nature. As a child, she cannot pick up on more complex and nuanced human behaviors, and thus does not comprehend that people lie. Her naiveté is on full display when the narrator comments that...