The Damage That Can Come from Unacknowledged Trauma

Unacknowledged trauma is shown, through the second half of the novel, to be extremely harmful to victims of trauma. This is primarily shown through the reactions people have towards Frankie and the way in which this hurts her. This is first seen in Connor’s reactions to his daughter’s wartime service. She comes home proudly with a picture of her, Ethel, and Barb. While she wants the picture hung on the heroes’ wall, he wants to ignore her service because he is ashamed that he has a daughter who went to war. Then, Frankie is further hurt to learn that her father lied and told everybody that she was studying abroad rather than that she was at war. She wanted people to be proud of the good work she did, and when they were not and when they...