The Importance of Sharing Traumatic Experiences With Others

There are three distinct traumas evident in the novel, and the main characters keep these traumas to themselves. This causes rifts in relationships and isolation in dealing with the trauma. Because the characters do not share these traumas with each other until the very end, their relationships and the individuals suffer. Once the trauma is shared, a slight part of the burden is relieved.

The first trauma to happen chronologically happened before Nia and KB were born. This is the trauma Momma experiences when she has headshots made which she was proud of, and her father throws them to the floor and tells her she looks like a whore in them. The two do not mend their relationship, and so the trauma persists in Momma’s head while causing new trauma for Granddaddy. It is around the same time...