Darkness and Happiness

Today's discussion really had me thinking about the juxtaposition
Andrea creates between darkness and happiness. Describing her saying the
names of sexual acts like singing "the great simple music of them" and
singing their "bitter sweet lyric." Likewise, she expresses that she
felt like she could "wander on [the cement]" free." These statements
create a sense of happiness and comfort. Perhaps the mentioning of lyric
and song can relate to the comfort she finds in expressing her memories
through poetry in this chapter. Thus her description of rape and the
cement and darkness through singing foreshadows her eventual ability to
overcome such evils through her words and through a career in writing.
Likewise, I'd like to elaborate on the idea of becoming desensitized to
violence over a period of time. Though I agree that this is probable for
someone in this situation, I believe it is more of a desensitization
physically than mentally. She still describes the fear of the darkness
coming for her and the suspense it creates as she waits in anticipation
for it to come. However, she talks about the cuts on her hands and blood
on her knees repeatedly and as though she had so much scar tissue she
barely noticed. Thus there's an interesting idea that one can stop
feeling physical pain before they can let go of the emotional pain.