Whitney Whitlock.
She returns to her house, but not
the same as she was.
“Slightly bruised, if any at all,”
physicians say.
The bruise on her life
goes unmentioned.
They worked
near each other in the Roanoke
Mill No. 2. They had
a couple of dates previously.
He propositions her
that night, and when she refuses,
he refuses to let her.
En route to the store,
bushes provide the cover for
him to pull out a knife.
Wooded section allows
him to threaten to kill if
she resists.
She is brought to
her door and begins to cry.
“A highly nervous condition.”
She is brought to
the local hospital.
“A hysterical condition.”
She returns to her house, but not
the same as she was.
My work is based on a 1941 article from The Roanoke Rapids Herald titled “Man Held Here for Assault.” Marie Beale, 18, was raped by a colleague while on their way to a store to call for a taxi after seeing a show together on a date. Beale returned home to tell her mother what had happened, to which officers were summoned to hear her story and to hunt and arrest the rapist, held in the local jail without bond. Beale had dated him several times in the past.
With this piece, I wanted to approach the violence Beale experienced more seriously than the news article was capable of while also handling the topic of sexual violence between co-workers respectfully. What could come off as "just another rape case" wedged in a single column on a single page holds much more weight for the victim.