Trauma is Justified for Ka

Tears flood the eyes of a woman saying goodbye to her husband for the fourth time being deployed, two states away a child is screaming because he is upset at his dad for spanking him, a family walks into their house across the street to see that their house has been broken into, a woman and her daughter sleep in a cardboard box during the winter in New York, a six year old boy is diagnosed with cancer, and so on and so forth. These are all classified as traumatic events in lives, but the simple question of why are these traumatic events turn into a complex question. Is there such thing to classify a traumatic event, and if there is why is that characteristic(s) classified? These questions help approach The Dew Breaker, especially when the reader first attempts to understand Ka’s relationship with her father, but more specifically her anger towards her father which ends up being a traumatic event. Some may consider this a traumatic event, while others will question Ka and her reaction towards her father.

To bare trauma means something different for individuals, it will differ with the next person on the street. However, there seems a single distinct theme which reoccurs; it is quite simple, distressed and displaced in the specific situation. In The Dew Breaker Ka just found out that her father lied to her about his profession. To Ka, this is traumatic, thus, the traumatic experience has turned her angry towards her father. During the discussion in class, some believed that Ka should not be angry towards her father and just forgive him for what he did, but on the other hand, others believed that Ka was justified because this is a traumatic experience. Again, to bare trauma is all perspective and dealing with it changes from person to person, thus, since each of us are not in her shoes, it is justified that she is angry with her father.

The most traumatic event in my life, I would probably consider to be walking in on a suicide attempt. I would classify the most traumatic event because of a couple reasons; the first is because I was terrified and frozen in spot when I walked through the door. Next, I was unfamiliar with the situation, thus, making me uncomfortable, making me not able to act very quickly. However, the most traumatic part of the situation was life was hanging the balance, which put me into pure shock. But on the other hand, somebody else would probably disagree with my statement and say that their traumatic experience was different, perhaps saying goodbye to a love one who was getting deployed, or loosing somebody. Even for a child, in their eyes, not being able to play outside or watch television could be a traumatic experience for them. As adults, looking at that, in the eyes of the child, and would probably disagree. Nonetheless, the child would be crying and upset because of this situation; but it is in their eyes and in their shoes.

With that in mind, Ka is experiencing this terrible event in her life; her father just has lied to her. Basically has lied to her his entire life. If I were in Ka shoes, I would be upset and it would be traumatic for me. I would not know what to do with the information my father told me about him being a torturer, somebody that I hated throughout my entire life, or was socially hated. This was not something small he lied to her about, he also was trying to justify for her to be okay with it because her name with Ka, telling her that she is a good angel. But she has a right to be upset and angry.