Atwood's commentary on Fraser's Memoir

Atwood's comment about Fraser's memoir is a perfect description. It describes what Fraser herself must have felt while discovering this unknown, suppressed part of her own self. It is frightening to think that an individual could live through a traumatic event and be so damaged they actually completely remove it from their memory unknowingly. It raises questions about how the physical body is connected to the mind so intricately and with such complexity that our conscious selves cannot always understand or be aware of the connections. In this case, Fraser was divided as two selves, one that experienced the torture and one that is shielded from the abuse. Her physical and mental self was so damaged she refused to let herself even be aware of what occurred nevertheless remember it. In coming to realization, she also becomes aware of this other self, as Atwood describes the detective and the murder victim. It is puzzling and terrifying to think that the two can be one and the same. Inevitably, Fraser’s trauma was life altering and destructive to a degree that her own mind could not accept. In discovering this murder mystery she had to discover that she herself was the victim.