" A Girl" part 2

Part two of the book shares the same title as the book itself, and for a justified reason. We begin by seeing the narrator (and her brother) as a teenager, trying to discover who she wants to be in a family that seems so engulfed in its own problems that they end up isolated from the outside world. Based on the vivid scenes of rape and then self-promiscuity, we see the girl as a half-formed thing. She is not sure who she is, what form she should take, until her uncle has raped her. But as a way of coping with the confounding trauma, she turns sex into a weapon herself. She uses sex as a tyranical device against boys her age, becoming a "social rapist" in a way by taking her male peers' virginity in order to gain respect and affirmation of herself. In these events by the pond, she thinks of herself as fully formed; her identity has been well defined in her peers' eyes now. But her brother is the one that questions and ultimately disapproves of her assumed role as sexual liberator. Her grades slip, and all talk of faith and Christianity vanishes until her mother suggests that the brother pursue the priesthood. The kids no longer ponder what it means to be Christian; their faith in God has been replaced with ill-placed faith in themselves as ultimate deciders of their fates. They have put themselves above God. In times of crisis, we see this most clearly. After her rape and after his poor report card, neither child turns to the church for help. Yet, still their mother tries against their wills to convince them, but even she does not have a firm control over them.