Forgive or Kill: One More Story of Sexual Violence Victim

Abstract

The theme of sexual violence was and stays crucial in Kazakhstani society, being one of the main concerns of women. However, it is merely discussed in local media, television, and literary works. Therefore, this creative writing capstone project addresses the issues regarding sexual violence based on 18th and 21st Kazakhstani society in a form of a prose. Its main goal is to show how the mind of the victim splits due to trauma, losing its ability to function wholly. As after the incidence, the main heroine loses her ability to communicate with her subconsciousness as before, because it becomes just an observer of her life, proving that the mind of the victim splits. The project brings this psychological trauma into a textual form using literary theories like romanticism and dualism. The paper applies these theories, based on literary works as Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, Lermontov’s The Hero of Our Time, and Julio Cortazar’s The Night Face Up. Besides this aspect, the project analyses Kazakhstani laws regarding sexual violence, doing a comparative analysis of laws in the 18th century with that of the 21st century. So, this comparison shows that as time passes the laws became less strict. For example, if in the 18th century for raping another person the criminal getsc death penalty, then in the 21st century he/she gets at most 3 to 5 years and 15 to 20 years, if the victim is over 18 and under 18 respectively. Through dualistic travels to 18th century this prose shows the difference in laws and importance of making the laws stricter in 21st century. These features of the project make it important in the sphere of literature, as it brings a new genre into Kazakhstani literature.