The Effects of Invisibility in Sapphires’ “the Kid” Through Mimetic Lenses (Love: Abuse: Loneliness)

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Lauren Brantley Dr. Akassi ENGL 102 Section 10 1 March 2012 The Effects of Invisibility in Sapphires’ “The Kid” through Mimetic Lenses (Love: Abuse: Loneliness) In The Kid, Sapphire's extremely profound narrative relays the journey of Precious' son Abdul as he struggles to overcome the unspeakable circumstances of his youth. Abdul is introduced to the readers at the age of nine years old, also on the day of his mothers’ funeral. After his moms’ death, Abdul is sent to live with one of his mother’s close friend named Rita. Since the day of his mothers’ funeral, Abdul began to feel lost as though he was in the world alone with no one to guide him. Abdul did not fully understand what had happened to his mom; all he knew was that she was lying in a “box” on a stage as he called it. After the funeral and Abdul found out he would be going to a foster home that is when his appalling journey of his life began. Abdul watches his mother die from AIDS and barely surviving the time he spent in a hellish foster home. Later on, Abdul found himself in an orphanage staffed by pedophile priests, after he was previously beaten and raped by one of the boys of his foster home all before he turned 14. Well along, abandoned to a welfare system that made him brutally aware of his powerlessness without helping him overcome it. As a result, Abdul gives in to violent sexual impulses while moving in and out of flashbacks to the abuse he suffered as a child. The purpose of this essay is to examine the effects of invisibility in Sapphires’ “The Kid” through Mimetic lenses in regards to love, abuse, and loneliness. Historical Context The Mimetic theory was defined by two people named Plato and Aristotle. Mimetic comes from the word mimesis which means imitation. Both Plato and Aristotle saw in mimesis the representation of nature, which is created by God. According to Plato he

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