‘Until the Whole World Tilts’: Injustice, Coercion and Resilience in Lisa Ray’s Close to the Bone

Abstract

Violence against women is an attempt to control women—the purpose of abuse is not so much to inflict pain as to establish relations of dominance and submission. The patriarchal code of honour and shame advocates violence as the demarcating feature between men and women. It also absolves men of their complicity in using violence as a method of reinforcing societal and cultural norms and of using it as a means to send a message. This article highlights and explores the social forces of inequality, economic arrangements, violence and individual complicity in violence in Lisa Ray’s memoir Close to the Bone (2019). Men in Lisa’s life engage in not only violence but also ‘coercive control’, as defined by sociologist Evan Stark. Their actions subjugate Lisa to an alien will by violating her physical integrity (domestic violence), denying her respect and autonomy (coercion), isolating her from social connections (isolation), as well as confiscating or denying her access to the resources required for personhood and citizenship (control). The gender-specific reading of Lisa’s memoir facilitates a discussion on various forms of violence that targets women and the symbolic connotations behind these acts. Arguably, the article, taken in its entirety, allows for a more nuanced understanding of how women’s bodies and sexuality were, and are, either controlled or subjugated in patriarchal societies. Lisa—the narrator-protagonist, plays with the concepts of the individual and the collective, suggesting that women experience violence collectively rather than individually: a threat of violence against one is a threat against all.