Theme of Trauma in Monkey Beach Essay Example

Trauma is an emotional response to any frightful event a person can go through and there are many forms. Trauma can be caused by accidents, losing loved ones, rape, etc. Most of these are the cause of Lisamarie’s trauma, she is not sure how to cope with all of it. The main reasons Lisa’s trauma intensifies due to her being drugged and raped, losing ma-ma-oo and uncle Mick, and her brother Jimmy mysteriously disappearing. In the mystery novel “Monkey beach” by Eden Robinson, one of the main themes throughout is trauma. Throughout the book the main character Lisamarie Hill experiences many traumatic situations, such as loosing loved ones, getting sexually assulted, her brother going missing and the process of trying to find him, etc. This progression is significant because as she experiences these, her trauma deepens. As Lisa figures out how to deal with what she is going through, another traumatic experience ends up happening which causes her to break. Due to the amount of trauma, at the end of the book it causes Lisa to see the dead and communicate with ma-ma-oo and uncle Mick. 

Lisa has many family members who she has grown much closer with throughout the first half of the book. Uncle Mick is introduced at the beginning of the novel, Lisa and Jimmy met uncle Mick for the first time because they were told that he was in jail and no one had seen him in years. Lisa ended up really loving Mick because he was very free-spirited. Unfortunately Uncle Mick had an accident while fishing and he was found dead in the ocean. When Lisa’s father called her down because he found another life draft, Lisa says “I should have gone with them. I should have gone” (Robinson 136). When uncle Mick's body was found, Lisa felt extremely guilty and wished she had gone with them to the ocean. Lisa almost wishes she was with Mick in the accident and in the same situation, being dead. This shows that Lisa is tremendously declining with her mental health. Even though uncle Mick and Lisa had not known each other for too long, they had already grown such a close relationship. At Mick's funeral, Lisa says “She led me past his grave and I knew I was supposed to say goodbye but I stood there until she tugged on my hand and led me away” (Robinson 142). This shows that Lisa is feeling shocked and that it does not feel real. She did not know how or what to say since she was in a state of shock. 

Lisa goes through a very traumatic experience, she was drugged and raped by someone who she thought she trusted. Lisa remembers “The next piece I have, I'm laying on the ground and I can't see the sky because of the tree branches. I'm cold and someone is breathing over me“ (Robinson 258). After Lisa is raped, she only remembers bits of it and is not sure who did it. At the moment his face was a blur but she can only assume it to be Cheese, Cheese and Lisa were on a date. After Tabitha brings Lisa home and asks what happened, she thinks to herself  “I couldn't think of anything. I didn't want to talk about it. I wanted to crawl into bed and sleep, but now that I was awake I felt like throwing up” (Robinson 259). This is something that happens to many women and it takes time to speak up about their experience because of how traumatizing it can be, that is what Lisa is going through. Lisa not wanting to talk about what happened shows that experiences like these can greatly affect someone.  

Lisa’s brother Jimmy ends up going missing at monkey beach and Lisa tries her best to find him. After Jimmy's girlfriend left to go to Prince George, Lisa decided to bring Jimmy to monkey beach since it's his comfort place. Lisa thinks to herself “But if the things in the trees help me, maybe Jimmy can keep his happy ending” (Robinson 360). After they have been traveling for a while, Jimmy mysteriously goes missing at sea and Lisa does not know what to do or how to find him. Lisa starts to hear voices, “I reach into my bag and dig around until I find my knife. When I pull it out, the voices hiss into silence” (Robinson 360). Lisa listens to the voices she hears because she thinks they know where Jimmy is. This shows she is willing to do anything to find Jimmy because she has already lost many family members and can not go through the grieving again. If she is willing to cut her hand to find Jimmy, she would be willing to do something even bigger if asked by the voices. 

The traumatic events Lisa goes through affects both her mental and physical health. The trauma leads to depression, Lisa losing herself, and dropping out of school. The author “Eden Robinson” uses this novel to show the different forms of trauma and how it can severely affect a person.