There is no question that there is pain and intense suffering in this world. Some of it is explained by selfish, hateful actions on the part of others while other people are left to suffer whether it is physical, mental, or emotional pains. It is something that we do not deserve. The meaning to suffer is a sign of consequences but also can serve as a beneficial sign as in strengthen our inner faith and a reminder of our wrongdoings.
One of these cases comes from the novel, Rush Home Road, by Lori Lansens where the main character, Addy Shadd faces some of these requirements and learns to overcome them the hard way. Throughout her past, Addy’s three stages of struggle gradually worsen as the novel progresses. One of the struggles that cause a permanent mark in Addy’s life was her difficult, unbalanced relationship with her mother. At the age of fifteen, she learns to be independent and enjoys showing off her physical appearance which her mother did not approve of.
Her mother, Laisa, was concerned about her daughter becoming a grown woman and was fully aware of glances coming from older men. She quoted, “you ain’t no beauty, Adelaide Shadd, and it’s just as well to know that now. You got stick-out ears and hood eyes, and a long face like your Daddy,” (Lansens 34). Laisa comments on this to prevent Addy from thinking thoughts of using her body as a centre of attention for men, especially Chester Monk, the love of her life.
Addy hated receiving insults and negative feedback from her mother and felt like a useless person carrying them around. Laisa expresses no signs of affection or support that every daughter needs from their mother. Without love and care from her mother, Addy has a hard time balancing her difficult, misunderstanding relationship with her mother and loses the part of who she truly is. Therefore, she struggles in this way and depends on herself without the care from her mother. Impregnated and raped as a young teenager, Addy encounters her second stage of struggle.
Raped by her father’s closest friend, she ends up in a world of confusion and guilt and questions herself why this is happening. Her parent no longer stood by her side and blames no one but herself for this matter, “it didn’t matter what Laisa and Wallace had been told. It didn’t matter what they believed. The only truth was that Addy was to blame” (Lansens 91). With both parents turning down on her with the exception of her brother, Addy remains motionless with the feeling of guilt planted inside her. The role of isolation bears within her with no sign of help and security.
As a result, the struggling force enters in Addy and enhances her suffering even more by the cause and effect of rape. When death comes without warning, shock and disbelief can be overwhelming. This can be especially intense when the death is instantaneous and violent. In her final stage of finding her struggle, Addy faces the death situation of her daughter, Chick and her husband Mose in a train accident. All her life, Addy always wanted to raise a family of her own and wanted to move on with her new life ahead of her.
Her dreams were soon shattered after realizing the death of her two loved ones leaving her isolated once again. She remembers her daughter’s last words, “I got my Daddy for company. You have her, all right, Mama? ” (Lansens 453). Chick gives her doll to her mother to make sure that Addy remembers her daughter. The doll is the only memory left for Addy to treasure as a replacement of Chick. After the accident, Addy forgotten the taste of good times spending with her family and finding some way of accepting the way how God had intended to do with them.
And so, Addy had found struggle in which it puts her into desertion and away from the chance of happiness. In each stage representing struggle, all bare a great price in which impacted greatly on Addy, leaving her thoughts on human nature and life itself. Though some of these events are common in this world, it is still hard to question the pain and hardships struggles that every individual has to deal with. It is possible that we may relate our situation with Addy’s world and trying to overcome the struggles that she has done.
