Pat Barker and the Mediation of Social Reality By David Waterman

to them when we realize that this or that killer/rapist is a product of our own families, our own community, and that nothing really distinguishes him/her from anyone else. Almost immediately, Kelly's relation to this man, only a short while beforehand a surrogate father figure, changes dramatically when she realizes that she now has a certain amount of power over him. In response to her plea not to be left alone, the man, “with an odd, wincing, ducking motion of his head” (Barker, “Union Street” 30), offers to show Kelly the way to the bus stop, then again relents when she insists they have something to eat: “Their eyes met for a moment, and again he admitted defeat. He was too easily defeated. Kelly's anger was turning to contempt” (31–32). While at the table, however, Kelly seems attuned to the paradox of her situation, telling herself, “She needed him. He was all she had…She would never tell anybody. Nobody else would understand. It wasn't like falling down, or getting run over by a car. She was what had just happened to her. It was between the man and her” (32). Little seems to differentiate this aftermath of rape from several of the domestic scenes in the novels, wherein couples express a need for one another, in spite of the violence that appears to have forged and now maintains their bond, even as the violence seems to escape their control.

Both assailant and victim are now different people, apparently identifying with their almost interchangeable subject positions, not only regarding each other but in relation to the larger community as well. Three weeks later, once the rape has become known throughout the neighborhood, Kelly is treated differently by the adults, as though she had been sick, and she is no longer a welcome part of the group of children (Barker, “Union Street” 45). Mrs. Brown's boyfriend, Arthur, is aware of the change too, and he is disconcerted: “The nightdress was slightly transparent. Although Kelly had nothing that you could call a bust, hardly as much as many men, her nipples seemed to demand attention. Like eyes in her chest. You couldn't avoid seeing them,” causing Arthur to adopt a similar physical composure as the rapist did, expecting reproach: “He hunched his shoulders, as if expecting a blow, and hurried out of the house” (43). Kelly's sense of belonging, whether within the