The Victim reading guide
In The Victim, a calculating woman uses the role of victim to gain power. She knows what a story of injustice can get her, from an apology in a classroom to public support for a political career. The examples below follow that pattern across all four chapters. Read the complete novel free.
How does the narrator use tokenism?
In “Hello world”, the narrator calls herself her wealthy adoptive family’s token child. She understands what the family gets from having her around and says she has decided to play along in exchange for an education. She is already thinking about how to get something out of the role.
In “The cat”, the narrator tells her teacher that her birth parents were murdered. The teacher then reinterprets the classroom incident that had put the narrator in trouble. Classmates who had shunned her now apologize and offer sympathy. The change happens as soon as the teacher has a different story about who the girl is.
Discussion questions
- In “The cat,” what new evidence does the teacher have about the original classroom incident? What actually changes her mind?
- Where does the narrator first describe someone’s sympathy in terms of what it can get her?
- What does the narrator gain by telling the reader things she keeps from the public? When does the novel give you reason to doubt that she’s told you everything?
Spoilers for Chapters Two through Four
How does she turn sympathy into political power?
In “Charity case”, an appeal for an injured friend’s medical bills brings donations, followers, and attention to her movement. By “White lies”, she has a choice about whether to expose the people close to her and implicate herself. She chooses to cover for them and proposes a marriage that will advance both her career and her future husband’s.
In “Takeover”, she mourns her husband before the press after arranging his murder. She lets his uncle think that her run for governor is his idea. In “Defeated”, she calls her interview an advertisement and admits that she has painted herself as a victim of the patriarchy. In private, she knows the fraud charges against her are real.
What does Chapter Four reveal about her first account?
In “Skeletons in my closet”, a survivor challenges her account of the deaths of her adoptive brothers. She admits she shot the twins to hurt their mother. She then gives the people in the hotel a new scene to witness, with herself in the role of the woman under attack. In “Stop doing that”, her running mate warns her that the pattern is becoming obvious. The narrator says setting the trap and watching it work is what she does best.
Read the opening again after “The sins of the mothers”. By then she has the power she wanted and says she would lie, frame, and kill again. When her daughter tells her why they grew apart, she briefly sees her own part in it, then blames her daughter. She reaches for the same explanation even in private.
Cite the novel
Fominaya Parra, Luis. The Victim. Free online edition. When citing a scene, add its chapter, scene title, and direct link.