Violation and assault
This novel is an allegorical retelling of Winnie Li's own experience. In her novel, a young woman named Vivian is deceived by a polite stranger into trusting him, but when they are alone, the young man named Johnny rapes Vivian and leaves her for dead. She survives the brutal attack, but the unspeakable experience of being over-powered, attacked, and violated haunts Vivian as she heads into the most difficult time of her life as she seeks justice against him.
Power and authority
Not only is Vivian overpowered in the attack, but she is also disenfranchised from justice by certain unspoken assumptions that are difficult to isolate and settle. There are many kinds of power that are on display in this novel. The courts have power, but also, the lawyers themselves have a nearly magic ability with words and rhetoric that skew a story in two radically different ways. The media has a kind of social power, because by shaping their stories to seem more scandalous, they allow Vivian's story to be doubted, which harms her reputation.
Deception and honesty
The court case is similar to a famous legal paradox that Plato discusses in The Republic. Suppose a big man and a little man are fighting. The big man says the little man attacked him, but the little man says, "Why would I do that? Of course he has the natural advantage." And the big man says, "But why would I knowingly do such a thing if I knew I would be caught?" The imagery is of deception and honesty. Vivian is being honest, but the imagery of her opponent's deception makes it impossible to tell for sure who is lying. She is disenfranchised even from being treated as a victim.
Trauma and psychic suffering
Behind the foreground of press hearings and court cases, Vivian's life is spiraling. She feels intense emotional embarrassment and weakness as a result of the violent attack. Not only that, she is chronically reminded of the trauma so that healing feels like it will never come. She suffers paranoia and social shame as her story reaches the masses, to mixed reception, and she is often treated like "she were asking for it," which is the most emotionally insensitive opinion someone might believe about her. The rape is only the beginning of suffering; her psychic suffering of PTSD and fear are overwhelming.
