I Am Watching You

With the two characters at the center of the plot—Anna and Sarah—dealing with gendered violence, the narrative unpacks how the threat of violence and crime is omnipresent for women and children. The novel also explores how the atmosphere of violence contributes to anxiety in women and leads to psychological terror. A pertinent example of the consequences of this psychological terror is Anna’s decision to leave the nightclub. Anna feels unsafe at the club, stared at by men. When a man winks at her, “she looks away, suddenly all paranoia” (263). She feels she has no choice but to leave the club, and unfortunately walks into a more unsafe situation. Thus, she, like many young women in the real world, is given an impossible dilemma to navigate, with both the club and the street representing unsafe spaces. The narrative presents a realistic portrayal of the many kinds of violence with which women have to deal, and without suggesting a simplistic solution to the quandary.

One of the key aspects of the pervasive threat of violence is that it exists in almost all the spheres women inhabit. The novel especially explores how so-called safe spaces can be treacherous for women and children, including their own homes. Sarah’s father Bob sexually abuses her when she is 13, using her innate trust in him to manipulate her. Sarah recalls the assault as a time when she was “in complete shock. Had no time to process the situation” (88). What makes the assault even more ghastly is that it occurs at home and via a parent. Bob sexually abuses Sarah’s older sister Lily as well, over the course of years. Meanwhile, the greatest threat to Anna is not through strangers, but Tim, one of the boys she considers her best friend.

The experience of violence and abuse has long-lasting impacts on the psyches of young women. Sarah realizes late in the day that her traumatized sister Lily harms herself to cope with the memories of their father’s abuse. It is suggested that Lily also deals with disordered eating. Sarah places herself in increasingly dangerous situations with men—such as at the nightclub—to get their approval, and subsequently hates herself for her sexual expression. The text also examines psychological violence against women, in the form of bullying, judgment for their sexuality, and the sexual double standard. Sarah knows telling the police the whole truth will expose her to risible scrutiny—much like Ella, everyone will judge her for her encounter with Antony. Thus, she bottles up her guilt. Further, Sarah knows that the world views a 16-year-old girl having an end-of-exam party at a nightclub very differently from a young man in a similar situation. Anticipating the psychological violence which will follow the truth, Sarah keeps quiet.

Tim’s murder of Anna represents the apex of male violence against women. The fact that the police cannot ascertain why exactly he killed his friend shows the senselessness of such violence. Anna is not suggested to have behaved with malice toward Tim in the past; instead, she welcomes him into her life. It can be inferred that Tim objectifies Anna, treating her as his property to watch. By killing her, he is able to keep her forever under his eye, and his control. In a world which can sometimes go to any extent to control and curtail women, women characters in the text have to walk a tightrope. The novel does not offer any easy solution to the real-world violence against women but only suggests that people should be cognizant of the fact that the enemy is often a familiar, rather than a stranger.