Adrienne Rich’s Rape Have you ever been...

Adrienne Rich’s "Rape" Have you ever been in a situation where you had something horrible happen in your life that you needed to do something about, but in order to do something about it, you had to confront the problem and that caused you pain and more troubles? I believe that to be the underlying conflict in Adrienne Rich’s

"Rape". The main character who the speaker is talking to first is a woman who has been sexually violated. She is a victim of a heinous and very private, embarrassing crime. The officer that she has reported her situation to is a policeman who patrols her area and who her family knows and trust. Her family is very close to this officer, for "he comes from your block, grew up with your brothers.(2)" She doesn’t know him that well though, which makes her telling him about the incident that much more painful and uncomfortable. She gives him all the details of the crime and about her assailant. She has the idea that the cop may have been her rapist. The woman...