Why We Shouldn T Verna Be Convicted Of Murder

1459 Words6 Pages

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, today you will hear my argument on why Verna should not be convicted of murder. It all starts during Vernas childhood. She faced a great deal of traumatic events that affected her social and emotional development. As an adolescent's you have an increase in brain development, when suffering a trauma it causes major structural components of the central nervous system that can stunt or change your emotional and social behaviors. When Verna was going through development she faced a lot of trauma, her father left as a young child, she was raped, she got pregnant, she was sent away from her home, she lost her baby and her ability to have kids. Anyone who goes through just one of these things will face changes in …show more content…

Bob Goreham was loved by the entire town, he was the star football player, the golden boy, he could do no wrong. When Bob asked Verna to go to the Snow Queen’s Palace winter formal she thought she was the luckiest girl in the world. This caused Verna to believe that Bob truly cared about her and Verna fell in love with Bob, “Gullible Verna, who’d believed she was in love” (Atwood 204). Young, innocent Verna did not realize what Bob’s real intent was. Bob singled Verna out specifically because he knew that he could get away with raping her, but this never crossed Vernas mind. Bob got Verna drunk and took her to the side of the road and raped her. He even invited his friend Ken to help him. Rape can cause serious physiological problems as well as behavior problems including destructive behavior. These behavioral changes caused Verna to act irrationally and end up killing Bob Goreham. But the reason for this irrational behavior is because of the adolescent trauma. To make matters worse, Bob also got Verna pregnant. After …show more content…

The only person left in Vernas life to support was her mother. As soon as the scandal hit the church her mother immediately sent her away. Verna’s mother was a strict Presbyterian, Verna described her as having a mouth like a vise grip. Verna knew to not have sex before marriage, it was something her mother always told her. Hence why her mother was so upset when she found out that Verna had sex, for example, “she (Verna’s mother) bought Verna a bus ticket and shipped her off to a church-run Home for Unwed Mothers on the outskirts of Toronto” (Atwood 207). The home made her work and pray. The home made them believe that what had happened to the was justly deserved, which caused even more self blame. After going through a long labor and giving away her baby Verna was given a ticket back home but Verna knew she could not go back to the town and to her mother, for example, “But she could not face that- that or the town in general” (Atwood 207). Since Verna did not want to go back to the town or face her mother again Verna had to live on her own at a very young age. She got a job as a prostitute, she turned into what everybody thought of her. She had nothing and had to work for everything. Once her mother kicked her out Verna had no role models or an example to follow by. The example that was set for her was to make fun of the people you hate and isolate them. This caused Verna to live

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