Blindness as a Cause for Suffering in Evelyn Lau's Runaway

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Robert Di Lorenzo                                                

Mr. Naccarato

ENG 3U1-02

3 January 2005

Blindness as a Cause for Suffering in Evelyn Lau’s Runaway

        Blindness, as a literal term in the first connotation, is “sightless; difficult to comprehend or see.” (Webster 103). When one thinks of something blind, they think of a physical blindness of shuteyes and glasses. Yet, when one looks deeper into the definition of blindness, one may realize that blindness is not just a disease of the eye, it is a disease of the heart, the soul and the mind. Blindness makes one turn away from family, love and even sanity. Blindness is powerful. Blindness can kill, both physically and spiritually. In Evelyn Lau’s Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid, Evelyn Lau suffers during her life on the streets because she refuses to accept the reality that she cannot exist by herself, without the aid of others who truly love her. Her view of a free world actually confines her and makes her vulnerable to the world at large because she is blind to the truth. She is blind to love, blind to aid and, though somewhat solipsist, blind to even herself.

Evelyn fails to see the love in the way her parents decide to raise her. She believes homelessness, where she can live by her own rules, at the age of fourteen, will solve her issues of confinement at home. In a fit of anger, she writes, “Haven’t my parents ostracized me enough?” (Lau 15). In this, Evelyn attributes the actions of her parents to the problems she faces while on the streets. Because she feels they raise her incorrectly, she forces herself into a life as a homeless, teenage, drug addict, prostitute, and yet still blames it on her parents. Homelessness is not an option of last resort for a

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teenager that lives in a stable household: it is an all out choice. She believes that their actions are completely bizarre, though in truth, are quite common by other parents. Evelyn considers parents to be ruthless and blind to her needs, yet she fails to recognize that it is the only way they know how to raise a child. Her parents teach respect and discipline through “tough” love. She takes the actions of her parents and denotes negative connotations to all of them to justify her own opinion. Evelyn feels that when her parents confine her and ...

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