The Crimson Petal and the White is about the lives of various women in Victorian England. It focuses on the sexual exploits, and the trauma that is endured by these women. None of them emerge from this novel unscathed – the men in this novel have a penchant for violence, and taking it out against them.
Agnes, William’s wife, is driven ‘mad’ by her trauma. Agnes is raised by her stepfather after her mother dies early on in her life. She has already lost her father, and now she has lost her mother. She does not have anyone to explain womanly things to her so Agnes is not taught anything about her biology. She does not know that her monthly cycles are natural. This leads to her fearing her cycles. Agnes believes that she has been cursed, and that every month she bleeds because a demon is terrorizing her. As she is devoutly Catholic, she prays to Mother Mary to bless her, and heal her. She finds comfort in prayer and going to church.
When she marries William she does not know anything about sex, and that he might want to have sex with her. On their wedding night she is traumatized by him because he forces himself on her. William concludes that she would ‘start enjoying it’ but she does not. Once she is pregnant, she denies that she is pregnant, misunderstanding why she is gaining weight. She is traumatized further when her doctor starts to molest her. Agnes is continuously traumatized and can find no freedom from those around her.
Agnes uses prayer to help her get through the day. She is a fanatical believer and she uses her faith to help her get through life. Throughout her passages she is always referring to the holy mother and her guardian angel (Sugar). Anything she believes in, she believes in very strongly.
Sugar is another figure that has been traumatized. Sugar ‘fell’ when she was just a teenager. Her mother gave her a client when she was just thirteen years old. When Sugar reminisces about her mother she remembers how cruel she is, and how her mother had justified her behavior by saying that Sugar shouldn’t get to live better than she did. Sugar grew up in poverty, very differently than Agnes. She grew up with next to nothing. She has been assaulted by all kinds of people. Her throat is raspy because someone has held a knife close to it.
One thing that Sugar does that helps with her trauma is write her book. She is writing a book called the Fall and Rise of Sugar. It is her autobiography. Sugar takes to writing when she is angry or frustrated. It is to help purge her of the violent feelings she has towards the men she has to see. The book is also supposed to help the world see prostitutes in a different light. She wants this book to help her afford better and to help her prostitute friends as well.
Both Agnes and Sugar have been through a lot. Both of their trauma is sexually based and both of them had people close to them betray them and hurt them. They both have coping mechanisms they use so they can get through their trauma. And in the end they both are able to start healing, in their own way.
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