51 pages • 1 hour read
Our Last Resort
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of emotional abuse, rape, sexual violence, physical abuse, mental illness, graphic violence, and death.
The Persistence of Trauma
Our Last Resort depicts trauma as an enduring psychological state that continues to impact both Frida and Gabriel as adults, long after their escape from the cult. Although both of them share the same environment, the novel explores how each internalizes that experience differently, underscoring the individualized and persistent impacts of trauma.
Frida’s trauma begins with the severing of family ties. Under Émile’s authoritarian doctrine, children are separated from their parents and raised communally, replacing familial bonds with the cult’s imposed structure. Frida’s earliest emotional wound comes from this loss of family, as she recalls: “Fathers didn’t matter. Only one man mattered, Émile” (51). This destabilizes her understanding of love and safety. The cult’s communal upbringing focuses on verbal abuse and corporal punishment to enforce order, and Frida develops a mental illness rooted in the fear and panic she experienced as a child as well as in the lack of emotional security. This persists into her adulthood, affecting her behavior, worldview, and relationships.
Frida’s trauma deepens with Émile’s sexual assault. She was not aware of his routine abuse of the cult’s women prior to her own rape, and in its aftermath, she struggles with anger, confusion, and shame.
