The Power of Speech

[philippa_]

Hi, A little dark easter present for you all :D

Title: The Power of Speech chapter 4
Rating: I'm going to put it down from an M to a T for this chapter.
Summary: An AU where Ryan's father wasn't arrested and continued to beat Dawn and the boys. Ryan meets the Cohens through a different way.
Author's note: Okay, the Cohens aren't in just yet but

Comments

[beachtree]

Dark and little? Nah! But it is Easter and this is a much appreciated present, so thank you for that!

I feel like you've really hit your stride with this chapter with so much intersecting that really brings Ryan's voice to life even more than before. Of course, the irony is that no one but we, the readers, and Ryan are witnesses to his introspection. This chapter also hints at your chosen title in new ways as well as you mention, and Ryan becomes aware of, the power of speech- or of silence- and how each are perceived.

The imagery at the beginning definitely tugs at the heart. There's something so distinctly Ryan in the way he's observant, vigilant, and equal parts guarded and hopeful as he watches for Trey from his perch at the window. Even as he's on the inside looking out, although somewhat differently than when he lived with Frank and Dawn, he's still in the symbolic, familiar position of a misplaced outsider looking in. Despite his wariness, he's still trying to mask a sort of innocent vulnerability, especially as his posture changes with the sighting of each blue car.

Your depiction of the interaction between Ryan and Molly is revealing on many levels. Ryan sees some of himself- both his former and current self- in the child who is a kindred spirit with her visible scar that hints at more, world-weary, knowing eyes, quiet demeanor, and gentle, but strong spirit. He doesn't seem to recognize that she has hopefully spared a longer sentence such as he has endured, and that she should be in a far safer and more secure environment. As much as he feels for her and treats her with kindness, sensitivity, patience and the acceptance she extends to him, he seems oblivious to how distressing his own plight is in comparison. While that whole exchange is carried out in silence, both of them are communicating throughout, and sharing feelings and a level of trust that they probably haven't demonstrated with anyone else.

I like how you incorporate the theme of silence and reinforce it by bringing it to the forefront even in subtly ways. Ryan obviously doesn't complain about the crying baby, since that would not only be completely contrary to his personality, but also because he's not expressing himself verbally. Still, it seems that Lucy feels the need to apologize for the baby, to reassure Ryan, or merely latches on to it as something she should be saying to Ryan, therefore using it as an opportunity to have something to say to him. What resonates the most however, is her statement that despite the baby's cries, she'll be gone soon, since she is a desirable candidate for adoption. What goes without saying is that quiet, silent even, Ryan is the oldest at fifteen- and will be the least likely to attract positive interest. Ouch.

It's not as if Ryan isn't used to being neglected and forgotten. He would have learned to prefer both to the various forms of abuse he endured at the hands of his family. Even this sort of "confinement" and dehumanizing, numeric status as property of the state rather than a person has him less objectified than he was with his family.

Although I wasn't certain in previous chapters if Ryan was completely mute, or just more withdrawn from the trauma while surrounded by unknowns and rotating groups of strangers whom he didn't fully understand and couldn't trust, Trey's first spoken words of the chapter in dialogue form set that straight. Suddenly, it makes sense why Trey wrote to him and why there was no phone conversation. Without providing one of the adults' perspectives to counter Ryan's, you've given a glimpse of what the collective belief is. No one has the time or enough investment to address Ryan's status or needs intensely, but they all have an impression of Ryan's reaction to what he's experienced.