Nightwatching

Content Warning: Both the source material and this guide contain descriptions of traumatic experiences, emotional and physical abuse towards women, bullying of a person with a skin condition, and violent death.

A trauma response is a reaction to danger or a perceived threat and is an involuntary reflex based on survival instincts. All people respond to trauma physically, emotionally, and cognitively, but trauma responses vary greatly depending on individual temperament, specific circumstances, biological makeup, and available support systems. The mother’s flashbacks portray her as a person who has always been hypervigilant, something for which her husband criticizes her. Her history of trauma causes her to experience severe responses to new traumatic events, such as when her college boyfriend surprises her and causes her to collapse on the floor in fear. Because she always reacts to trauma with shock and silence, her first glimpse of the intruder causes her to exhibit a freeze response. Whereas others might go into the fight-or-flight response, her coping mechanism works in her favor because it keeps her hidden. However, as the story progresses, the mother’s trauma response evolves, for she realizes that she must act decisively as the situation changes. Ultimately, she emerges as a heroic person who overcomes her initial fear response, and her self-sacrificial actions reveal the lengths to which mothers will go in order to protect their children.