Oct. 27th Task

Oct. 27th Task

Journalist’s Review of Protagonist



Fall River Then and Now

                             By Brent Brown



BB:  Now that it’s all over, Miss Borden, would keep silent for more than twenty years?



LB:  I am terribly afraid that I would, Mr. Brown.



BB:  But why would you put yourself for so much anguish?



LB:  It was not something I decided quickly or capriciously.  I’ve had years to think about this.  It was for my own salvation that I decided to tell the story. 



BB:  Do you think that your sister will understand your revelations?



LB:  It took me over a century of contemplation and pain for me to ask God for MY forgiveness—for the redemption of my soul—in spite of the love and devotion I had for my sister.  In the end, Emma will need to personally petition God for her own salvation. 



BB:  But how is it that you are able to forgive your sister? 



LB:  I’m not sure if I will ever forgive her, but she is all the immediate family that I have—and the only real mother I ever knew.  The last twenty-two years of my life I grieved not only for my beloved father—but the sister and mother I never knew—and the devastation of what should have been a time of peace and joy.  Instead I endured a most solitary life.



BB:  If you had known the truth immediately after the murders would you have exposed your sister as the perpetrator?



LB:  Most probably—but by error.  I was very distraught finding Father like I did.  Everything seemed to suddenly be enveloped in a cloud.  If I had known then, I hope I would have tried to help Emma do the right thing.  But, as confused as I was, I’m afraid that I would have unconsciously let slip something.



BB:  Surely you realized that the murderer must have been familiar with the house—with all of you?



LB:  Not until long after the tragedy.  As I just said, I felt that I was wrapped in a cloud.  Between that and the morphine they continued to give me I found it very difficult to process any information or thought.  Later, I did all I could to thrust such ideas from my mind. 



BB:  But why did you find it so hard to face the truth?

LB:  Because, Mr. Brown, I knew that I could not do such wicked things.  My sister had raised me.  Therefore, I believed that if I could not commit murder, and I had been formed in the image of my sister—then I was unable to believe Emma could have done such horrific things.



BB:  Changing topics for a moment—there’s been much speculation about your relationship with the famous Nance O’Neil.  Exactly how close were you two?



LB:  Miss O’Neil was a great talent and one of my few true friends.  But those shameful rumors of impropriety are just that—rumors!  What Nance did in the privacy of her own home was certainly her business alone.  All I can say is that she always treated me with respect and kindness.



BB:  In recent years there has also been some talk about you and a married man—several, in fact.  Were you in love with someone…ah… unattainable?



LB:  Now while false, at least this has some slight basis in truth.  After I left school, I did maintain a close friendship with an older man—one of my teachers.  He was kind and had tried to keep me from leaving school.  But he was most definitely very happily married.  For reasons now evident, I had no interest in men.  And, before you ask, or women.



BB:  One last question then, Miss Borden.  Do you believe your sister is insane?

LB:  Insane—no.  But deeply troubled.  Although I cannot understand how she could visit her own pain onto me, I do know how traumatic such things are.  And, as I have already said, we are different people.  While I drew into myself and pulled away and tried to forget what had happened to me as a young child, Emma focused on it.  It festered inside her for years until all the pain and hatred came bubbling out of her.



BB:  Thank you, Miss Borden.