Graphic Violence in Word and Image: Reimagining Closure in The Ride Together

Abstract

Violence, pain, abuse, torture—these experiences are often perceived as being difficult to communicate through verbal or written channels of language. Elaine Scarry, for example, identifies an “inexpressibility” and “unsharability” of pain that can make pain difficult to communicate or represent, especially in instances of extreme violence (3–4). However, as Scarry notes, one aspect of language that can make pain more representable is the use of a visible referent—the image or signifier of a weapon that inflicts pain on a body. Yet, there are relative advantages and disadvantages to this alternative strategy. A main disadvantage is that a visible referent can easily be “spatially separated from the body,” thereby permitting “a break in the identification” between the referent and its effects on bodies (17). In this case, visual representation also becomes problematic.