Letting Go

In the book by Dorothy Allison she talks about her experience with karate. She talks about being the only girl in a class dominated by males. During this chapter she explains how she met the wife of the sensei. Shortly after she tells about one of her experiences running, "My hips shifted. Something in the bottom of my spine let go. Something disconnected from the coccyx that was shattered when i was a girl. Something loosened from the old bruised and torn flesh. Some piece of shame pulled free, some shame so ancient I had never known myself without it. I felt it lift, and with it my thighs lifted, suddenly loose and strong, pumping steadily beneath me as if nothing could hold me down." Everything I had read up until this point seemed to be words gathered without reason. To me, everything was connected in this short paragraph. The way Allison explained her hardship running, how the only thing keeping her going was that she was not supposed to be able to do it, made this chapter so easy to relate to. It allowed you to connect with her in a way you could not do before. She opened a vein and began spilling her thoughts. In short, I think it allowed you to truly connect to her entire troubled childhood. You can actually feel the pain she went through, and the satisfaction she felt not giving up. I’ve read many books but none that have given me the satisfaction that I got reading this paragraph.