List

LANGUAGE
In An Untamed State, Roxane Gay's use of language allows her to accurately represent the characters and their emotions. She particularly uses short syntax to portray the thoughts of Mireille during the final days of the kidnapping. Mireille believes she is of no importance to her family anymore, and therefore she acquires a loss of emotion regarding her life and what she will become. Rather than having the Commander lead her to his bedroom, she walks there herself, thinking, "I did not need him to lead me. I was no one so I knew where I had to go. I knew what I would be made to do" (192). Mireille knows that she is about to be taken advantage of, but seems indifferent about putting up a fight for herself or for her family. Her short sentences show she lacks any emotion regarding her safety and her situation. She has turned apathetic, believing she is "no one" and of no importance, and shows that with her choppy sentences. Gay also uses repetition to show how Mireille feels. Mireille is struggling to maintain her identity or, on the contrary, does not want to maintain her identity in order to prevent further pain if she cannot be returned to her family. By constantly stating "I am no one", she is reminding herself that she has no connections to the outside world and no family to call her own. The more Mireille tells herself she is "no one", the further she strays away from her old, sane self. Gay's repetition of "I am no one" shows the readers how Miri has quickly changed from a loving mother and wife to a broken, kidnapped woman.

IDENTITY
The protagonist in the novel is Mireille Duval. She is married to a loving man named Michael, with whom she has a son, Christophe. Upon visiting her parents in their native country, Haiti, Mireille is kidnapped and held for a one million dollar ransom. Mireille wants nothing more than to return to her family and escape the nightmare she is living. The man who is in charge of the abduction, the Commander, craves money for his sins. He knows Sebastian Duval is one of Haiti's wealthiest, and plans to torture Mireille until her father's transaction comes his way. TiPierre, one of the abductors, wants Mireille and her body for himself. As he mentions to her, "'I gave part of my share of the ransom to the others so they would leave you alone" (Gay 119). He has developed feelings for Miri and hopes to be friends with her and her family outside of the kidnapping. She, however, fights him harder than any of the other abductors because of his creepy devotion to her. Michael wants Mireille return safely to him so that he will take her and Christophe back to their home in the United States immediately. He no longer trusts Haiti--and never really has--but visits occasionally solely because of Mireille and her love for her homeland. Sebastian, who is not open about his emotions because it implies weakness, wishes for the return of his youngest daughter. However, he also refuses to pay the ransom without negotiation, for he believes if he pays willingly, the abductors will come right back to his property and steal all the women in his life until his bank account is empty. His stubbornness does little to sway the needs of the kidnappers. Through being reluctant to adhere to their wishes, Mireille’s punishment increases exponentially. He, in turn, ruins his daughter’s life through this selfish act to protect his possessions rather than the people he (supposedly) loves.

SPACE
The novel portrays Haiti as a country that suffers both politically and economically, displaying a poor distribution of wealth. Because of the drastic difference between the poor and the rich, those who are less fortunate would frequently turn to kidnapping in order to make a living. After Miri is kidnapped, she reflects on her childhood memories in Haiti -- a country she thought she knew -- and identifies it as a new country, one "that belonged to men who obeyed no kind of law" (Gay 14). It is apparent that there is tension between the two classes and, as a result, Miri is forced to face the consequences of Haiti's unsolved political dilemma. The country runs on male violence, and the innocent women of the upper-class have -- unfortunately -- become targets. In Miri's case, the captors demand a ransom from her family but Sebastian, her father, is not willing to pay. It is not the one million dollar price that is the issue. He refuses to pay those who do not honor his country with the money that he earns through his hard work. Due to Haiti's political issues, Miri suffers beyond her thirteen days in captivity as she continues to cope with the problems that develop from her horrific experiences.

Miri finds ways to mentally escape in order to deal with the conditions of captivity. By recalling past memories of her "fairy tale" life in the United States with her husband, Miri is able to briefly free herself from her reality. However, envisioning her previous life also makes her realize that she will probably never be able to have it back. As a coping mechanism, Miri forces herself to forget everything that she loves: "I made myself forget for as long as I could . . . I needed to be no one so I might survive” (Gay 160). In order to protect herself and fight for her life, Miri finds a way to avoid actuality:"There is nothing you cannot do when you are no one" (Gay 131). By referring to herself as "no one," this is who she ultimately becomes, which psychologically changes her forever.

The confinement of captivity influences Miri's behaviors even after her release. Specifically, what Mireille refers to as "the cage," the small room she resides in during the thirteen days, represents a physical barrier for Miri from which she can not escape. Although freedom seems nearly impossible, there are several instances when she cannot help but to mentally devise an escape plan:“I looked up at the small window. If he left me alone, I could try to fit through the small space. I could hoist myself up and out of this hell. I could be free” (Gay 17). In order to survive, Miri held on to the hope that she would soon be free:“Once again, I tried to memorize everything, just in case I could find a new way out for myself. The thought of escape was a foolish hope and I held on to it dearly.” (Gay 190). Miri is desperate for an escape; however, no matter how hard she tries, she remains in the Commander's control. These feelings of restraint stick with Miri as she continues to feel held back even after her eventual release from captivity.

TIME
Mireille is in captivity for a total of 13 days. For the majority of the time she spends in what she referred to as her "cage," she is hopeful that someone from her family would give in and pay the ransom so that she could safely return home. She pays strict attention to the amount of time that passes as if there is a certain timetable in which she is expected to return: "After the first week, I started to believe my release was imminent so I played counting games. I thought, 'I will count to one thousand and then I will be free.' I counted over and over again and hours would pass and I counted more" (Gay 253). Even after seven days of captivity, Mireille is still fairly positive that she would be freed. However, as seconds turn into minutes, and minutes turn into hours, she slowly begins to realize that her father has no intention of paying the ransom. As her hatred for her father grows as a result and her will to keep track of time decreases. She sees no reason to continue counting the days because she does not think she would ever be released from her cage. This loss of hope is shown in her first interaction with Michael after she is freed: "I held my stomach and faltered, to truly know how much time had passed" (215). This proves that, at some point after losing hope in her family, she does in fact stop counting the days. Gay uses time during Mireille's kidnapping to represent how her will to hope and to survive changes as a result of the adverse conditions into which she has been forced.

(Source: Gay, Roxane. An Untamed State. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.)