She is just at a breaking point after weeks of worrying about her future and then it spills out of her. You probably experienced people oversharing personal information for less good reasons.Mister X wrote: Fri Jan 16, 2026 10:15 pm For me it is a little strange, that she told Robertson about her familiy. He is a stranger. She could have ask for help without telling him so much. But okay, she was very nervous at that moment.
I talk briefly about that in chapter 3. It's not important for the story, but it's something I thought about too.Mister X wrote: Fri Jan 16, 2026 10:15 pm And even though the mother is a minor character, one naturally becomes curious about how Eleanor's father won this woman over.
I think you are making the mistake here to confuse the "Fight, Flight, or Freeze"-response of the body with a carefully weighed rational choice. And it is precisely that feeling of "But I could have done this! Or fought back like that!" that often makes victims afterward blame themselves. People freeze in situations like that. Forget about Eleanor for a moment. Read this article from 2017:Mister X wrote: Fri Jan 16, 2026 10:15 pm I find it unrealistic that Eleanor doesn't defend herself at all. Yes, she is in shock, yes, he is a respected figure, yes, he has helped her. But her studies would probably have continued without him, she could have applied for a scholarship without him and worked with another professor.
https://www.zeit.de/zett/liebe-sex/2017 ... h-praesent
That talks about men getting abused by physically weaker women and just letting it happen. You can wonder just as well there why these men don't just physically stop the women attacking them. And if it was some other guy punching them on the street, chances are they would punch them back. But if it's your girlfriend suddenly attacking you and you have no script in your head for "girlfriend attacks boyfriend" then chances are... you just do nothing. I get that it sounds weird, but it happens.
I consciously chose to focus solely on Eleanor's pov during the assault. I wanted to put her front and center. I wanted the reader to feel her surprise and paralysis and how unreal this all is to her. To her, this moment is completely nonsensical.Mister X wrote: Fri Jan 16, 2026 10:15 pm I somehow miss the moment when Robertson makes his decision. Beforehand, you describe his thoughts in detail, but not at that moment and not during the rape either.
Here is what I think happened in Roberton's head. I think, he realized that he'd be seeing Eleanor a lot if she started working for him. Even if he managed not to do anything in that moment, he couldn't imagine doing this again over and over for years potentially. And if he's bound to fail anyway at some point... why resist it so hard now?