The House at Sugar Beach #5

After Daddy left, everything began to change drastically. The country people were sick of being underneath the Congo people of which Helene and her family were a part of. Helene was unaware that anything was going until the government was officially overthrown, “A coup d’etat, I learned that day, was a French phrase meaning “overthrow of the government” or literally, “cutting off the head,” (Cooper 166). This foreshadows the bloodiness and violence that will soon transcend over the country.
Because there were mostly just women at the house at Sugar Beach after daddy left, they were much more vulnerable. Soldiers came, ransacked the house, and took mommee into the bedroom. They left and she came out saying, “Those damn soldiers gang-raped me” (Cooper 177). This was extremely traumatizing for her and the girls who were forced to stand by and watch it happen. They looked up to their mother for strength and seeing her get taken advantage of drained a lot of their courage. Nobody should have to go through that.