MovieChat Forums > Hounddog (2007) Discussion > Why did she get so sick? Why was rape no...

Why did she get so sick? Why was rape not reported?

posted 14 years ago by JohnHere
10 replies | jump to latest

After the teenage boy molested here she got very sick with vomiting and fever for several weeks. I thought she may be preganant at first but don't think this is the case. Could he have tore up her coochie inside and caused an infection like that?

Also, why did she not report the rape to her family? The old black guy heard the teenages admitting to the rape, why did he not call the authorities? The teenage boy who molested her got away with it.

[–] zaphod1957 14 years ago

I don't think she was pregent either and that the vomiting was from the stress of the rape.

As for reporting, she probably didn't want to admit to her very religious grandmother that she was willing to sing naked in front of a couple boys to get an Elvis ticket. In fact she wasn't even supposed to be playing with Buddy at all, let alone be down at a remote shack near the lake with him and another teenage boy. She probably felt her grandmother would blame her for what happened.

I think it is important to remember that this supposedly took place in the 50's. The word of an black man might not have carried alot of weight with the authorities back then, especially when he accusing some white kids.

[–] ozgirlfan 14 years ago

I think back in the day it the parents or guardians would blame the girl for being in the wrong place at the wrong time rather than sympathize. Also since she was warned by her grandmother to be good and sin later when your older.

[–] Rhen2002 14 years ago

>> She probably felt her grandmother would blame her for what happened. <<

Unfortunately, this.

I won't say who, but I do know someone older who was raped by a sibling. When she told her mother, the only response was a slap in the face.

She forgave him though, and quite frankly it was resolved that way only.

Back then... sorry. I don't think they would have gotten quite the same response. Except maybe the Grandma would pick up that shotgun of her's again for that teenage boy, I assume.

[–] IMDbStalker7 13 years ago

Her hand was impaled upon a rusty nail.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] jujubea_ah 13 years ago

I thought she was pregnant to, but like someone else said, it was probably from the stress of holding the secret and with everything else going wrong it was just coming down on her to much.

But yeah the grandmother wouldn't have done anything as much as a jesus freak she was and the black guy probably knew no real justice would result from him saying anything so that's why he gave her the wisdom and strength she needed to get through it herself.

[–] Niki3333 13 years ago

Yes, as someone else said, she got sick from cutting her hand on the rusty nail.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] kobrakai1 12 years ago

Well considering her grandmother accused her of 'sinning' and causing her Dad to be struck by lightning I don't think Grammie would be much of a rational thinker.
it was the 50s and she was a poor outcast, unfortunately if she did tell, or the black singer guy told...who would believe them?
Also she was young and I don't think she actually understood what happened to her other than it was bad. Do you think she even really knew what 'rape' meant or that it wasn't her fault. So as a child in that day and age, who doesn't really know about sex, who willfully stripped naked and danced in front of a boy would she really understand that what he did to her was NOT solicited, or in anyway okay by anyones standards, probably not.
Most people who are raped feel ashamed and at some level blame themselves for what happened thinking that they provoked it in some way which is very well what Lewellen was most likely thinking.

[–] loser (348) 6 years ago

I think it was left up to our imagination whether she was pregnant.