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But the title is also ironic because we know that the Golden State Killer, a.k.a.
Joseph James DAngelo, wont be gone in the dark forever.
Certainly throughout the series, Arabella struggles to keep herself mentally and emotionally together after the incident.
ButI May Destroy Youis insistent on exploring a wider range of sexual abuse.
(Well, at least temporarily.
They spring from her imagination.
Arabellas work is about herself, while McNamaras involves events that happened to other people.
She, too, was sexually assaulted while living in Ireland.
In different but overlapping ways, their writing is deeply personal and tied to past trauma.
McNamara gains control by connecting dots that law enforcement had not fully connected for decades.
Alex Jung, referring to the process of sorting through the drafts ofI May Destroy You.
Even the nonwriters among us do this, dont we?
Absorbing or sharing such stories doesnt take away the trauma or the fear.
Storytelling makes us feel like there is sense even where there may be none.
She reports the crime even though she is not sure who is responsible and tells her story to police.
And she shares her experience in a self-help group, another form of asserting control over the experience.
This is how women were in the 70s, she explains.
But it doesnt entirely.
In some ways, Im worse.
For Arabella, there is no official closure either.
That would have been so cool.
And then that didnt happen.
In another striking parallel,Ill Be Gone in the DarkandI May Destroy Youend on nearly identical visual notes.
But there is a lack of it at the same time.
But she is still here.
