When Jane Eyre travels to Lowood, she chooses, stubbornly, to stop eating. This decision (though of course linked to her depression) is a clear act of resistance within a setting where Jane does not have much autonomy; her refusal to eat for these first few days indicates that Jane has found an outlet for expression separate from her mode of speaking out, which is sure to result in swift punishment. In The Flight of Gemma Hardy, the titular character undergoes a similar act of resistance following a traumatic experience. However, instead of refusing to eat, Gemma decides she will simply stop talking. After Gemma witnesses the attack on Drummond, a fellow working girl, she struggles to understand why Drummond does not report the roommates who assaulted her and admits that she "did not know how to voice the shame that that must surely accompany such an attack" (Livesey 66). This instance foreshadows an identical attack on Gemma later in the novel. It is worth noting that, although Gemma has been physically accosted by her cousin Will and his friends on page 29, the language of this excerpt is relatively tame compared to the scene described in the Elm Room at Claypoole: "someone seized my ankles-[I] fought as hard as I could, kicking, scratching, biting ... Someone dragged off my pyjama jacket. Someone forced my mouth open and stuffed in a sock. Someone tugged my hair. And the worst of it was not the pain, or even the shame, but the bodies shutting me in, holding me prisoner, smothering me" (Livesey 94). Both the attack on Gemma and the earlier one on Drummond suggest themes of sexual violence, and in both cases, Gemma mentions the resulting feeling of shame. Whereas Jane Eyre explores gender dynamics in more abstract terms (patriarchal rules, status quo, and the invisible lines of restraint for those of a certain sex, race, or class), The Flight of Gemma Hardy draws upon more explicit examples of these divides. In our #MeToo era of social media and the rise of collective consciousness, these passages echo sentiments we're very familiar with seeing on the news and various online forums.

Following this attack, Gemma stops speaking except to her best friend Miriam in private settings; however, "Even to Miriam [she] could not describe the girls' attack. To remember it was to relive it, and to relive it brought [her] back to that excruciating edge" (Livesey 96). Again, Gemma illustrates the difficulty of talking through her experience; she herself can hardly rationalize the events that have taken place, particularly the deep sense of shame resulting from the attack. These passages all demonstrate women's lack of autonomy, the constant fear of assault on the female body, and the rhetorical measures that may be taken in response: Gemma, like her predecessor Jane, use language (or the lack of) as a defense mechanism.

Livesey, Margot. The Flight of Gemma Hardy: a Novel. Harper Perennial, 2013.