TOW #20 (IRB): Picking Cotton Pt. 1

             Picking Cotton is one of those books that is able to capture something in this world and explain it in full detail. The book is able to describe the emotion behind torture, innocence, and forgiveness. It recreates the events of a true story, and with first person point of view, is able to retell it without skipping a single detail. Jennifer Cannino, the main character and writer, faced an unfortunate event during the summer of college. She was raped in her dorm room, being forced to take part in sexual acts. Even while going through something as traumatic as this, Jennifer still manages to look the rapist straight in the eye and remember everything about his physique. She studies him up and down making sure that after he is finished, he will never get away with the torturous act he just committed. This is the part in the book where Jennifer really describes the emotion of torture. She makes it feel so real and alive as if it has happened to you. You feel so connected to her, so sorry for her. While looking in a line up, Jennifer is asked to pick out her attacker. 100% sure on who he was, Jennifer picks Ronald Cotton, who turns out to not be the attacker. The point of view now switches over to Ronald's perspective as he tells about his innocence. We learn the struggle of how hard it is to prove they have the wrong guy. As a reader, you start to develop this understanding of Ronald. You start to see that sometimes people don't want to hear your side just because of how you look or in this case, the color of your skin. Everybody was so sure that Jennifer had picked the right person just because Ronald was black; they never even gave him a chance. Picking Cotton is an amazing book so far as it lets you understand the characters based on three simple feelings of torture, innocence, and forgiveness.