I am an Angela.
Women must write through their bodies, they must invent the impregnable language that will wreak partitions, classes, and rhetorics, regulations and codes, they must submerge, cut through, get beyond the ultimate reserve-discourse, including the one that laughs at the very idea of pronouncing the word “silence”, the one that, aiming for the impossible, stops short before the word “impossible” and writes it as “the end.” (Cixous 886)
The road is the means of physically connecting all the Angela Sheltons. Though the stories and the presence of the other women and their stories served as the ulimate source of profound connection, the road is what allowed them to get to each other. The road breaks the barriers that are put up by society, keeping all the stories distant from each other. The road allowed Angela Shelton to break her silence.
Angela Shelton’s story is similar to so many other women around the world, yet unique to her. She was sexually abused as a child by multiple family members. This is devastating on her life and takes a break from relationships and sets off across America to talk to other women. The way she decided to survey women was quite interesting, by choosing women with her name. Though this is not foolproof and was not an accurate sample of the women of America, it served the purpose that she set out to do.
Women’s lives and stories and families emerge from the road and Angela’s adventure. I think that Angela uses her camera power responsibly to tell her own story, yes. But when it came to telling the stories of other women, I think it could have been done differently. I feel that even when the women began to talk, it came back to her story. Her camera power highlighted her story, which may not be wrong, considering the whole journey was about finding herself, confronting her dad and learning about the other Angela Sheltons.
If I were Angela I would have focused more on the other women as well. I would have allowed for the women to collaborate together, to help with therapy if needed after bringing up such a tough subject.