After the Abortion

Happening

This flow traces Annie Duchesne’s uneasy passage from medical recovery through estrangement and toward an altered daily life.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

Leaving the Hospital Leaving the Hospital from "Happening". Leaving the Hospital Discharge Annie Duchesne leaves Hôtel-Dieu Hospital after five days.

Leaving the Hospital from "Happening". Leaving the Hospital Discharge Annie Duchesne leaves Hôtel-Dieu Hospital after five days.

Leaving the Hospital Discharge Annie Duchesne leaves Hôtel-Dieu Hospital after five days. Friends help with paperwork and take her to the station, while she prepares to hide the truth from her parents. Recovery Without Disclosure She returns home claiming to have a cold. Physical discharge does not end secrecy or settle the emotional consequences.

A Different Rouen A Different Rouen from "Happening". A Different Rouen Intensified Perception On returning to Rouen, Annie Duchesne sees cars, faces, and food as charged with meaning.

A Different Rouen from "Happening". A Different Rouen Intensified Perception On returning to Rouen, Annie Duchesne sees cars, faces, and food as charged with meaning.

A Different Rouen Intensified Perception On returning to Rouen, Annie Duchesne sees cars, faces, and food as charged with meaning. The city is vibrant but also difficult to interpret. Language Falls Short Words seem to have lost their substance, while an image of a water babe recurs in her thoughts. Recovery initially takes the form of altered perception rather than calm.

Music as Interpretation $Music as Interpretation from "Happening". Music as Interpretation Bach’s Passion Annie Duchesne listens to the Passion According to St John and hears her ordeal refracted through the music.$

Music as Interpretation Bach’s Passion Annie Duchesne listens to the Passion According to St John and hears her ordeal refracted through the music. The suffering becomes part of a larger human lament. A Sense of Being Saved The music does not explain what happened, but it gives the experience an encompassing form. For a time, she feels released from isolation.

Religious Separation Religious Separation from "Happening". Religious Separation Seeking a Confessor Annie Duchesne tells a priest that she has had an abortion, then quickly senses that the encounter has failed.

Religious Separation from "Happening". Religious Separation Seeking a Confessor Annie Duchesne tells a priest that she has had an abortion, then quickly senses that the encounter has failed.

Religious Separation Seeking a Confessor Annie Duchesne tells a priest that she has had an abortion, then quickly senses that the encounter has failed. She feels he sees a criminal rather than a person. Leaving Religion She walks out recognizing that she is through with religion. The episode marks a break with a moral authority that cannot contain her experience.

Ordinary Life Resumed Ordinary Life Resumed from "Happening". Ordinary Life Resumed Daily Tasks Annie Duchesne returns to her thesis, takes paid work, and goes to the movies.

Ordinary Life Resumed from "Happening". Ordinary Life Resumed Daily Tasks Annie Duchesne returns to her thesis, takes paid work, and goes to the movies.

Ordinary Life Resumed Daily Tasks Annie Duchesne returns to her thesis, takes paid work, and goes to the movies. She cuts her hair and adjusts to contact lenses, gradually re-entering routine. The Past Remains These ordinary acts do not erase the abortion or make her unchanged. Recovery means living alongside the memory while building a workable future.

January 25, 1964

February 1964

Spring 1964