Institutional Betrayal and Embodied Trauma in Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch

Abstract

This article examines institutional betrayal and embodied trauma in Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch by tracing Blandine Watkins’s experiences in foster care, elite schooling, and an exploitative relationship with her teacher. Existing studies approach the novel through spirituality, ecofeminism, and the crisis of meritocracy, but do not fully explain how institutions entrusted with care and education link these forms of harm. Drawing primarily on institutional betrayal theory and using a complex-trauma lens, the article argues that Blandine’s bodily estrangement develops through withdrawn care, withheld educational trust, and the betrayal of pedagogical trust. The foster-care system provides temporary placements while recasting the withdrawal of support as independence. St. Philomena recognizes Blandine’s ability but marks her as socially anomalous, doubts her authorship, and treats her departure as ingratitude. James Yager then uses the credibility of his teaching role to gain sexual access. These betrayals become embodied in Blandine’s understanding of the body as an extractable resource and a receptacle for others’ demands. Women’s Christian mysticism, however, transforms the wish for untouchability into a fragile form of relational embodiment. The novel ultimately locates an alternative to institutional abandonment in sustained relational care rather than heroic independence or complete transcendence.