In Kelly Sundberg’s personal essay “It Will Look Like a Sunset”, we follow the events of her experience with domestic violence and her eventual decision to leave.
Sundberg does an excellent job in playing with duality throughout her essay. We are met with Caleb, her husband and her abuser, and taken through his character completely. Sundberg relays his good parts, the kind parts, the ones that got her to stay as long as she did, and sharply juxtaposes them with a man who rips out her hair, punches her in the spine, and calls her a cunt. This duality plays into Sundberg herself- should she leave? Should she stay? It creates a tension in the essay that doesn’t let up, even in the very end. She portrays the duality of outsiders as well, with the friends who urge her to seek medical attention, get help, let her stay with them when she does finally leave, and the EMT who tries to comfort her, all with the police who aren’t supportive of her and her mother’s advice to stay as long as she can.
Sundberg even does this with portions of her writing, most notably in the pieces where she speaks on their relationship having respect in it. Only two sections up from this, she writes of how she couldn’t have been human to him in the moments where he hit her. These two things couldn’t exist together, and yet she puts them so close together, taking the reader through how radically this relationship shifted.
In the end, Sundberg’s piece is a wonderfully crafted and powerful piece of art that tells of a dark period of time in her life, and how she eventually found the strength within herself to leave, just like the hummingbird she set free.