A Puerto Rican woman who has accused Fonny of raping her. Mrs. Rogers moved to New York City six years before she was raped, coming to the city with an American engineer she met in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, this man left her after they had three children, but Mrs. Rogers remained in the city. As Ernestine points out to Tish at one point, Mrs. Rogers doesn’t think she’s lying when she says that Fonny raped her. Even though Fonny is innocent, Ernestine explains, Mrs. Rogers can’t change her testimony because doing so would force her to reexamine this traumatic experience. Unfortunately, she was tricked into singling out Fonny, since Officer Bell arrested Fonny and made him the only black man in a lineup of other possible suspects, knowing that Mrs. Rogers already indicated that the rapist was a black man. As such, it was easy for her to assume Fonny was the perpetrator. When Sharon travels to Puerto Rico—where Mrs. Rogers eventually flees—to convince her to reconsider her testimony, the conversation is too much for Mrs. Rogers to bear, and she starts screaming. Shortly thereafter, she flees once again, evading Sharon and making it impossible for anyone to get her to alter her testimony.
Victoria Rogers Quotes in If Beale Street Could Talk
The If Beale Street Could Talk quotes below are all either spoken by Victoria Rogers or refer to Victoria Rogers. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Troubled About My Soul
Quotes
Will you listen to me? Please? Of course, she’s lying. We know she’s lying. But—she’s—not—lying. As far as she’s concerned, Fonny raped her and that’s that, and now she hasn’t got to deal with it anymore. It’s over. For her. If she changes her testimony, she’ll go mad. Or become another woman. And you know how often people go mad, and how rarely they change.
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Victoria Rogers Quotes in If Beale Street Could Talk
The If Beale Street Could Talk quotes below are all either spoken by Victoria Rogers or refer to Victoria Rogers. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Troubled About My Soul
Quotes
Will you listen to me? Please? Of course, she’s lying. We know she’s lying. But—she’s—not—lying. As far as she’s concerned, Fonny raped her and that’s that, and now she hasn’t got to deal with it anymore. It’s over. For her. If she changes her testimony, she’ll go mad. Or become another woman. And you know how often people go mad, and how rarely they change.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
