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tains Gross's cruel core, and severely tests Gittes' love for Evelyn. This opens at least two possible explanations for why Evelyn denies she was raped: Children often have a selfdestructive need to protect their parents. It could well have been rape, but even now she cannot bring herself to accuse her father. Or was she complicit. Her mother was dead, making her the "woman of the house." In those circumstances,
incest
between
father
and
daughter
is
not
unknown. That, however, doesn't excuse Gross. The responsibility is his in either case, but Evelyn has punished herself with guilt. Her denial forces Gittes to face character defining choices: whether or not to continue loving this woman, whether or not to turn her over to the police for murder. Her denial contradicts his expectation and a void opens: As Gittes:
"If she wasn't raped . . . ?" Confusion. "There must be more." GITTES
Then what happened? As Evelyn:
Flashing memories of the shock of being pregnant, your father's sneering face, fleeing to Mexico, the agony of giving birth, a foreign clinic, loneliness ... EVELYN
I ran away ... GITTES
... to Mexico.