I chose Child Abuse as my topic because I feel bad for the children who suffer from getting abused in different types of ways. When you grow up around abuse, you end up being insecure about yourself and always think that they are not good enough for anything or anyone. I read The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison for the second unit of literature because the title of the book caught my attention, and the book also relates to the last book I read called I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Studies show that “90% of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way. 68% are abused by a family member”(Do Something). This relates to the two books I read because the girls in both books get sexually abused by a family member. Growing up in a household of abuse can warp a person’s understanding of how healthy relationships function.
In the novel, a girl named Pecola is abused by her relatives and friends. She suffers traumatic experiences that she lives with for the rest of her life. Pecola’s parents Cholly and Pauline Breedlove always abused each other in front of Pecola and her brother, Sammy. This leads the kids to not understand what love really is. In the beginning of the novel, Pecola only has two friends out of all of the kids in the city because everyone else abuses her for no reason. She lives with her friends named Frieda and Claudia and the friends mom. In the middle of the novel, Pecola moves back home with her parents who are considered ugly by
Francie Nolan begins the novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn as an innocent young girl living with her mother, father, and younger brother, Neeley, in a tenament neighborhood of Williamsburg. Her bright, observant nature allows her to be joyful despite her family’s poverty and her father’s drinking. While Francie grows older in the pages of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, she “comes of age” through her increasingly trying experiences as she loses her childlike innocence, but gains immense strength in character and wisdom. The heroine’s childhood is littered with hardship that prominently contributes to her maturation and transition into adulthood.
A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer , is a memoir about “ a young boy who was beaten , starved and tortured by his mother , yet he managed to turn his life around “ (Barta). What is shocking about Dave’s story is that he is the only one out of his siblings that got abused. Written as an adult , Dave felt like he could expose his expressions and feelings. Also , he wanted to help others so they wouldn’t feel alone. This true story compromises what has been termed one of the worst cases of child abuse ever discovered As his mother fell to mental illness and alcoholism, he became substitute for her anger and rage towards his father.
The author Alex Flinn, mostly creates an accurate and unbiased view of the topic in the following way(s), by showing how domestic abuse has hurt many people with the cycle of abuse, types of abusers(Mario), and different views of abuse (Journal to Narrator), but fails to accurately portray different types of abuse in the following way(s) by showing how the Dolphins are a big impact on Nick’s life and why it changed the way he realized he was hurting Caitlyn verbally and physically. In many ways there are many children that had grown up with being abused either mostly verbally or physically. But as the years go on for some children that cycle continues on that they carry on the reason to abuse the loved ones. Flinn has shown many different
An American is sexually assaulted every 107 seconds. Furthermore, these victims are then 3 times more likely to suffer depression and 6 times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (“Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network Statistics,” n.d.). Likewise, in the novel Beloved, the perpetrators, leave their victims physically and emotionally damaged. The perpetrators Beloved and the community, portray various acts of cruelty such as their inhumane treatment towards Paul D. and Sethe. These actions showcase how cruelty ultimately demoralizes the characters.
Valeria Oceguera Violence in the family Professor Hoffman February 23,2017 A Child Called ‘It” A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer is a story about a child named David, who is a victim of abuse from his mother and tells his story of how he struggles to stay alive, search for food and the problems he has in school. David lives with his mother, father and brothers, but at the end of the book, he feels a strong hatred for his family and a strong hate for the people who knew about the abuse, David also regrets being born and questions if God exists. There are many health issues that happen when abuse happens to a child specifically and these include, “suicidal thoughts, eating disorder, PTSD can develop from a childhood of abuse.”
Analysis With this story I learned that human nature is very complex, as our states of anxiety and stress can be indications to react violently, even with our loved ones, without a doubt alcoholism was a very important factor to trigger these actions by the mother, although at any time I am not justified her, much less to hurt a helpless child. Without any doubt this book leaves in me a teaching of how a child will always have the hope that his parents can change for better. As a future employee of an institution that has to do with children, this book has taught me that you have to be alert to any situation that is present in any child, and not judge only by their actions, if not go beyond why Is acting in that way, approach them and be kind to have the confidence to say what happens at home, in case you find something out of the ordinary, no doubt call the police, it is alarming the number of children who are mistreated and abused in their own homes, by their own parents or relatives.
For instance, for this student, before reading this book, I would categorize this different types of abuse differently, from more severe to less severe, and perhaps giving less importance to those I viewed as less severe. But it is important to understand that for each of these victims, each abuse was very serious, very severe, and they should be treated equally. This book is also a great source of understanding for those who were perpetrators of abuse, especially against children, it will help them to understand the consequences of their actions, and how perhaps once act, have completely changed the life of a child. This book is also important to parents and those who work with children, when we, as adults understands the risks that children, adolescents and any person who is not able to protect themselves are facing, we hopefully can be more vigilant of children, women and any possible
As a poor, African American girl in the 1940s, society has cast Pecola aside. Right from birth her mother thought she had a “head full of pretty hair, but Lord she was ugly” (126). Pecola does not understand the ugliness placed upon her. For “long hours she [would sit,] looking in the mirror, trying to discover the secret of the ugliness, the ugliness that made her ignored or despised” (45). Pecola finds herself drawn to the prostitutes because they do not accept the ugliness forced upon them and instead find themselves worthy of love and beauty.
The short documentary “Child of Rage” presents an example of how experiencing abuse as a child can shape the child later in life and how some children can recover. The intrafamilial abuse that Beth experienced as a one year old affected her behavior later in her childhood when she was adopted. Beth was also able to recover from some of the effects of the child abuse she experienced once she was separated from her adoptive family and taken to a special home. Beth experienced intrafamilial abuse at the hands of her biological father after her mother passed away when she was one.
Maltreatment has a severe impact on a child’s current and future functioning and development regarding their emotional, social, cognitive, behavioral, and physical wellbeing.(Frederico 345). Different types of abuse, such as physical, emotional, and sexual have different consequences, but the consequences of all maltreatment, are likely to happen in three stages. Firstly, a child may have an initial reaction such as post-traumatic symptoms, painful emotions, and cognitive distortions. Secondly, children develop coping strategies that are aimed to help increase their safety or reduce their pain. Thirdly, a child 's sense of self-worth is damaged and develop the feeling of shame and hopelessness..
Combined with her isolation and experiences of discrimination, Pecola concludes that she herself was ugly, and because of that, hates
Pecola and her mother, Pauline, see themselves as ugly because they hold themselves to beauty standards in which light-skinned people are the ideal. Pecola and her mother have a brutal home life due to the drunken violence of Cholly Breedlove, and the constant pressure of beauty standards only adds to their misfortune. Morrison explains this pressure by asserting that “[i]t was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they
But it is not only the race and the colour of their skin what makes them unable to change their situation, but also poverty. Race and wealth are intertwined, and Pecola is the fundamental victim of this relationship, for she is a young black girl suffering from this ideology that determines her life. The dominant class imposes its values upon the other, for they think they are the best ones, reducing thus the personality of the people belonging to other classes, and at the same time, making them unable to change their oppressed situation, for they do not have the chance. They just accept their current position, and thus they will always be
Afro-American women writers present how racism permeates the innermost recesses of the mind and heart of the blacks and affects even the most intimate human relationships. While depicting the corrosive impact of racism from social as well as psychological perspectives, they highlight the human cost black people have to pay in terms of their personal relationships, particularly the one between mother and daughter. Women novelists’ treatment of motherhood brings out black mothers’ pressures and challenges for survival and also reveals their different strategies and mechanisms to deal with these challenges. Along with this, the challenges black mothers have to face in dealing with their adolescent daughters, who suffer due to racism and are heavily influenced by the dominant value system, are also underlined by these writers. They portray how a black mother teaches her daughter to negotiate the hostile, wider world, and prepares her to face the problems and challenges boldly and confidently.
Issues of the Case Study From the description of the case study above, the issue concerned is child abuse and neglect. Joyce had experienced child sexual abuse by her now-absent father when she was a child. At all ages, females are more likely to be victims of sexual abuse as well as incest or sexual relations between individuals who are so closely related. Girls are more likely to experience long-term victimization by relatives or family acquaintances in their home ( ). As Joyce’s her parent fails to provide her with basic needs, she has been neglected physically, educationally and psychologically.