Throughout this course, we have read a lot of books, poetry, and short stories and watched a couple of movies, and much of it had one common element: Abuse. Abuse ties into the theme of this blog because the person doing the abusing is quite often a family member. And when a person suffers abuse, it can shape or alter their identity.
Dream Homes-- Joyce Zonana's father's mother, Rose, emotionally abused Joyce's mother, Nelly, by competing with her for Joyce's father Felix's attention. She was a constant, wailing, complaining, lamenting, nagging presence that eventually caused Nelly to flee to her own family in Brazil. Joyce was abused by one of her Harvard professors, whom she shacked up with for two years, who raped her "night after night" (Zonana 137). Joyce moved into her "professor-lover's New York apartment and lived with him for two dark years, typing his dissertation for him, dropping out of college," and starting her on a downward spiral that lead her to many years of apartment hopping and more lovers than one could shake a stick at (Zonana 138). But, Joyce persevered, and became a professor and a published author.
Smoke Signals-- Victor Joseph's father, Arnold, abused alcohol and (most likely because of that) also physically abused his wife and son by hitting them. Then Arnold abandoned his wife and son to run off and live alone. This all emotionally scarred Victor who grew to resent his father.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian-- Junior suffered verbal abuse from the other people on the reservation (because he decided to change schools), who were like part of his extended family. And alcohol abuse played a big part in Junior's life. Junior's father abused alcohol. Alcohol led Eugene's friend to kill him. The driver who hit Junior's grandmother was drunk. The reader doesn't know what will happen in Junior's future, but one can hope that he would see how alcohol abuse affected his life and his loved ones and choose to avoid it.
Shadow Tag-- Gil and Irene abused each other in various ways throughout this book. Irene started writing terrible things in the fake diary because she knew it will hurt Gil. She also abused alcohol. Gil hit Irene and the children and forcefully had sex with Irene. Gil also found an unusual way to abuse Irene; he painted abuse onto her portrait. In the end, Gil was so tormented by what he read in the diary that he went insane and was eventually put into a mental institution. Irene felt that she couldn't call the police when Gil raped her. Perhaps since she had dealt with Gil's abuse for so long, things like that had become the norm in their relationship. At the end of the book, Gil even led Irene to her death, albeit inadvertently.
"Cora Unashamed"-- Jessie suffered emotional abuse at the hands of her mother, who ignored her most of her life and only showed an active interest in her when she forced Jessie to have an abortion. The emotional turmoil Jessie went through after being forced to have her child aborted took its toll on her life.
Push (the novel) and Precious (the movie)-- Precious endured so much abuse at the hands of the people who should have loved and protected her. Her father repeatedly raped and twice impregnated her. Her mother verbally and physically abused her and also allowed her father to have his way with Precious. Strangers became more like family to her than her real family was. But through all of her suffering, she grew stronger and eventually managed to break away from the situation.
Whether the abuse was mild or severe, and whether it ended in tragedy or growth, it was a big theme in many of the material we have covered in this Multicultural American Literature course.
1. Do you think that the abuse in any of these families stemmed from the fact that they were multicultural? If not, then where might it have originated? If so, what part of the multicultural experience led to the beginning of the abuse?
2. Which case of abuse do you think had the biggest impact (positive or negative) on a character's identity?
3. Can you think of any other instances of abuse in the works we have covered in this class?
Addressing the first question, fellow blogger. Abuse happens to families on so many different levels. So many families are victimized daily, regardles of their social class, race, sex, religion, culture or creed.
ReplyDeleteNO I dont think that these particular families, individuals that we have read about in these literary works have suffered in abusive situations because they are multicultural, that would imply that their mixture of races, religions and cultures is the cause of the imbalance in their family structures.
I think that for whatever reason there are people, individuals who cannot cope with the stresses of everyday life and take up those issues with the people that they are involved with personally; battery, emotional abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse.
However being from a multicultural family myself, I do think that these families were able to draw strength from who they were, their heritage, and were able to withstand so many unforseeable circumstance because of that. Native and African American are traditionally strong people. The characters in some of the stories that we have read are a testimony to that type of strength.
I don't necessarily think abuse has anything to do with culture, but more about the upbringing of an individual. It is most definitely true that the cycle of abuse continues through generations as long as they are oppressed and uneducated and don't seek help. The cultural aspect may come into play since the stereotype is that they may be poor and may not have access to the tools they need to overcome the cycle.
ReplyDeleteFor me, Precious's abuse had the most impact on me, both positive and negative. Her abuse was by far the worst we've read/seen, yet she was able to overcome that and better herself for her and her children.
By the way, Laura, nice job tying all these readings together in an excellent post!
ReplyDelete:)