Abuse In Tony's Story And Tiny Smiling Daddy

Abuse including physical, psychological and sexual can have a major impact on our identities. In Tony’s Story by Leslie Marmon Silko and Tiny Smiling, Daddy by Mary Gaitskill the identities of the characters are created by abuse. In Tony’s Story, the character Tony is formed by the physical abuse of the state police officer. In Tiny Smiling Daddy, the character Kitty is shaped by the psychological abuse from her father Stew. Abuse has a profound effect in creating effective stories. Both Tony’s Story and Tiny, Smiling Daddy effectively use abuse to create a powerful story.

Tony’s Story which was written by Leslie Marmon Silko who is a Native American author, is told from the perspective of the main character Tony. It takes place on a native reservation called a Pueblo in the United States. Tony’s Story

shows us how Native people are discrimination against. In the story Tony and Leon are harassed and followed by a state police officer. The abuse caused by this officer shapes the characters and events of the story. At the beginning of the story, Tony is celebrating San Lorenzo’s Day which is a festival within the reservation. During the festival Tony meets an old friend Leon, who has been away with the army. Leon is drinking from a hidden bottle of alcohol which is not allowed on the reservation. All of a sudden a state cop, who operates outside the reservation appears through the crowd and punches Leon in the face, breaking some of his teeth and causing him to get stiches. This example of physical abuse that shapes the characters in the story. Later in the story, the boys see the cop at a gas station outside the reservation and are frightened. When they leave the cop follows them and pulls them over on the side of the highway. The racist police officer makes Tony and Leon get out of the car.

To Tony, the cop represents something not human and threatening. Tony had a dream of the cop not having a human face and wearing a “black mask and with white rimmed eyes” and holding a human bone in his hand. This psychological abuse of always being followed and watched by the cop has a profound effect on the characters. This event worries the boys and Leon starts carrying a gun. Further on in the story Tony and Leon are once again followed by the cop, who tries to force them off the highway. When the cop stops them Tony says they have to kill the cop and burn the body. In Leon’s mind they are being harassed by a racist police office and brought a gun to defend himself. In Tony’s mind, they are dealing with something evil. As the cop threatens to beat Leon with his club Tony has the vision of the evil thing in his dreams. Tony then kills the cop with the gun and sets the car on fire. Leon was shaken by the event and upset at the killing, however Tony say he killed “it” the monster in his dreams. This story show how abuse can cause a character to do things they would otherwise no do. Leon was more of the aggressive person at the beginning of the story however Tony becomes the person who kills the cop due to the psychological abuse the cop inflicted.

Tiny, Smiling Daddy which was written by Mary Gaitskill, revolves around the conflict between Kitty, who is a lesbian and her father Stew who is very against his daughter’s sexuality.

The story is told from the point of view of Stew and begins with him learning that his daughter wrote an article about him in Self magazine. Kitty and Stew became very distance after she came out as a lesbian. In Stew’s mind kitty went from a beautiful, blue eyed child to an ugly, dark eyed teenager. Kitty’s father can’t face the fact that people don’t remain children forever. Stew is ashamed over his daughter and has no problem vocalizing his views. This psychological abuse brought about by her father hurts her a great deal. Stew would rather see Kitty depressed than being a lesbian. On page five there is a scene where Stew “punched Kitty and knocked her down because she was a lesbian. This abuse helps creates Kitty’s character. Throughout the story Stew also recount many times where Kitty was bullied for being different. Kitty got in to a fist fight and had someone drop her school books in a toilet. Instead of protecting and supporting his daughter Stew marginalizes and abuses

her.

In life we are also shaped by physical, psychological and sexual abuse. The decisions we make in life can be severely impacted by any abuse that may have been inflicted upon us. As with the stories Tony’s Story by Leslie Marmon Silko, Tiny, Smiling Daddy by Mary Gaitskill and other stories we examined this semester the outcomes of characters and events in each respective piece of writing were formed by abuse.