The Trauma of the Sexually Abused The bond of a family is an impermeable connection that usually lasts for the duration of life. However, when the lines are crossed for what is acceptable to do to one another, trauma can cause dysfunction within the family. In contemporary dramas, the playwrights discuss these family dynamics and dysfunctions that are formed from, usually too taboo to discuss out loud, societal topics such as sexual abuse. In the plays How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel and Buried Child by Sam Shepard, they share the common social context of how trauma from sexual abuse affects the relationships of a family, as the characters Li’l Bit and Tilden look for forgiveness and acceptance of their past through fighting the silence …show more content…
Accordingly, characters in the play attempt to cover up the truth when Shelly was probing for answers. For an example, when Bradley was trying to silence Shelly by saying “We don’t have to tell you anything girl. Not a thing”(Shepard, 62). This relates to a point in Opipari article where he states, “The Shepard family members all know the secret, but it is an unspoken rule that it will remain hidden. As a result, communication becomes so rigid that the family keeps secrets from each other that have nothing in common with the original secret”(Opipari, 128). Due to the secret bounded between the family members, the dynamic of the family is damaged with mistrust as they are accustomed to lying. In the text, the family system is seen to completely shut down because of the secret of Halie and Tilden’s incest, as they have a lack of interpersonal connection and have distance built amongst them (Opipari). This can be seen in the physical distance between the characters on stage, and what occurs when characters are placed in one room with each other. For an example, in the beginning of the production, all of the characters are in different locations of the house, as Halie is upstair, Dodge is in …show more content…
During this movement, it allowed the discussion of sexuality to occur, which includes topics such as incest, sexual abuse, and pedophilia. The two contemporary plays, How I Learned to Drive and Buried Child, were able to thrive, despite the taboo topics of sexual abuse caused family dysfunction, because of the progressive period they were established in. For this reason, the plays are used as not only just a learning tool and open platform for discussion of these topics, but as a marker to where society stands
Born in 1959, author Debra Oswald began writing as a teenager. She rose to prominence with the debut of Gary’s House where it was shortlisted for the NSW Premier’s Award. Many of her works features abandoned and neglected children that grow into adults to fight their own demons in the past. Oswald writes about the importance of a family’s psychology, both real and surrogate. In Gary’s House, Gary had a bad relationship with his father that lead to neglection and eventually hate but when Gary himself becomes a father he disregards his past to provide for his future child. This is the author’s intention of representing how important family is.
Sandy Wilson, the author of Daddy’s Apprentice: incest, corruption, and betrayal: a survivor’s story, was the victim of not only sexual abuse but physical and emotional abuse as well, in addition to being a product of incest. Sandy Wilson’s story began when she was about six years old when her birth father returns home from incarceration, and spans into her late teens. Her father returning home from prison was her first time meeting him, as she was wondered what he looked like after hearing that he would be released (Wilson, 2000, p. 8). Not only was her relationship with her father non-existent, her relationship with her birth mother was as well since she was for most of her young life, cared for by her grandmother and grandfather. When she was told that her birth mother coming to visit she says, “…I wish my mother wouldn’t visit. I never know what to call her so I don’t all her anything. Not her name, Kristen. Not mother. Not anything (Wilson, 2000, p. 4).” This quote essentially demonstrated the relationship between Sandy and her mother as one that is nonexistent even though Sandy recognizes Kristen as her birth mother.
Firstly, one’s identity is largely influenced by the dynamics of one’s relationship with their father throughout their childhood. These dynamics are often established through the various experiences that one shares with a father while growing up. In The Glass Castle and The Kite Runner, Jeannette and Amir have very different relationships with their fathers as children. However the experiences they share with these men undou...
Alison Bechdel uses her graphic memoir, Fun home, to explore her relationship with her father. She uses the book as a tool to reflect on her life and the affect her father had on her. She discovers how her fathers closeted sexuality affected her childhood and her transition into adulthood. His death left a powerful mark and left her searching for answers. She clearly states this when she says, “it’s true that he didn’t kill himself until I was nearly twenty. But his absence resonated retroactively, echoing back through all the time I knew him.” (23). This feeling drove her to look back on their relationship and find what binds her so strongly to a man she never understood.
In a modern society where good deeds and integrity are taken for granted, it is necessary for people to stand up for what is right. The short story “A & P”, written by John Updike, tells the story of Sammy and how he takes a stand for what he believes is right, only he is not given the gratitude he deserved. “Everyday Use”, written by Alice Walker, is another short story that shows how substantial it is to stand firm for one’s convictions and beliefs, especially in familial matters. Mama, the protagonist in “Everyday Use”, must make the decision of protecting her self-conscious daughter Maggie, or giving in to Dee, her other egocentric daughter who has forgotten the traditional values of their family. These two short stories indicate the importance of protecting people from the harshness of reality because not everyone is secure or aware enough to be able to stand up for themselves.
From a very young age, Bone was sexually abused by her step-father, Glen Waddell. Like Bone, Dorothy Allison also suffered abuse from her step-father, starting at the young age of five years-old. During the time of the novel, and until recent years, it was unthinkable to speak of any sort of abuse outside the household. Throughout history, children have been victims of abuse by their parents or other adults, and fo...
The entire family is involved with lies to Big Daddy and Big Momma, as are the doctors. They tell them that Big Daddy does not have cancer, but only a spastic colon. Brick lies to himself about his feelings for Skipper until Big Daddy forces him to face it. He then understands that he is upset about the way his clean friendship has been misinterpreted. Gooper and Mae pretend to be loving and doting children, when in fact all they want is money and land. Big Mama lies to herself, think all the cruel things Big Daddy says are just jokes. She also lies to herself by thinking that a child from Maggie and Brick would turn Brick into a non-drinking, family man qualified to take over the family place. Big Daddy is even wrapped up in the mendacity. He admits to Brick that he is tired of letting all the lies. He has lied for years about his feelings for his wife, his son Gooper and his daughter-in-law Mae, he says he loves them, when in fact he can't stand any of them. Maggie, who seems to tell close to the truth the entire play, breaks down and lies about her pregnancy.
Joe and Bazil 's status as the immediate family members to a sexual assault survivor allows readers to see how sexual assault can impact an entire family unit; a frequent situation that many people find themselves in, but don 't know how to sensibly handle emotionally. Through Joe 's perspective as a child in this novel, Erdrich guides her audience into understanding how complex of a societal issue sexual assault is by displaying how far reaching its effects are on the victim, family, and community of a
Looking back on the death of Larissa’s son, Zebedee Breeze, Lorraine examines Larissa’s response to the passing of her child. Lorraine says, “I never saw her cry that day or any other. She never mentioned her sons.” (Senior 311). This statement from Lorraine shows how even though Larissa was devastated by the news of her son’s passing, she had to keep going. Women in Larissa’s position did not have the luxury of stopping everything to grieve. While someone in Lorraine’s position could take time to grieve and recover from the loss of a loved one, Larissa was expected to keep working despite the grief she felt. One of the saddest things about Zebedee’s passing, was that Larissa had to leave him and was not able to stay with her family because she had to take care of other families. Not only did Larissa have the strength to move on and keep working after her son’s passing, Larissa and other women like her also had no choice but to leave their families in order to find a way to support them. As a child, Lorraine did not understand the strength Larissa must have had to leave her family to take care of someone else’s
In the movie, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Callie Khouri directs something of a powerful story between a mother and her daughter. The movie Life as a House (Wrinkler, 2002) tells something of the same; of a father and the fight for the love of his son. The two movies both portray the fight between parents and their children. The commonality between father and son and mother and daughter is portrayed through the troublesome children and the problems that they face together. The “abuse “ that these children have received has formed them into the people they are today. What these characters had become is something that they do not want to be. As we age, we begin to discover the importance of family as depicted through Life as a House and The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.
Currently, families face a multitude of stressors in their lives. The dynamics of the family has never been as complicated as they are in the world today. Napier’s “The Family Crucible” provides a critical look at the subtle struggles that shape the structure of the family for better or worse. The Brice family is viewed through the lens of Napier and Whitaker as they work together to help the family to reconcile their relationships and the structure of the family.
The audience sees through staging and conversation between the two main characters that the communication of modern relationships
In When the Piano Stops: A Memoir of Healing from Sexual Abuse, Catherine McCall addresses the issue of incest in a blunt and honest manner that implores readers to not only respectfully listen to her story but to also reevaluate what they have been told about abuse. Without reservations, she also aims to encourage readers (mainly victims of abuse) to not be afraid about speaking up for themselves or reporting the abuse to the authorities. In her dedication, McCall states that her main goal in writing the memoir is...
Marie, who is a product of an abusive family, is influenced by her past, as she perceives the relationship between Callie and her son, Bo. Saunders writes, describing Marie’s childhood experiences, “At least she’d [Marie] never locked on of them [her children] in a closet while entertaining a literal gravedigger in the parlor” (174). Marie’s mother did not embody the traditional traits of a maternal fig...
Adam, a corporal officer, starts as man who works everyday to catch the ‘villains’ of society, but is not spending enough time with his family, especially his son. He favors his nine year old daughter over his fifteen year old son. Adam views his daughter as a sweet child, and his son as a stubborn teenager who is going through a rebellious stage. However, when his daughter is killed in an accident, his perspective of family changes. In his grief, he states that he wishes he had been a better father. His wife reminds him that he still is a father and he realizes that he still has a chance with his son, Dylan. After his Daughter’s death, he creates a resolution from scriptures that states how he will be a better father. Because of the resolution he creates, he opens up to and spends more time with his son. By th...