Silent Struggles: Anke's Fight Against Familial Abuse

How would you feel to come home after school one day to know that your own father will not pay any attention to you and act like you never even existed? What about knowing that your father comes home from work to than abuse your mother, older brother, and older sister, but he never touched you? What about knowing that he did all of that to them? In Because I Am Furniture, Anke, the main character, goes through this everyday of her life. Being ignored by her father, knowing about the abusings, and knowing that she needs to do something for her mother and siblings protection. Anke then goes against her father’s authority to do something in time to save them from him. If the plan fails though, will her father’s abusings catch up to her and

she then becomes one of the newest abused members of the family?

Anke is a freshman in this new being of the school year, her routine is simple. Wake up, go to school, come straight home, clean the house, and repeat. Anke is really good at volleyball, but her father says no sports, which means no volleyball. What happens when Anke decides enough is enough and goes against his word without him knowing and makes the team, Anke finds her true voice. The voice that she needs to stand up to her father and to make sure that her family is safe. She learned how to be a protector for her family, just from a game she is not allowed to play and hides it from her family. She now knows that her father will be stopped no matter how long or how hard it takes.

After coming home one day after a volleyball game, Anke discovers that her father is home. She comes home to find out that her father now knows about her playing volleyball, and her is not very happy. Then, Anke’s plan is put into action, to get her father to hit her. She figures that if she pushes his limit enough that her will finally hit her. But, he doesn’t hit her, so she has to now step up her game and go even farther against his word. After school one day she goes to her neighbor’s house to hang out with him. Going even more against his rule of no boys, then just hanging out with him during school and riding home with him. Anke is getting more risky in sneaking around and going to her crush’s soccer game to see him play. Anke gets this rush and feels great after going against his strict rules.

After sneaking around after a while her father starts noticing little by little.

Then, one day after school Anke decides to go to her father’s office and see him. Only to find her “friend” Angelina in her father’s office. Angelina does not know how Anke’s father abusing his children, so this makes Anke very nervous. Anke becomes nervous that her father will hit Angelina and Angelina will tell the authorities and ruin her plan, or that Angelina might tell people in school. Then, when Anke gets home she tells her father that he saw him with Angelina and he gets mad at her. But, he does not hit her, instead he throws a chair at her and breaks her leg. Later on, Anke wakes up in a hospital bed, wondering where her father is. To find out that he was put in jail.

The theme of the story is Anke goes against authority to protect the ones she loves. She did just that, and she made some friends along the way and found her voice. If she wouldn’t have gone against her father she would be in the same routine everyday and have to witness him abusing her family. She knew it had to be stopped and that she was the one who was going to make that happen. So think for a minute, how would you react and would you take charge against your father like Anke did? Or would you step back and stay in the shadows doing nothing? Your

choice.