Poverty is the deprivation of food, shelter, money and clothing that occurs when people cannot satisfy their basic needs. Poverty can be understood simply as a lack of money, or more broadly in terms of barriers to everyday life. Throughout the novel “Bastard out of Carolina” by Dorothy Allison, it shows a panoramic view of how poverty affects people lives, thinking and behavior.It shows how it leads to serious violence, mental instability, anger and abuse in the case of the main characters “Bone”, her stepfather “Daddy Glen” and other immediate family members. Although it can be argued that poverty doesn’t lead directly to abuse and pedophilia as it was in the novel, I will elaborate more in this paper of how poverty is the string to a set of these problems.
But also the novel shines a light on the unwillingness of parents to take actions against abuse. And how children hide the physical abuse they suffer by the hands of the people they trust most.Risk factors simply are defined as all things that may put a child at risk of maltreatment. Though risk factors may be present it does not always mean the child is being maltreated. In the case of Ruth Ann Boatwright (Bone), there are a lot of red flags that would indicate maltreatment. For starters, when she was born, Bone’s mother was a single mother.
Her family was poor and there were a good number of people living under one roof. Not that abuse is ever the fault of the child, but Bone had some personality characteristics that may have put her at a greater risk for abuse. She was old enough to have a memory of her father, whom she loved dearly. The icing on the top of this abuse cake, Daddy Glenn has a history of abuse and constantly was getting into fights at work that got him fired.
Daddy Glenn had a low tolerance frustration tolerance and it seemed that he had low self-confidence.The number one risk factor for child maltreatment is poverty. Studies have shown that “lower income was correlated with a higher incidence of abuse” (Cross-Tower, pg. 26). Although all families that are poor are not guilty of maltreatment, it is still a huge risk factor.
In the case of Ruth Ann Boatwright, her family is so poor that her mother is desperate enough to prostitute herself for money to feed her family. Poverty can put a lot of stress on a family and put the parents on edge. Unemployment is closely linked to poverty. Daddy Glenn was constantly out of a job, making the family a one income family and a low income at that.Daddy Glenn was frustrated at the fact that he could not find a job or keep a job and having to be around two young children everyday only added to his anger. The problems that chronic poverty brings were well documented in the book.
The character of “Daddy Glen” struggled in the book to hold a job, which led him to move his family from places to places and somehow develop anger toward his stepdaughter Bone. Certes his abuse and pedophilia toward his stepdaughter in some views might not be a reflection of the poverty and instability he was going through but some other studies also show otherwise. According to a report ran in 2012 by the NYTimes, anger and abuse is higher among folks dealing with poverty on a daily basis. Because not only poverty affect living conditions but it affects the psyche and behavior as much as living conditions.
Another study by the University of California concluded that while anger is human natures and any given human being us susceptible to snap at any time, it is it highly likely for people in poverty to develop a permanent state of quick anger and abuse as shown by the "Daddy Glen". His inability to hold a job or provide for his family has left him feeling like a failure and affects his mind and behavior to the point he started abusing his stepdaughter. He was shown as a mysterious but lovable character as he was introduced in the novel. But then his character darkened as his struggles persisted. I felt it wasn’t anything particular towards his stepdaughter but more of the direct problems linked with poverty.
Of course blaming poverty on the man abuse and rape of his stepdaughter would be giving him a reason for his actions.But the truth is countless studies found that it is less likely for a man to be abusive if he is able to provide. Another effect of poverty in my opinion shown in the book is some parent unwillingness to stand up to their children being abused by their partners. All throughout the book "Bone" mother was nonchalant to the abuse her daughter suffered in the hands of her husband.
While it can be said poverty is not the direct reason of her mother unwillingness to denounce the abuse, a study by a Chicago University Professor suggest it might be the case sometimes. Mr. John Snetzki, a sociology teacher at the University of Chicago said "Women in poverty are more likely than usual to turn a blind eye to their partners abusing their children out of fear of being alone, or fall into chronic poverty".So I believe poverty played a part in the mother not standing for her daughter but also the same mental instability I voiced earlier in the paper. But such actions I believed should call for imprisonment as I believed anybody witnessing abuse of any kind of form and not reporting it to authorities is in my eyes an accomplice. If people are imprisoned for lying to protect someone that committed murder or sentenced for helping a person commit a robbery then there should be a law calling for imprisonment in case of witnessing but not reporting abuse.
It doesn't matter what arguments are made in defense of the mother. Because I think a mother first duty is to protect her children and fight for their welfare not put her own selfish wanted above them.Failure to do so is an act of irresponsibility and not fulfilling their parental role which should be punishable by the law. If mothers can get their child revoked for not being able to provide for them then this should be no different. Not protecting your child from abuse should be a crime.
The movie "Precious" show a depth into how poverty affects some parents’ ability to stand up for their children abuse. And more often than not how that changes children lives forever. So I believe the system should also penalized parents that are not making an effort to stop their kids from abuse. Because as guardians they are fully responsible for their kids well-being.
There are many cases like these ones and until the law affects them some parents won't feel the necessity to stand up and speak up.Poverty is undeniably a huge problem in the progress of society. It leads to crimes, rapes, abuses and anger rages. Throughout the paper I've shown how it affects people not only financially but also psychologically with the book being the primary example.
On top of that I've done lot of researches supporting the theory that while poverty is only looked at from a financial standpoint, it affects goes deeper than that. And truthfully it makes decent people make bad choices but a mother role should always be to put her child welfare above anything, and failure to do so and witness them being abused without reaction in my opinion deserves imprisonment. Having a history of abuse in the family puts the parent at a higher risk to be abusive themselves.Daddy Glenn was abused by his father, both physically and emotionally. He carried this on to Ruth Ann. The first time Daddy Glenn beat Ruth Ann, he said someone had to love her enough to punish her.
He was justifying the abuse and pain he inflicted on Ruth Ann. No matter how badly Daddy Glenn beat Ruth Ann, she never told anyone who was responsible for the horrible bruises. Her own mother always stuck by Daddy Glenn’s side no matter what. Even when she walked in on Daddy Glenn raping Ruth Ann, Annie Boatwright still stood by her husband. She refused to admit that Glenn would do something like that to her daughter.
Having a history of abuse in the family puts the parent at a higher risk to be abusive themselves. Daddy Glenn was abused by his father, both physically and emotionally. He carried this on to Ruth Ann. The first time Daddy Glenn beat Ruth Ann, he said someone had to love her enough to punish her. He was justifying the abuse and pain he inflicted on Ruth Ann.
No matter how badly Daddy Glenn beat Ruth Ann, she never told anyone who was responsible for the horrible bruises. Her own mother always stuck by Daddy Glenn’s side no matter what. Even when she walked in on Daddy Glenn raping Ruth Ann, Annie Boatwright still stood by her husband. She refused to admit that Glenn would do something like that to her daughter. What is worse, Ruth Ann was made to feel like the bad guy, like everything that was happening to her was somehow her fault.
Daddy Glenn has a whole list of problems. He is clearly jealous of Ruth Ann and the relationship she has with her mother. He is also jealous that Ruth Ann remembers the man that came before him and that Ruth Ann loved that man. Ruth Ann mocked Daddy Glenn, which frustrated him. Daddy Glenn had a low frustration tolerance.
He would get very angry at the slightest things. It didn’t help though that Ruth Ann would give him attitude when he would start to get mad. She did not help her case.Though risk factors may be present, it does not always mean there is abuse going on. In the case of Ruth Ann, people were aware of the abuse and did not do anything until it was too Page 7 late. The fault does not lie with one particular person, but with everyone involved.
Annie should have left Daddy Glenn after the first incident. Ruth Ann should have spoken up when she was asked what was going on. We must be able to see the risk factors and realize when a case should be reported.
