April 2020
ISSN 2278 0742
10
Under the Wing of an Alcoholic Father: A Study of Childhood Domestic Abuse in Bernice L McFadden’s The Warmest December Fardos Bakjaji
Abstract
This paper seeks to tackle the issue of domestic abuse in the Afro-American society through shedding the light upon the story of Kenzie, the protagonist of Bernice L. McFadden‘s The Warmest December. It also deals with the topic of alcoholism and how parents‘ addiction could turn children‘s life into hell. McFadden attempts to depict the traumatizing aftermaths of alcoholism legacy that indisputably pass to children through a cycle of violent actions.
Keywords: Domestic Abuse, Alcoholism, traumatizing aftermaths, violence.
Have you ever thought of asking what if the wing under which you seek love and solace is itself the source of your pain? What if the lap to which you run pursuing protection and security turns to be the source of fear and terror? Is undeniable that the hardest and most difficult experience one may go through is to be exposed to violence in a home that is supposed to be a safe haven and shelter. This paper examines domestic abuse in the AfricanAmerican society as represented by Bernice L. McFadden‘s second novel The Warmest December. Domestic abuse or violence has been one of the most dominant issues identified in all types of families and societies regardless of racial, gender or age boundaries. Since domestic abuse takes place at home and since women and children are the most vulnerable categories in the society, they become targets of victimization and violence, however, this study aims to concentrate mainly on child abuse. Usually children seek support and love from their parents or caregivers but they seek protection before anything else. Kara Walker in her God Help the Child review states that:
As children we have gentle, wordless expectations that the big people in our lives will endeavor to keep us from harm, or, at the very least, not harm us. It‘s the sacrosanct social contract: that adults will feed, clothe and protect us, that they will keep our bodies alive long enough for us to devise adult survival strategies of our own.
Volume 9 Issue 1
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