Child Abuse In John Steinbeck's Why Soldiers Won T Talk

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Child Abuse Although the amount of reported child abuse in recent years has decreased, more than 1.25 million children are still suffering at the hands of the very people who are supposed to protect, provide, and support them. An average of nearly four children dies every day as a result of child abuse. Each form of child abuse- physical, emotional, and sexual abuse- affects children in many ways; sometimes in irreparable ways. Physical abuse, or any physical injury that was not an accident, accounts for one fourth of all reported child abuse cases. The signs of child abuse are generally frequent, unexplained injuries, cautious demeanor, flinching, and injuries that resemble a hand or belt. A child, living in a household that enforces…show more content…
After a traumatic experience, children file away that information and are usually unable to access it later in life. This is called repressed memories. The soldiers in Steinbeck’s story have also suffered from repressed memories, much like children who have experienced abuse. Many soldiers cannot remember much of what happened on the battle field. An excerpt from “Why Soldiers Won’t Talk” says "They did not and do not remember-and the worse the battle was, the less they remember. In all kinds of combat the whole body is battered by emotion." The same can be said for children from abusive backgrounds. The worse the abuse, the less the child remembers. Another quote from John Steinbeck’s short story said “Some men cannot protect themselves this way and they break, and they are probably the ones we call shell-shock cases." Shell Shock, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a disorder that is usually developed by some who have been through major traumatic experiences. Those that developed PTSD suffer from flashbacks to the traumatic scene and overreactions to sudden noises. There have been many instances where soldiers and children alike have regressed back to past abuse or battle because of some small trigger such as a car backfires or sudden

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