Discuss How the Theme 'Abuse of Power' Is Explored in Johnstons Novel 'How Many Miles to Babylon'

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In the novel 'How Many Miles to Babylon' we see Johnston portray the theme abuse of power through the characters Alicia and Major Glendinning with Alec as their target victim. They both attempt to control Alecs identity and choices and assert their dominance in a cruel way. Alec rebels against this throughout and at the end their meddling ultimately destroys him. In the first half of the novel, Johnston uses Alicia to explore the theme abuse of power. Alicia uses her parental power to emotionally manipulate Alec. She is a very dominating character and does everything she can to have her way. We see early in the novel that Alicia is obsessed with social class and a very condescending woman. She fires the piano teacher because he is of a lower class, 'dragging his disease and poverty into my drawing-room' she talks about him like he is an animal infecting her home and downgrading her social standing. She wont allow Alec go to school because she has 'no intention of remaining alone' in the house with Frederick. Her selfish ways result in Alec not being able to interact with children his own age. When Alec and Jerry meet it causes more problems with Alicia. She immediately frowns upon their friendship and does not approve because Jerry is from a lower class. Alicia abuses her power and makes numerous attempts to stop Alec from seeing Jerry. She forbids him from spending time with Jerry. She brings him to Greece to put distance between them. She does all this because she doesn't want Alec’s actions to affect her social standing. Also, she wants Alec to see her as the most important person in his life but her actions are causing the opposite and driving Alec further away from her. Alicia goes to extremes to break Alecs bond with anybody, she sends Alec to war and when Alec tries to rebel she rips away his identity and sense of belonging when she reveals that

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