Child Abuse In The Secret Life Of Bees

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In the book The Secret Life of Bees Lily’s father T.Ray is really abusive and it hurts Lily an many ways. In the late nineteenth century, the United States had no laws the protected children form maltreatment (Henry 13). This book was written in 1964 so protecting children from child abuse was not a law. T.Ray could abuse Lily all he wanted to and still not go to jail. The Act in 1996, defines child abuse and neglect as any that results in imminent risk of serious harm, death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse to people under eighteen (Henry 14). When the book was made they didn’t even have a definition of child abuse so that’s was in Sue Monk Kidd book she didn’t have T.Ray arrest. There are four types of abuse Emotional…show more content…
It was only in the late 19th century that the mistreatment of kids was legally defined to provide for the basic human rights of children (Henry 13). The book was written in 1964 so abuse was not defined. Child abuse gained major attention in the usa in the 1960s (Tollefson). Child abuse gained attention in the 1960s so Lily could have told the cops and maybe got T.Ray reported. Some people also believe that stress is a cause for some cases of child abuse (Tollefson). T.Ray has been stressing a lot because he has the weight of his wife being dead on his back and T.Ray is a single dad taking care of three people so that can be a reason why he is abusing Lily. Emotional Abuse is a parents or caretakers word or actions that harm a child emotionally, mentally, or socially (Henry 14). Your sorry mother ran off and left you. The day she died, she came back and got her things that’s all (Kidd 40). That’s emotional abuse because T.Ray words hurt Lily because it puts bad images in her mind. “I expect this out of boys, Lily---you can’t blame them---but I expect more out of you. You act no better than a slut (Kidd 24). That is emotional abuse because T.Ray calling Lily a slut and hurts Lily to hear her dad call her a slut. A greater proportion of victims of medical and emotional abuse are children age eight and younger (Henry 11). Lily is fourteen years old so by the facts it

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