One in four American women have experienced abuse at least once in their lifetime. Abuse is not limited to one style, a person can be abused verbally, physically, and mentally. Men and women all over the United States, even the World are victims of domestic violence. Zora Neale Hurston’s’ novel Their Eyes Were Watching God illustrates a real scenario that involves domestic violence being used to solve their problems and how domestic violence negatively affects the self esteem of the victim and other people around them.
In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, the main character Janie Crawford experienced domestic violence throughout her life. When she is sixteen, at the urges of her grandmother Janie marries a farmer named Logan. He verbally abuses her nearly every day calling her ugly, useless, and spoiled and treats her like a mule when she does not want to help him with farm work. Her second husband Joe Starks, although he seemed charming he eventually begins to physically abuse Janie, forced her to cover her hair, and serve him like a slave.
Janie’s last and final marriage to TeaCake is just as disastrous as the first two, in Chapter seventeen of the novel Teacake threatens Janie’s life, then beats her.
Domestic violence is a result of someone wanting control over the victim, the culprits goal is to put fear into the heart of the victim. According to Clark Prosecutor, author of What is Domestic Violence, the batterer uses violence and behaviors, including but not limited to, intimidation, threats, psychological abuse, and isolation to coerce to control the person.
Prosecutor reveals that abusers are usually controlling people who enjoy taking control of the other person’s life and they will go to any extreme to gain it. Furthermore, Prosecutor also explains, “abuse is a relationship is any act used to gain power and control over another person. Women who are abused physically are often isolated and experience depression.” In this example, Prosecutor addresses the detrimental effect of abuse and the increasing rates of depression found in the women of today. Domestic Violence is not only a human rights issue in the United States, it is a problem in other countries as well. For instance, domestic abuse has been ignored in the caribbean islands such as Jamaica. In a case where a wife killed her abusive husband, in her defence she pleaded being affected by“ battered wife syndrome (“Battered Women “).
The woman was beaten so badly the court system allowed her to use that abuse as a defense to her case and she was proven not guilty. This example shows how domestic violence affects not only women in a country, but also its court systems. With new domestic violence cases being brought about, countries begin to change their laws as they realize the new issues arising. In addition, in Jamaica police reported 39 percent of murders committed in 1998 involved domestic disputes. This clearly shows that domestic violence affects women everywhere. It also reveals that American women are not the only women who suffer from domestic violence daily. The Universal Declaration of Rights is a list of rights that was created to establish concrete proof of what every American is entitled to, numerous rights listed were meant to prevent the human rights issue of domestic violence. In article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights it states, “All human beings are born free and equal, meaning no one can control another person because everyone is equal. Additionally, everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of himself and of his family, (“ Universal Declaration of Human Rights” ).
Domestic violence is not adequate for the health and well being of the victim, therefore violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Ultimately, research has proved to us that women all over the world, not only in the United States of America, but in other lesser developed countries as well, are victims of domestic violence today, just as Janie in Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. In her novel Janie, the main character, was abused by both of her husband’s. As I have said before, currently one in four women suffer from abuse at least once in their lifetimes. Domestic Violence is a human rights issue that still affects people today. Policemen in Jamaica witness domestic violence crimes daily, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights establish laws against abuse, and court systems have changed their approach to cases such as these. Clearly Domestic Violence is still an active human rights issue and it will continue to be an issue without the proper attention and actions to stop it.
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