Troubled Pasts In Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchman

The thoughts I had when I was informed about my father’s death were thoughts of negative and insecure. I felt lonely, abandoned and lost. At times I would dwell on how my life would turn out since I did not have my father to protect me, and give me the guidance I needed. I lost not just my father, but my best friend. Depression set over me throughout my last elementary school year through my entire middle school term.

The effects that a problematic divorce may have on children are so strong that it follows them well into adulthood (Gruber). Children are not only affected emotionally but also mentally (Gruber). I speak from experience, having gone through a rough divorce when I was a child. From the arguments down the hall when they were together to having to choose which parent I would spend my birthday with, the stress of it never went away. As an adult now, I can say that on account of what I saw, heard, and went through during and after my parents’ divorce, there are still parts of my life that I struggle with.

These children are often withdrawn and internalize their emotions. Most of these children are isolated from their peers. Frequent change of residence could be a cause of children's isolation from peers (Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing). Children of family violence are often frustrated because they can not deal with their problems. Often, their education is disrupted by family violence and they start having problems concentrating at school and with truancy.

Researchers found that children’s externalizing issues such as aggression, substance abuse, and inappropriate behavior at school are commonly observed in children that are impact with domestic violence (Ghasemi, 2009; Moylan et al., 2009; Owen et al., 2009). Additionally, children will display poor academic performance because of the reoccurring exposure to viol... ... middle of paper ... ...impact of internalizing and externalizing problems on children who witnesses domestic violence. The study showed that children often suffer from internalizing issues such as depression and anxiety due to the violent exposure. Likewise, children often show externalizing behaviors such as aggression when exposed to domestic violence. Furthermore, Erikson’s theory is relevant in addressing the issue that trauma can have through the individual’s development when exposure to domestic violence.

These children will continue to have this problem as the abuse still continues or even worse, death. The common reasons for this to happen, was that the abuse were connected with a long standing cycle of family abuse at home. In schools, the staff members has a responsibilities toward the children... ... middle of paper ... ...ly lie about a certain questions I won’t be sharing any of the information from this study and it will be for my own personal study. There will be participants who won’t feel comfortable and may feel afraid that they would get into trouble. They may feel traumatized if they see a question that might bring up negative emotions or that can trigger post-traumatic stress disorder.

Emotional Effects Sadness One of the negative emotional outcomes experienced by children and youth exposed to parental conflict is the emotion of sadness. A number of studies have suggested that background anger, which is just a term used to describe anger between adults, furthers negative feelings in children. Children may cry, be very upset and may sit still for a long period of time, as indicated by research showing that in response to background anger “the following overt motor responses may occur: crying, freezing, facial distress”(Cummings and Davies,1994). This also called the concerned pattern, the most common, adaptive method of the three basic ways children cope with background anger, the others being: angry/ambivalent, and unresponsive. They have also reported feeling sadness for the arguing adults as well as wishing they could help in some way.

The children are affected by the parent’s actions of yelling at one another, arguing and sleeping in different beds. Research indicated that parents and children deal with stress at different stages in the divorce process. Not only are the children affected by the divorce but the couples themselves are also (Fomby & Cherlin, 2007). Description of the Problem There are many factors that children face after divorce. A current level of problems the child is experiencing is divorce related risk and protective factors.

Many children come to school with behavior problems that impede their learning and disrupt the the learning of other children. As early as preschool as many as twenty-five percent of children demonstrate problematic behaviors which place them at risk for future negative school experiences (Conroy, M., Sutherland, K., Haydon, T., Stormont, M., & Harmon, J, 2009). These children exhibit aggression, defiance, bullying of others, poor work habits, and acting out in class. Overtime these behaviors become chronic for some students and cyclical patterns of poor behavior, reactionary discipline, failed relationships with staff and peers, low self-esteem, and poor academic performance plague these children. Many teachers feel frustrated as they spend the majority of their classroom management time on the same few children each day.

The situation that Dave Pelzer had to go through as a young child other children are also still facing child abuse. There have been so many reports that children are getting beaten by the own parents or any family members. Some children have been put in to foster care however there are children that are not being rescued from their abused home. There was a situation this year that a young boy died because his mother’s boyfriend beat him up and died a few days later at a hospital. Even though social workers went to his home he was not put in to a foster care after many neighbors reported that he was being beaten so many times and he could not be saved on time.

In the graphic novel Blankets, Craig Thompson tells the story of his early childhood, his relationship with his younger brother, and of his first love. Due to the limiting structures of being raised in a religious household, having been abused by a babysitter, and being unable to form a comforting relationship with his parents, Craig has a hard time transitioning into the adult world. His is visibly unable to find a way to “fit in” and feels like he is drowning in a society where he cannot find his reason for existence. Therefore, it would be argued that Craig’s life was heavily shaped by his parents, the abuse from the babysitter, and his inability to create his own identity and sense of purpose. Craig’s parents had a distinct parenting style, an authoritarian father and a permissive mother, which had a large impact on his life.