Domestic Abuse

Answer each question in a few paragraphs. Only use the book as the source.  Chapter 3 The first “Key Point” is: “Abuse grows from attitudes and values, not feelings. The roots are ownership, the trunk is entitlement, and the branches are control.” Is it surprising to you that abuse does not stem from feelings? Can you give an example from the text of an abuser who demonstrated this? Why do you think the author describes abuse as a tree whose roots are ownership, whose trunk is entitlement, and whose branches are control?   Chapter 5 If an abuser acts remorseful, is he really? Describe the contradictory attitudes and beliefs operating in his mind. Is his remorse likely to last? How does his dramatic remorse shift his attention in an unusual way that tends to get him what he wants? Does it really matter if his remorse is really genuine or not?  Chapter 10 The author makes the following powerful statement: “The treatment that protective mothers so often receive at the hands of family courts is among the most shameful secrets of modern jurisprudence. This is the only social institution that I am aware of that so frequently forbids mothers to protect their children from abuse.” What does the author mean by this? Discuss the ramifications. How do the courts punish a woman for exposing her children to an abuser in one situation and then turn around and punish her for refusing to expose them to the same abuser in another situation?  Chapter 13 It is interesting that oppression or abusiveness in the home is quite similar to oppression in larger scale situations such as society or government. Describe how this is so. How does it illustrate the statement that “the abusive mentality is the mentality of oppression.”?