Child Abuse And Huck Finn Essay, Research Paper

Child Abuse is something that children all around the world have to deal with every day. Child abuse can cause physical and mental affects on a child. It occurs very frequently and can happen for many different reasons. There is a law now stating that reporting child abuse is mandatory and you should report it immediately. There are thousands of child abuse victims every year. The abuse usually can leave permanent damage on the rest of the child’s life. Child abuse is a very serious crime, and affects children everyday with positive and negative affects.

Child abuse is a serious crime, that if violated can come with many consequences, and rules. Reporting child abuse is a mandatory law enacted in 1978 (but amended many times) stating that people must report child abuse immediately1. This law was created to identify children that are victims of child abuse. Relating to the law the Department of Human Services has responsibility to access and investigate suspected child abuse. “Each year Department of Human Services investigators conduct 20,000 investigations involving 30,000 children (in the state of California).2″ There are a lot of cases reported each year, involving innocent children, abused by their parents. Although there are thousands of cases reported each year, thousands go unreported. “Child abuse has serious consequences which may remain as indelible pain throughout the victims lifetime3″ Child abuse can have permanent negative affects on the child, permanent affects that the child will never forget. The abuse can also bring a better side to the child, making the child wanting to be more independent. Child abuse is very common, and can affect any child of any race, color or religion.

Child abuse is caused by a parent, for many reasons, and can lead to many kinds of problems for the child. Parents impose child abuse for many reasons such as psychological problems to low self esteem to alcohol or drug abuse.4 Child abuse happens for many different reasons but all the reasons are still child abuse, and are taken seriously. Child abuse can also occur when parents have too high of expectation of their kids which then leads to abuse. “Abusive parents may show disregard for the child’s own needs, limited abilities, and feelings.”5 Disregarding children’s needs can include a neglect ion. Children need parental advice and for parents to fulfill all their needs. “Some parents lack basic information about normal child development and parenting.”6 All parents need information about parenting and normal child development, in order to become a loving parent that a child needs. Some parents lack information because they too, were brought up with abusive parents also. All these reasons are reasons that lead to child abuse and should be taken seriously, and reported immediately.

Child abuse is one of the worst things children have to go through, and can impact a child’s life with a negative affect. “Physical abuse is any non-accidental physical injury, suffered by a child as the result of the acts or omissions of a person responsible for the care of the child.”7 Physical abuse usually ends with a child hurt with bruises and scars. If reported the child can be taken away from the home. “Mental injury is an injury to a child’s intellectual or psychological capacity that is observable to the child’s ability to functions with in the child’s normal range of performance.”8 Mental injuries can result with problems later in the child’s life, and can affect them immensely. If mental injuries are bad enough the child can suffer depression and commit suicide. If child abuse goes unreported the results could be serious and impact the child’s life for the future.9 Child abuse must always be reported, the later you wait the longer the child has to suffer. If it goes unreported the child could have mental problems and no future ahead of them. There are many types of child abuse, but whether it is physical, or mental they all result in a damaging affect towards the child.

Child abuse is a serious crime that comes with serious consequences. It should always be reported in the protection of the child. Child abuse is something that can happen to anyone, and that can leave a permanent damage on a child’s life. It happens everyday to children of all races, it is a problem that we need to take care of. Results in child abuse depend on the type of child abuse. But almost always the results are damaging toward the child. Child abuse comes in many different types and has many different types of results, it should be taken seriously and always be reported, all child abuse is damaging to the child.

In the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain child abuse was a very serious part of Huck’s everyday life. Huck’s father, Pap, was jealous of Huck’s education. He felt Huck would become smarted than him. The abuse Huck received affected him both, positively and negatively. Out of the abuse, though, Huck made a decision to become independent and take care of himself. The abuse he received also influenced his decisions and morals of life. Child abuse plays a very influential role on Huck’s life, the abuse he receives from his father affects him both in a positive and negative way.

Being jealous of Huck and his life, Pap tried child abuse as a way for Huck to be punished for being smarter than him. “You think your better’n’ your father now, don’t you, because he cant? I’ll take it out on you.”10 Pap is jealous of Huck’s education, because he doesn’t want Huck to be better off then him. Also Pap is very scared that Huck could become smarter than him and start beating up on him. “Once he locked me in the cabin, and was gone for 3 days. It was a dreadful lonesome.”11 Huck had to go through most of his life being lonely and not having a real dad. When a child becomes very lonely and has no one to talk to, not even his dad, it can lead to depression and then maybe sucicde. “I wont have it. I’ll lay for you, my smarty, and if I catch you about that school I’ll tan you good.”12 When a father threatens to beat up his son for going to school it is a definite sign of child abuse. A father needs to boost up his sons self esteem instead of threatening to beat him up for trying to learn. The continuing and constant abuse on Huck left a negative affect on him.

The beatings Huck suffered through the majority of his life left him with a negative affect for years to come. With his father, he could smoke and swear all he wanted and his life would have been good if it had no been for the beatings.” 13 The beatings impacted Huck’s life very much, it was the worst part of his life. Pap being a poor influence towards Huck, let him do all the wrong things, but when Huck tried to learn he would just abuse him. “Huck is a homeless boy whose only relative is a disreputable father.”14 Huck, having no family, led him to have no family values and no one to count on, when he needed help. He had no father like role model for him to look up to and respect, and no one to help him with his problems. The beatings that Huck received will stay with him for the rest of his life.15 It will bring him bad memories and haunt him many years to come. If Huck grows up and has a kid, he might abuse him or her and not even realize it, just doing what his father did to him. Even though there were many negative affects, there were also many positive affects.

Having had gone through an abusive childhood it brought a positive affect to Huck, teaching him how to look out for himself and become a better person. “I didn’t want to go to school much before, but I reckoned I’d go now to spite Pap.”16 The abuse made Huck want to become better educated and a better all around person. He didn’t want to grow up and become another disrespected Pap Finn. “I was scared. I made up my mind I would fix up some way to leave here.”17 Huck couldn’t take it anymore, he decided to become independent and take care of himself. The beatings also made him realize that he needed to take charge of his own life. “If he never learned nothing else out of Pap, he learned that the best way to get along with his kind of people is to let them have their own way.”18 Huck learned how to deal with Pap and not let him get to him, and damage his self esteem. Huck also became mature and learned how to take care of himself. Going through constant abuse is bad but sometimes can have a positive affect on a person.

Pap’s abuse on Huck affects him both mentally and physically. He influenced Huck’s life with many damaging affects. Most of the abuse that Pap gave to Huck left Huck with a negative affect. The constant beatings and verbal abuse made Huck lonely and depressed. Although most of the time abuse leaves negative affects, the abuse did leave some positive affects too. The abusive childhood brought a positive side to Huck’s way of thinking and way of life. Child abuse is a terrible thing to go through but can have both positive and negative affects on a child.