Cycles of Abuse

Abuse is cyclical. The relationship between the father and the mother is a clear example of the ways in which abuse tends to take place in cycles. While we are not given much information about their marriage in the beginning of the novel, several of the narrator’s memories, along with the postcard that the boys find in their father’s bedroom, provide important insight into the nature of their relationship. From the narrator, we learn that the father frequently and unapologetically physically abused the mother whenever she would upset him. From the postcard, we see written down in the mother’s own words that even though the two of them were constantly fighting when they were together, she did not want to throw away the connection they had with one another just because they were not always happy together. Both of these insights...