Book Analyses of " Black and Blue"

Jorge Garcia
SW463
May 20th, 2013 Book Report on: Anna Quindlens’ novel “Black and Blue” Introduction This report will explore the social dynamics involved in the novel ‘Black and Blue”. It will briefly describe the topics that are covered in the book as well as an in depth analysis of the main character in the book, Frances Benedetto. The novel deals with the issue of domestic violence and its many different facets and ramifications. This topic is clearly described as a very negative aspect in the main character’s life, and it is the source of all the pain and suffering that she has experienced throughout her life. Black and Blue is a novel that is very moving, and really lays out a very plausible and believable story of a young woman who has been badly beaten and tries to escape her abusive husband. Brief summary The novel begins in New York City. That is where Bobby and Frannie Benedetto reside, along with their ten year old son Robert. From the outside, they appear to be an average American family. He is a New York City police officer and she is an emergency room nurse. But despite their very normal appearance on the outside, things are far from perfect on the inside. He is very controlling, drinks heavily and is very disrespectful towards her. Prior to the marriage, he was very charming and courteous, but soon after the marriage, he began to beat her. The first time was when she was nineteen years old. Finally, after years of drunken rages, bruises and broken bones, she finally decides to leave him after he broke her nose and disfigured her so badly that she could no longer go to work at the hospital. She called a social worker at the family planning clinic named Patty Bancroft, who expertly assisted in her flight to freedom. She arranged for her and her son to move to Florida to start new lives under different names. They settled down there, made new friends and began to feel a sense of normalcy away from the chaotic existence that they both feared back in New York. Frannie’s name was changed to Beth Crenshaw and she developed strong bonds there with a new friend named Cindy and also the school gym coach Mike Riordan, who she eventually started dating and had a young daughter named Grace with. Her son Robert even developed a strong friendship with a Latino neighborhood kid, Bennie Castro. Her husband Bobby eventually found them in Florida. He severely beat her again and fled with their son Robert. She continued living in Florida and searched for her son to no avail. She missed her Robert and longed for the day when she could see him again. Family roles and relationships Frances Flynn Benedetto had many different roles in the family structure. She also had very strong bonds in the novel Black and Blue, and she even developed other relationships along the way. She was born Frances Flynn to her mother and father in New York. She was a loving daughter who was raised in an Irish Catholic household. By all accounts, she was raised well in a loving home. She was also the older sister to Grace, who she really adored with all of heart. Frannie mentioned that due to the age difference, she sometimes felt like Grace’s mother instead of her sister because she was very protective of her. Frannie Flynn Benedetto was also a wife, mother and daughter in-law to her husband’s mother. Frannie had many positive relationships in her life and really had great strengths when it came to her relationships with her mother, sister and her son Robert. She was a loving daughter, sister and mother, and she really excelled in those roles. However, her greatest challenge in her life was the relationship with her husband Bobby. She valiantly tried to make her relationship with her husband work. Deep down, she really loved him and she often felt guilt because in the dark corners of her mind, she sometimes felt that maybe it was her fault, or something must be wrong with her, not him. Character’s relationship with men As mentioned in the novel Black and Blue, Frannie Benedetto had a very stormy relationship with her husband Bobby. Early on in the book, she described herself as being head over heels in love with this big, strong, handsome young man named Bobby. She described the way his voice sounded like butter scotch syrup that made her feel all warm inside and made goose bumps on her arms whenever he spoke to her. From the very beginning, she felt inferior to him, and he was in full control of the relationship. According to the text Thinking about women, the process of Gender socialization is very prevalent in society, and basically states that certain behaviors are either encouraged or discouraged based on your gender. For example, gender identity is closely related to use of feminine stereotypes such as the stereotype that women are dependant on men and that women are weaker than men and are more helpless than men. These concepts and stereotypes are clearly present in the book Black and Blue. Major Institutions In Black and Blue, there are major institutions that supported, maintained and condoned the subordination of women. The first of which was the family system. In the Benedetto household, it was painfully clear who the boss was in the family. The father, Bobby Benedetto used verbal and physical means to force his will on his wife. He was a violent man who drank too much and always took his frustrations out on his wife. As mentioned in the previous section, Gender socialization played a key role in the book Black and Blue, and reinforced long held stereotypes and beliefs, such as the belief that men are the stronger sex and therefore, in charge at all times. Mr. Benedetto fully believed that he was perfectly within his right to inflict verbal and physical punishment upon his wife. Politics and Law also played a role because he was a police officer and highly regarded member of society. His position and status as a law enforcement officer gave him the air of invincibility, and allowed the punishment and abuse to flourish and thrive. This can partly be attributed to Sexism as ideology discussed in chapter three of the text. According to Karl Mannheim, sexism is an ideology or system of beliefs that defends the traditional status of women and men in society. He mentions that an ideology like sexism fully engulfs our thought processes and manages to distort reality to the benefit of the stronger sex. Psychological well being There can only be one word to describe the psychological well being of Frannie Benedetto. Tortured. Frannie not only endured physical abuse, which is traumatic in and of itself. But she also, for many years endured the psychological trauma of being abused in an intimate partner violence situation. She suffered through great emotional distress that caused her to lose her own identity. She stated that she once thought she knew who she was; a loving mother and wife; a good employee at the hospital where she worked; but over time, she began to lose herself and her own identity. All the lies that she told to cover up the abuse began to weigh heavily upon her. In her employment, she would often care for many abused women who came into the emergency room beaten and bruised. Now she was one of them. A victim. Despite all of these circumstances, she was eventually able to bounce back and show great resilience by summoning the courage to leave the man who she loved but was inflicting such great pain on her. Physical well being The main character in the book suffered tremendously at the hands of her husband. She had to endure many beatings that left her with broken bones and bruises. Frannie stated that early in the marriage, Bobby went on a drinking binge and came home and hit her so hard that he broke her collar bone. The next day he was in tears and promised that he would never do it again. He stopped drinking for several months, but eventually, the drinking and the beatings continued. The final straw came when he broke her nose and disfigured her face so badly that she could not return to work. She also felt very bad because she knew that all of the violence in the home was also causing psychological trauma to her ten year old son Robert. Even though most of the beatings occurred when he was in his room asleep, she knew deep down that he was not sleeping. She knew that he was listening to all of the slaps and punches; all of the moans and groans that emanated from her after every kick or smack. Challenges in the workforce. Frannie Benedetto experienced several different challenges in the workforce. According to the book Black and Blue, the first challenge is one that she inadvertently created herself. Growing up, Frannie was content to be average, and did not challenge herself to be the best. It was stated in the book that she chose to pursue a career in nursing instead of becoming a doctor. In her work at the hospital, she was content to be the associate nurse, but did not want to be the head nurse. This can directly be attributed to her own negative feelings of self worth. Later, when she fled the abusive relationship and altered her identity to become Beth Crenshaw of Wilmington, Delaware, she experienced the challenges of economic oppression and stress. In her previous job at the hospital, she was a licensed nurse making a decent salary. Now she was Beth Crenshaw, a woman on the run with no degrees or licenses in nursing, and little or no prospects of finding a decent job. She was very worried about her future in Florida, and she was also worried about her son Robert, and how she was going to support him. Patty Bancroft, the social worker from the family planning agency arranged a job for her in home health care. She was initially excited to begin working again, but eventually realized that it involved very menial type work such as house keeping, cooking and cleaning. Nonetheless, she was thankful for the opportunity and accepted the position even though it did not pay well or was not as prestigious as her former nursing job. Course of action as a generalist social worker As a generalist social worker, I would demonstrate great sensitivity towards a woman like Frannie Benedetto and I would utilize the strengths perspective. For example, I would first try to put her mind at ease by informing her that I was there to assist her and that there are many resources available to help her right now, and that we, as an organization (family planning) are committed to helping her improve her situation. I would then mention the fact that even though the situation may seem bleak at the moment, things will work out if she follows through with the proven methods of escaping an abusive relationship and preventing domestic violence. Just like Patty Bancroft, I too would have helped her escape the abusive relationship she found herself in. However, when Beth (Frannie) breached her anonymity by coming out on the evening news, I would have been much more proactive in relocating her right away. Patty, the social worker, did not do that. Consequently, her husband found her, beat her up again and took her son Robert away from her. She vowed continue the search for her son until she found him.