The Day It Happened Analysis

Josie: Analyzing Intimate Partner Violence and Child Care In Morales’ The Day It Happened, a young woman named Josie struggles to deal with an abusive husband with a child on the way. It is apparent the family knows, but would rather cover the wounds instead of addressing the issue. When she discovers she is pregnant, Josie decides it is best for her and her future newborn to escape the hardships of a physically abusive marriage. The narrator writes, “I warned you. I said I would leave if you ever hit me again. I am not safe with you. Our child is not safe with you. I am going now” (308). The story ends as Josie gets in a taxi and doesn’t look back. Rachel Tolbert Kimbro (PhD) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Rice University and
the director of the Kinder Institute 's Urban Health Program. Dr. Kimbro earned her M.A. in Sociology at Princeton and her B.A. in Sociology and Policy Studies at Rice. In her article Together Forever? Romantic Relationship Characteristics and Prenatal Health Behaviors, Kimbro makes the connection between a healthy relationship and a healthy unborn. She examines the socioeconomic and interpersonal resources of expecting mothers and shows how they directly affect the child inside the womb. Kimbro writes, “Married mothers are more likely to have been in their relationships longer and less likely to report the father has physically abused her. Among unmarried mothers, cohabiting mothers fare the best on the relationship quality measures, followed by mothers in romantic relationships with the fathers. Mothers who have broken up with the father of the baby, unsurprisingly, report the most adverse relationship conditions, with 51% reporting their relationship worsened after conception and 12% reporting physical abuse” (750). Kimbro’s research and studies prove that physical abuse and stress from the father can cause difficulties in the prenatal process. Studies show that a pregnant woman can suffer from a miscarriage or deliver a premature infant due to emotional stress. If there is physical abuse present in the relationship, the outcome can be significantly worse. In The Day It Happened, Josie realizes that another’s life is at stake and this gives her that extra push to leave her abuser behind. From the beginning of the story, the view of Josie’s husband is not a pleasant one.
The narrator writes, “When he arrived he expected a good dinner to be on the table at the right temperature exactly five minutes after he walked in the door. He yelled if she didn’t get it right and sometimes even if she did” (306). This shows the daily verbal abuse Josie received. Although she tried her hardest to please her husband, he always felt the need for conflict. He purposely made her feel inferior and as if she couldn’t do anything properly. Professor Jeffrey A. Parness teaches a variety of civil procedure courses as well as administrative law at Northern Illinois University. Parness’ primary areas of scholarship include federal and state civil procedure laws, maternity and paternity laws, the legal status of the unborn, state constitutional equality laws, crime victim restitution, witness abuse in civil litigation, and judicial rulemaking. In his article The Abuse and Neglect of the Human Unborn: Protecting Potential Life, he uses uncompromising research and studies to show that unstable and physically abusive marriages directly correlate with an unhealthy human unborn. Parness writes, “Only recently has a state legislature seen fit to create a distinct statutory scheme providing comprehensive protection of the unborn. Recent Minnesota laws now criminalize conduct involving both varying forms of culpable activity causing injury to the unborn and varying forms of injury to the
unborn. Under the laws, culpable activity includes premeditated, intentional, grossly negligent and negligent acts injuring the unborn, as well as certain injurious acts involving the use of inherently dangerous items” (210). In other words, the new Minnesota laws criminally punish harmful acts, intentional or not, against children still in the womb. On many occasions, Josie’s husband throws inanimate objects at her in addition to the yelling and beating. The objects could very well hit her and damage the uterus where the unborn is unsuspectingly dormant. Josie and Ramon, her husband, had only been married for 6 months before she couldn’t endure the physical abuse any longer.
She spent most of her marriage walking on eggshells for a man who only brought her down, physically and mentally. The narrator states, “The first time that happened Josie didn’t go to morning mass at St. Francis and Mami went down to her apartment to see if she was sick or something. Josie came to the door with a big bruise on her face. After that Mami went to fetch her every Sunday and stayed with her if she was too ashamed to go to church” (307). This statement elaborates Josie’s usual reaction to hide and cower in fear of her husband and his punishments. She would take the abuse and her mother would help her slide it underneath the rug, instead of encourage her to leave him. Marguerite Stevenson Barratt teaches at Michigan State University in the Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences Division as a Senior Science Advisor. Karen K. Colbert teaches at Iowa State University in the Human Development & Family Studies department as a Program Coordinator. Mary A. Roach is an American author who specializes in popular science and has published 7 books. In their article Single Mothers and Their Infants: Factors Associated with Optimal Parenting, Barratt, Roach, and Colbert discuss the maternal and infant factors that may affect single mothers and their children. They write, “There is a tendency for single mothers to remain living within the contexts of their
families of origin because supportive adults have the potential to influence parenting” (448). In plain English, they state that mothers who have chosen to raise their child by themselves, eventually seek the help of their parents to guide them in the right parental direction. Josie chose to leave, not only her husband, but also her family. She does not know how to raise a child and does not seem to have much money. Although the story doesn’t state where Josie is relocating, the implications in the previous article indicate that she will be returning for guidance from her mother.
References
Barratt, M. Roach, M. Colbert, K. Single Mothers and Their Infants: Factors Associated with Optimal Parenting. Family Relations. Oct. 1991. Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 448-454. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/584903?searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dsingle%2Bmothers%26amp%3Bacc%3Doff%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff&resultItemClick=true&Search=yes&searchText=single&searchText=mothers&uid=3739600&uid=2134&uid=2480527487&uid=2129&uid=2480527477&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=3739256&uid=60&sid=21103846655377
Kimbro, R. Together Forever? Romantic Relationship Characteristics and Prenatal Health Behaviors. Journal of Marriage and Family. Aug. 2008. Vol. 70, No. 3, pp. 745-757. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/40056364?uid=3739600&uid=2129&uid=2134&uid=2480527487&uid=2480527477&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=3739256&uid=60&purchase-type=none&accessType=none&sid=21103818548147&showMyJstorPss=false&seq=1&showAccess=false Parness, J. The Abuse and Neglect of the Human Unborn: Protecting Potential Life. Family Law Quarterly. Summer. 1986. Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 197-212. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/25739426?uid=3739600&uid=2134&uid=2480527487&uid=2480527477&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=3739256&uid=60&sid=21103846655377