A Mother’s Story by Rosie Batty

Today, domestic violence is a widespread problem in many nations. Women are the targets of domestic violence because men see them as weak people. Greg Anderson, the father of Rosie Batty's son Luke, was an aggressive partner in their mother-son relationship. Greg killed his son one afternoon in February, angering Batty (Batty 2015, p. 9). The main themes in Rosie Batty's "A Mother's Story" will be discussed in this essay, along with the connections between those themes and Batty's own experiences with family violence. The central theme in the story is domestic violence. After Greg had killed his son, Batty became the voice of family abuse, and thus she was named the Australian woman of the year. Batty narrates how her son Luke hated his life to the extent that he would commit suicide. Luke was affected by the scars of family violence. Witnessing cases of abuse within the family setup is disturbing to a kid. Children are vulnerable to bullying and experiencing violence thus affecting their cognitive and developmental abilities (Brown 2015, p. 1). However, Batty narrates in her book that Luke loved his father despite the horror and violence he witnessed in the house from him. This is because; a kid is usually attached to their parents despite what they do. They can forgive for anything they do because they know they have to depend on them for survival (Batty 2015, p. 36). Therefore, many children cannot reject their violent and abusive parents.

Rosie's experiences with people denote that the issue of family violence is complicated especially when one has children. It becomes difficult to serve the ties. The problem of domestic violence in Australia has been elaborated in the story. Her experience has positioned family violence as a personal matter as well as a social issue. Her abusive relationship with Greg affected her own life as well as the life of his son. Luke could not live in peace and hated himself because of the violence he encountered. The matter can be considered as a social issue because many women in Australia experienced family violence and they could discuss the issue publicly without fear or shame. Luke revealed that he feared that his father Greg would kill his mother Batty and thus felt hopeless because he was not able to save his mother from Greg’s rage (Doherty 2015, p. 1). Domestic violence can be viewed as a common occurrence in the Australian culture where men abused the women. The presence of children in the process would bring fear and hatred to the extent that they would find ways of defending their mothers. Domestic violence propagates hatred and may lead to the death of either party (Anderson 2015, p. 1). Rosie Batty story is relevant to the modern society that is governed by violence towards women.

The theme of family violence in Batty's story is relevant in the society today in that it teaches about the dangers of domestic abuse, especially to the kids. It might propagate hatred and hopelessness among the children that may interfere with their development. The parents should be careful not to practice violence in the presence of children as it can affect the kids psychologically. Domestic violence is associated with numerous adverse effects and thus should be avoided in the society. The community must punish the perpetrators of domestic abuse so as to live peaceful lives and have happy families.













References

Anderson, G., 2015. “I tried to pull him off Mum, but I was too little” — Rosie Batty reveals son Luke’s heartbreaking words. News Life.

Batty, R., 2015. A Mother’s Story, Australia: HarperCollins.

Brown, S.L., 2015. Rosie Batty reveals heartbreak of losing son, dive into dangerous relationship in book, A Mother’s Story. ABC Radio Melbourne.

Doherty, E., 2015. Rosie Batty’s new memoir, A Mother’s Story, reveals how brave son Luke fought to protect her. Herld Sun.