66 fucking shithouse?’” Briscoe, p.131; ch.9. He calls her ‘black bitch’ most of the
time. Eastman also likes to sneak a peek into Clare’s room, watching Clare and
what she does. Briscoe writes, “I continued to change my sheet and Eastman observed through the crack in the door.” p.53; ch.3, and “The door was slightly
open and I heard the creaking of the stairs. He was peeping into my room again.” p.63; ch.4. This is considered a psychological abuse because it makes the victim
feels unsafe and uncomfortable. Some abuses are performed together by Carmen and Eastman. They abuse
Clare by insulting her physical appearance. Clare asks her mother if she wants to buy her class photograph, and Carmen simply takes the pictures and sarcastically
complains about how ugly Clare is. ‘Jesus Christ, me give birth to that?’ She stared from the photograph to
me. ‘Lord, sweet Lord, how come she so ugly? Ugly. Ugly. If I hadnt given birth to her, sweet Lord, I would have sworn she was a fraud.
Heavenly Jesus, sweet and kind, why have You given me a swine? Look at that nose, where did you get it from? Not from me,’ said my mother
answering her own question. ‘If I had a nose like that I would cut off half and save the rest.’ Briscoe, p.67; ch.5
The insult does not finish there. To add to Carmen’s statements, Eastman also says:
‘But, Carmen, you forget them rubber lips. Look, see, in the photograph? If I had rubber lips like that I wouldn’t have my photograph taken – and
she wants you to buy it Clare, where you get them spots? You got potato skin.’ Briscoe, p.68; ch.5
67 Those statements stab deep into Clare’s being and stays with her even until she is
a grown up woman. When she finally has her own money, adult Clare decides to have cosmetic surgeries on her nose and lips.
3. Sexual Abuse
In Child maltreatment 2010 analyzed by Gaudiosi 2011, sexual abuse account for 9,2 among other type of abuses p.24. Crosson and Tower 2004
state, “sexual abuse refers to the use of a child for the sexual gratification of an adult” p.124. While, according to Pritchard 2004 there are some actions which
are considered as sexual abuse. Those are “interference with and needless touching of child’s genitalia, forcing child to view or touch or sexually manipulate
adult, penetration attempted or achieved of genital or anal area, showing or making pornography” p.12.
In Ugly, the people performing sexual abuse to Clare are Georgie and Eastman, but it is dominated by Georgie Porgie. As has been mentioned when
describing Georgie Porgie’s character, he has performed sexual abuse on Clare when playing with the Briscoes. While he puts Clare on his lap, he moves his
hand across the front of Clare’s stomach in a sort of bear hug from the back and squeezed Clare into his groin Briscoe, p.24; ch.2.
Georgie uses the chance to satisfy his sexual desires when he is in charge of taking care of the Briscoes. While playing in the garden with the kids, he sees a
caterpillar together with the kids. He throws the caterpillar away but claims to see
68 it on Clare so he can probe her body. Clare is still around seven years old that
time. `Have you got it, Georgie Porgie? I asked anxiously. `Shush, still looking,
he replied. Its not up there — so it must be down here. He bent down and patted my shoes. He started with the outside of my leg and worked his way
up to my bottom. `Have you got it, Georgie Porgie?
`No Still looking. He moved his hand across from the outside of my thigh to the inside of my leg and patted my minnie. No, I cant see it. It must be
hiding. Lets start at the top. Turn around. Aha — there it is Briscoe, p.35; ch.2
Georgie learns that he can easily touch Clare’s private area with the
caterpillar game, so he performs another caterpillar game with Clare on another occasion. Carmen sends Clare to pick some peppermint leaves in the garden and
Georgie offers to help, so they go together to the garden. He makes up a story about a sleeping caterpillar and offers Clare to see and touch it.
Georgie Porgie removed the belt from his trousers, placed it on the grass and then undid the top button of his trousers.
`Georgie Porgie, what are you doing? `Im getting the naughty caterpillar, he said as he started to undo the rest of
his trouser buttons. Come on, you sleepy caterpillar, he said. Clare wants to see you.
.... `Georgie Porgie, I dont think its a good idea to wake the caterpillar
`Ah, but I think it is a good idea. Just put your hand in here, Clare, and feel the nice warm caterpillar.
He pulled open a gap in his trousers and a mass of hair was exposed just like the back of the hairy caterpillar that had climbed on my neck.
Briscoe, p.43; ch.3
Eastman’s sexual abuse to Clare is also performed when Clare is seven. Eastman does not intentionally come to Clare to abuse her sexually, but he just
cannot control himself when he sees Clare’s private area. Briscoe writes, “As I
69 reached to cover myself up, Eastman grabbed my minnie and said, ‘What a nice
little mitt.” p.39; ch.3. Since that time, he loves observing Clare’s bedroom activities from a crack in her door.
4. Neglect
In Child maltreatment 2010 analyzed by Gaudiosi 2011, neglect accounts for 78,3 among other types of abuses p.24. It is the highest kind of
maltreatment scored in number. Wilson et al 1996 says that neglect is an inadequate supervision and lack of attention to the physical and emotional needs
of the child p.556. By looking at the other kinds of abuses performed by Carmen in the previous discussions, we could also conclude that she must have neglected
Clare as well. Clare gets lesser and lesser attention from Carmen, her mother. When she is physically abused by Eastman, she reports it to Carmen, but she
simply gets neglected. ‘Mummy, look what Eastman has done. He stamped out his cigarette on
my hand,’ I showed her where a circular area of flesh had been removed from my right hand. By now the wound was bleeding.
‘Get your hand away from me, and clear off,’ she said. Briscoe, p.132; ch.9
Carmen does not seem to show any interest in what goes on in Clare’s life. She does not feel happy for any of the achievements Clare achieved in her life.
She consistently considers Clare a failure. On Clare’s First Communion, Carmen would not even make her way to the church. She does not even care when Clare
tells her the story. ‘I had a nice day today,’ I said
70 ‘Really,’ said my mother, ‘Close my door on the way out, will you?’
‘I made my First Communion today,’ I said. ‘I would never have guessed,’ my mother said sarcastically.
‘Now – out.’ ‘It was a pity you were too busy to come.’
‘Out’ I went. Briscoe, p.129; ch.8
Clare not only gets neglected emotionally, but also physically. Carmen irresponsibly leaves Clare when she moves to a new house. Although Clare was
still 14 years old, Carmen does not want to take up any responsibility on her. Carmen actually leaves not only Clare but also Pauline and Patsy, but later on she
invites Pauline and Patsy to visit her new house and leaves some money for them. They are also permitted to eat there anytime and spend some days in the new
house as well, but Clare never gets the invitation. When Clare asks about herself, ‘“What about me?’” Briscoe, p.319; ch.20. Carmen responds heartlessly:
‘What about you?’ she said. ‘I don’t remember inviting you to go anywhere. You’re a big woman. If you can take Eastman to court you can
look after yourself. What about you?’ she repeated. ‘There has been too much about you.’ Briscoe, p.319; ch.20
Clare is not only left to live alone in the house, but she also has to earn money for all her needs, including for paying the electricity and gas. Carmen
insists that she should pay the bill, “‘Please don’t think you’re going to live in my house for free,’ she said. ‘There is a gas bill here and an electric bill. You must
pay for your keep.’” Briscoe, p.353; ch.23. Although Clare has 2 jobs, her money is only enough to cover her fare and daily need, so she cannot afford to
pay the bill. Carmen is not satisfied so she decides to take the fuse and leave the house with no electricity and gas. Briscoe writes, “She has another trick up her
71 sleeve. I was reading a textbook when the lights went out and the entire house fell
dark. My mother had removed the fuses from the fuse board and taken them away with her.” Briscoe, p.358; ch.23.
Clare has to manage living in the dark until she can no longer stand it and decides to save up money to pay the bill. Clare only eats once a day, a free meal at
school so that she can save some of her income to pay for the bill. When she finally manages to pay the bill, Carmen requires her to pay for her weekly rent for
staying in her house. ‘When are you going to start paying rent?’ she said.
‘I’m not paying rent,’ I said, ‘I’m not old enough. You have to provide me with a home.’
My mother was clearly not interested in knowing any more about me other than the fact that I was in a job and getting paid weekly.
‘Let’s say 3 pences per week,’ she said. ‘It’s a bit on the low side, but we will see how we go. I’ll get you a rent book.’ Briscoe, p.364; ch.24
Clare has been neglected by her mother during her childhood, at the time when Carmen should actually take full responsibility as a mother.
C. Carmen’s, Eastman’s, and Georgie’s Motivations in Doing Abusive Acts
Towards Clare
By studying the kinds of abuse and relating them to the characterization of the perpetrators, the writer expects to find out the motivation driving the
perpetrators to abuse the main character, Clare. Huffman, Vernoy and Vernoy’s 1997 defines motivation as “factors within an individual such as needs, desires,
and interests that activate, maintain, and direct behavior toward a goal” p.364. According to Worchel and Shebilske 1989, “Psychologists have used the term
