wages although it is not enough for them in fulfilling the family‟s needs. The problem now is that mother has a debt to pay and all the money mother have is
not eno ugh to pay all of her debt and fulfill the family‟s needs. Due to this
condition, Tess‟ mother has to send Tess to accompany the punter again in order to receive money, although getting money means sacrificing Tess by letting her
being abused sexually. Ano
ther prove that Tess‟ family is in poverty could be seen from the quotation below.
This was more successful, but what with the fares and the hotel bills, couldn‟t be a long-term solution. Meanwhile, the eight of us – Mother,
Don, me and the kids as well as Sean
– were squashed into one spare room, the family lying top to toe in a double bed and Sean dossing on
the floor. It was bloody freezing, that January. We‟d brought some blankets with us, but not enough
. At one point we resorted to using another mattress on top of us for extra warmth. Stevens, 2008: 253
From the text above, it could be interpreted that Tess‟ family is in poor condition. They are having problem with the hotel bills and the fare. They can
only rent one small room for the eight of them. It is described that they are squashed into one spare room and the family lying top to toe in a double bed
while Sean sleeps on the floor. In addition, they cannot provide enough blankets for the eight of them. This shows that they live in poverty.
3. Abuser‟s Past Experience
The third cause of the abuses occur to Tess is abuser‟s previous experience. People or parents who had been abused in hisher childhood might
fulfill hisher anger which was forced to be absent during the childhood, by abusing hisher own children at their adulthood. According to Ryan in Corby,
2006: 204 those who have been sexually abused during childhood are more likely to be abusive in their adult age. In the autobiography entitled Sold, it is stated
explicitly that among Tess‟ abusers, Tess‟ mother is the only abuser who is abused in her teens. It is mention in the quotation below.
One of my brothers had a dirty mind, and he tried to feel me up
– do you
know what I mean? „I nodded. I had a horror of that, the most private part of your body being got at.
„I told Mother straight away, and do you
know what she did? Slapped me round the face as hard as she could and called me a filthy girl
Me Calling me filthy when it was my brother who was a wrong „un.‟ I was indignant. „That‟s not fair,‟ I declared. „Too
right,‟ said Mother. „Well, it got worse. She said she‟d tell father, and sure enough she did.
“Evil thoughts” he yelled at me. “Filthy slut” And he trashed me with his belt till I was screaming and bleeding.
I couldn‟t move for days.‟ Stevens, 2008: 94-95
From the quotation above, it is stated that Tess‟ mother have been abused by her family members. First, Tess‟ mother was abused by her brother whom
sexually abused her by touching her most private part of the body. Second, she was physically abused by her mother by being slapped and also verbally abused
by calling her a „filthy girl‟. Third, her father also verbally abused her by shouting at her „filthy thoughts‟ and „filthy slut‟. Then, father physically abused her by
trashing his belt at her. In addition, the quotation below describes that Tess‟
grandmother and grandfather was strict towards her mother and physically abused her by using the belt.
What Mother always went on about, though, was how strict her mum and dad were.
„What are you complaining about?‟ she used to say to us kids when we were crying after she‟d given us a good hiding. „This is nothing. My
dad used to take a belt to me, and that was a thrashing. You lot don‟t
know you‟re born.‟ Stevens, 2008: 93
The quotation below emphasizes on Tess‟ mother past experience on the
cruelty of her parents in the perspective of Tess. According to the quotation below, Tess sees the sadness in mother since mother grew up in a violent family
where her parents neglect her need for love and care. Instead of loving their own daughter, mother‟s parents abuse her and mistrust her. According to Tess‟
perspectives, although mother was being abused and being mistrusted in her family by her parents, she still loves them. Tess also interprets
that mother‟s parents are terrible since they trashed their children although they were innocence.
For the next few days I felt I was walking on air. I looked at Mother with
new eyes, knowing what she‟d been through. Growing up in that family, with so many kids crammed into a small house and her mother and
father so violent. I knew she loved them, but they seemed terrible to
me. They thrashed their kids even if they‟d done nothing wrong. Stevens, 2008: 107
The abuses which Tess‟ mother suffered in her teen age could create a sense of frustration as she grew up. When she was abused in her family, she
cannot express her anger into other people. But, when mother parted from her parents she receives the freedom of life and has no one to forbid her to express her
freedom. Mother, as the victim of abuse, expresses her freedom by showing her anger and her emptiness by abusing her own children, especially Tess.
4. Parent‟s Divorce
T he fourth cause of the abuses which is suffered by Tess is parent‟s
divorce. The reasons parent‟s divorce is the cause of abuse because those who live alone with children or being single-parent could get higher stress level and could
be exhausted of nurturing children. A parent who nurtures alone hisher children
