Imagine being repeatedly assaulted and battered. Now imagine that the person inflicting the abuse was a parent, a guardian, or even a sibling. That is what many children worldwide deal with everyday, and before Mary Ellen’s Story brought attention to the widespread abuse that takes place behind closed doors, many children were repeatedly beaten and no repercussions were dealt to their abusers. This was what Howard Markel called, “ . . .the days when beasts of burden enjoyed more legal protection than children.” Luckily, today there are laws in place which punish those who abuse defenseless children and Mary Ellen’s Story, by Howard Markel chronicles the story that exposed this need for child protection laws worldwide, through its: structure,
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Right in the beginning, he seizes the reader’s attention with a heart-breaking attention grabber, and he uses the reader’s attention to bring light to a problem that is often left in the dark. “In 1874, there were no laws protecting children from physical abuse from their parents. It was an era of “spare the rod and spoil the child,” and parents routinely meted out painful and damaging punishment without comment or penalty” (Markel 134). After intriguing the reader, Markel goes on to give exact information regarding Mary’s past; he includes exact dates, quoted article titles, and names of those who helped Mary Ellen’s case. It is apparent that Markel paid attention to both the major and minor details but he did so in a way that did not bore the reader with all of the redundant or needless information. “Her heart-wrenching testimony was featured in the New York Times the next day, April 10, 1874, under the subheading ‘Inhumane treatment of Little Waif’” (Markel 135). That sentence from Markel’s essay exemplifies the entire work; it is filled with information but at the same time it doesn’t burden the reader with all of the useless knowledge some other historical essays do. The only discrepancy with Markel’s story is that he does not include sources for the information he is giving. Considering the fact that the New York Times article, and Markel’s essay were …show more content…
The original article, which brought attention to Mary Ellen’s situation, was published over a century ago, but unfortunately children today still have similar stories to share. According to the Children’s Bureau’s annual report, roughly 43 out of every 1,000 children in the United States had reported maltreatment during the 2013 calendar year. That figure means that even though society has made extensive progress through the past century, child abuse is still a widespread problem in modern society. As Markel eloquently stated, “Gone are the days when beasts of burden enjoyed more legal protection than children” (Markel 136). Now, when children abuse is reported there is a vast legal and protective system that has been put in place to make sure children are protected from their abusers, and to ensure that those abusers are punished to the full extent of the law. In 2013 alone, over five hundred thousand different perpetrators of child abuse had active cases against them and they each face losing custody of their children as a result of their crimes (Children's Bureau). Fortunately for those defenseless children, the days of child abusers going unpunished are long
Right in the beginning, he seizes the reader’s attention with a heart-breaking attention grabber, and he uses the reader’s attention to bring light to a problem that is often left in the dark. “In 1874, there were no laws protecting children from physical abuse from their parents. It was an era of “spare the rod and spoil the child,” and parents routinely meted out painful and damaging punishment without comment or penalty” (Markel 134). After intriguing the reader, Markel goes on to give exact information regarding Mary’s past; he includes exact dates, quoted article titles, and names of those who helped Mary Ellen’s case. It is apparent that Markel paid attention to both the major and minor details but he did so in a way that did not bore the reader with all of the redundant or needless information. “Her heart-wrenching testimony was featured in the New York Times the next day, April 10, 1874, under the subheading ‘Inhumane treatment of Little Waif’” (Markel 135). That sentence from Markel’s essay exemplifies the entire work; it is filled with information but at the same time it doesn’t burden the reader with all of the useless knowledge some other historical essays do. The only discrepancy with Markel’s story is that he does not include sources for the information he is giving. Considering the fact that the New York Times article, and Markel’s essay were …show more content…
The original article, which brought attention to Mary Ellen’s situation, was published over a century ago, but unfortunately children today still have similar stories to share. According to the Children’s Bureau’s annual report, roughly 43 out of every 1,000 children in the United States had reported maltreatment during the 2013 calendar year. That figure means that even though society has made extensive progress through the past century, child abuse is still a widespread problem in modern society. As Markel eloquently stated, “Gone are the days when beasts of burden enjoyed more legal protection than children” (Markel 136). Now, when children abuse is reported there is a vast legal and protective system that has been put in place to make sure children are protected from their abusers, and to ensure that those abusers are punished to the full extent of the law. In 2013 alone, over five hundred thousand different perpetrators of child abuse had active cases against them and they each face losing custody of their children as a result of their crimes (Children's Bureau). Fortunately for those defenseless children, the days of child abusers going unpunished are long