Overcoming Abuse My Story Analysis

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In “Overcoming Abuse - My Story”, Shawna Platt talks about her own experience with abuse and how she was able to survive and eventually overcome it. Platt grew up with abusive parents, in an environment of alcoholism which was filled with physical abuse, emotional abuse, neglect, anxiety, and denial. Platt believes that forgiveness is important in order to stop the cycle of abuse so it doesn 't get passed on to the next generation. Platt’s usage of pathos, tone, and detailed descriptions of abuse in the essay accomplishes her efforts to inform the reader that forgiving others is the key to overcoming abuse and moving on in life. Platt shares her personal experience with overcoming abuse to target the people who are experiencing abuse themselves. …show more content…
By describing the situations she had to go through as a child she makes the reader feel sad. For instance, she talks about her struggles in the essay such as having to wear the same clothes every day and being left by her parents with people she didn’t even knew. Also, she had to learn how to take care of her baby sister at the age of ten. She had to figure out how to take care of an infant on her own because no one was there to teach her how to change a diaper or make a bottle. She also states that she once faced sexual abuse from one of her dad’s drunk friends when she was just five years old. Growing up in an abusive environment made her hard, guarded, and unable to trust anyone. She suffered from anxiety and panic attacks, too. By revealing her struggles through the essay, she makes herself relatable for the people who have experienced abuse themselves. Platt’s appeal to the audience with the use of pathos makes them feel sad for her but it also encourages them to take action against abuse so that other people do not have to go through the same thing that she went through during her …show more content…
For example, she gives the reader an illustration of how her parents used to get involved in physical fights. She states how her father would pick up her mom by the throat, shove her through a kitchen window by the hair, pull her back, and then push her out the door and onto the porch. In that situation, she was unable to do anything because her father would say that he would shoot them if they even tried to let her in. Platt’s use of illustrations and descriptions successfully appeal to the audience because it allows the reader to be able to imagine the position she was in. It shows the audience how big of a problem abuse is and how hard it is to overcome

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