![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/files\/2018\/12\/Playboy-1.jpg\")
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Above is a cartoon from <\/span>Playboy <\/span><\/i>(vol. 5, no. 10) and an article from <\/span>The American Women\u2019s Movement<\/span><\/i> titled \u201cLetter from a Battered Wife\u201d that was initially published in Del Martin\u2019s <\/span>Battered Wives<\/span><\/i>. Both are contrasting portraits of domestic violence. The cartoon is very blunt and unapologetic in its use of an act of violence as a point of humor. The comedic technique being used here is a reframing device. The final line \u201cAnd that\u2019s why I slugged you\u201d puts both the man and woman\u2019s behavior in the previous panels in a new context. The man\u2019s desire to come home to see his wife is recontextualized as either a desire to relieve stress by beating up another person or to express jealousy of the fact that his wife is not working outside the home and is exempt from the kind of stress he experiences. The woman, meanwhile, conceals her face throughout the comic, and the new context allows the viewer to immediately understand that she most likely is hiding a black eye. If we juxtapose this cartoon with the 1976 \u00a0\u201cLetter from a Battered Wife,\u201d we can reframe this moment again. Del Martin reminds us of the painful reality of spousal abuse: \u201cFew people have ever seen my black and blue face and swollen lips, because I have always stayed indoors afterwards, feeling ashamed\u201d (Martin, 2). The woman in the cartoon is alone with her husband yet she still hides under the covers. This can be an indicator that she is afraid of her The concealment of the face also reminds the viewer of the isolation victims of domestic violence experience. The letter\u2019s author states that she \u201ccannot depend upon any outside help\u201d because outsiders will \u201cexcuse (her) husband for distorting (her) face\u201d but will not \u201cforgive (her) for looking bruised and broken\u201d (Martin, 4). The author goes on\u00a0to detail this isolation and how it stems from traditional views that no one should interfere with an intimate relationship even if it is abusive.\u00a0<\/span>The woman\u2019s lack of movement also reflects the letter\u2019s description of how wife-beating \u201cdestroys the beaten woman\u2019s self-respect and paralyzes her will” (Martin, 8). The woman in the cartoon is trapped just like how many victims are trapped.<\/span><\/p>\n The dialogue from the man also parallels a commentary made by the author explaining how society\u2019s view of domestic violence often rationalizes the situation as \u201ca nagging The cartoon was published in <\/span>Playboy <\/span><\/i>in 1958 while the \u201cLetter from a Battered Wife\u201d was published in 1976, in the middle of Second-wave feminism. The letter ends with an optimistic view of how communities are starting to see domestic violence as a grave social problem thanks to organizations like the National Organization for Women (NOW). However, she continues to push the necessity of treating domestic violence as a public issue. <\/span><\/p>\n One of the most significant movements within the Second-wave was the Battered Women\u2019s Movement which worked to frame wife-beating as an epidemic that stemmed from a large scale subordination of women (Schneider, 23). These two images display the initial societal views of domestic violence in the 1950s and the attempt change those views in the 1970s. Prior to the movement, domestic violence was not seen as a very big deal and wife abuse was viewed by law enforcers as \u201cdomestic disturbances\u201d that were a private matter. Newspapers refrained from even reporting incidents of domestic abuse until 1974 (Pleck, 182). The cartoon\u2019s heavy-handed depiction of violence, even if it is possibly a critique of the husband, reflects the attitude that law and media had towards domestic violence at the time. \u201cLetter from a Battered Wife\u201d is a direct response to these feelings, emphasizing the personal horror victims experience and giving weight to instances of abuse.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sources:<\/p>\n Playboy<\/span><\/i>, vol. 5, no. 10, HMH Publishing Co., 1958. <\/span><\/p>\n Del Martin, \u201cLetter from a Battered Wife.\u201d <\/span>The American Women\u2019s Movement, 1945-\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 2000<\/span><\/i>, edited by Nancy <\/span><\/p>\n Schneider, Elizabeth M. <\/span>Battered Women & Feminist Lawmaking<\/span><\/i>. Yale University Press,\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 2000.<\/span><\/p>\n Pleck, Elizabeth H. <\/span>Domestic Tyranny: The Making of Social Policy Against Family\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Violence\u00a0from Colonial Times to the Present. Oxford University Press, 1987.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Above is a cartoon from Playboy (vol. 5, no. 10) and an article from The American Women\u2019s Movement titled \u201cLetter from a Battered Wife\u201d that was initially published in Del Martin\u2019s Battered Wives. Both are contrasting portraits of domestic violence. … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/files\/2018\/12\/Battered-wife-1.jpg\")
husband but it may also be an indicator that she is ashamed just like the woman in \u201cLetter from a Battered Wife.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/files\/2018\/12\/Battered-wife-4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl113-f18\/files\/2018\/12\/Battered-wife-3.jpg\")
wife who has driven her husband past all endurance. Having reached the limit of his patience he \u201cpummels\u201d her into blessed silence.\u201d (Martin, 6). The husband is stressed and tired in the comic so it is supposed to make sense that he would take it out on his wife.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n