SWBAT…
1. Identify the three eras associated with child protection.
2. Describe the major events that took place in each era of
child protection.
3. Interpret/ paraphrase the meaning of the passage/s from
the novel.
4. Interpret/ paraphrase the meaning of the passage/s from
the song lyrics.
5. Explain the similarities/ differences between the song
lyrics and the passage from the novel.
6. Assert and defend opinion about child abuse
(philosophical chairs).
According to Americanbar.org, “The history of
child protection in America is divisible into three
eras. The first era extends from colonial times to
1875 and may be referred to as the era before
organized child protection. The second era spans
1875 to1962 and witnessed the creation and
growth of organized child protection through
nongovernmental child protection societies. The
year 1962 marks the beginning of the third or
modern era: the era of government-sponsored
child protective services.
• It was not until 1875 that the
world's first organization
devoted entirely to child
protection came into
existence-the New York
Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children. Prior to
1875, many children went
without protection,
although there has never
been a time when children
were completely bereft of
assistance.
• Novel connection: Huck Finn
was published in 1885 and
was set in the 1830’s or 40’s.
• Organized child protection
emerged from the rescue in
1874 of nine year-old Mary Ellen
Wilson, who lived with her
guardians in one of New York
City’s city's worst tenements,
Hell's Kitchen.
• Following the rescue of Mary
Ellen, animal protection
advocate Henry Bergh and his
attorney Elbridge Gerry
lamented the fact that no
government agency or
nongovernmental organization
was responsible for child
protection.
Bergh and Gerry decided to create a
nongovernmental charitable society
devoted to child protection, and thus
was born the New York Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
(NYSPCC), the world's first entity
devoted entirely to child protection.
• By the late 1970s,
government-sponsored child
protective services spanned
the nation, settling into
urban and rural areas alike.
• The 1960s witnessed an
explosion of interest in child
abuse, and physicians played
a key role in this awakening.
The 1962 publication of the
blockbuster article The Battered
Child Syndrome by pediatrician
Henry Kempe and his
colleagues. Kempe played a
leading role in bringing child
abuse to national attention
during the 1960s and 1970s.
Novel Connection: In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
readers mostly see physical abuse from Pap, although
there is evidence of verbal as well. Both forms of abuse
cause emotional damage in Huck as evidenced by his low
self esteem and poor perception of himself. Arguably the
most damaging form of abuse Huck experiences is
neglect.
“ ‘Yes, he’s got a father, but you can’t
never find him these days. He used to
lay drunk with the hogs in the tanyard,
but he hain’t been seen in these parts
for more than a year or two’ ” (8).
This is an example of neglect as a
form of child abuse. Pap is
described as an incapable father
who abandons Huck, leaving him
to fend for himself at a very
young age.
“But by and by Pap got too handy with his
hick’ry, and I couldn’t stand it. I was all over
with welts. He got to going away so much, too,
and locking me in. Once he locked me in and
was gone three days. It was dreadful
lonesome. I judged he had got drowned and I
wasn’t ever going to get out anymore. I was
scared” (8).
This passage from the novel is an
example of both neglect and physical
abuse. It is clear that Pap not only
abuses Huck, but also abuses his
authority as a father by ruling Huck with
fear.
“ ‘He catched me a
couple of times and
thrashed me, but I
went to school just
the same, and dodged
him or outrun him
most the time’” (23).
10,000 Maniacs – What's The Matter Here?
That young boy without a name anywhere I'd know
his face.
In this city the kid's my favour
I've seen him. I've seen him, I see him every day.
Seen him run outside looking for a place to hide from
his father,
the kid half naked and said to myself "Oh, what's the
matter here?"
I'm tired of the excuses everbody uses, he's their kid
I stay out of it,
but who gave you the right to do this?
We live on Morgan Street;
just ten feet between and his mother, I never see her,
but her screams and cussing, I hear them every day.
Threats like: "If you don't mind I will beat on your
I'm tired of the excuses everybody uses, he's your kid, do as
you see fit,
but get this through that I don't approve of what you did to
your own flesh and blood.
I have heard the excuses everybody uses, he's your kid, do as
you see fit,
but get this through that I don't approve of what you did to
your own flesh and blood.
"If you don't sit in your chair straight
I'll take this belt from around my waist and don't you think
that I won't use it!"
Answer me and take your time,
what could be the awful crime he could do at so
young an age?
If I'm the only witness to your madness offer me some words
to balance out what I see and what I hear.
All these cold and rude things that you do I suppose you do
BECAUSE he belongs to you
and instead of love, and the feel of warmth you've given him
Song Lyric Interpretation
• "What's The Matter Here?" was the third single released from 10,000
Maniacs' 1987 album In My Tribe, following Peace Train and "Like the
Weather." The song continued the band's slow integration into the
mainstream of American commercial radio; it was a number 9 hit on the
Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart
• Comment: I think that there is an implication in one of the lines that the
song is discussing use of force on a child as the only form of
communication. The following line seems to imply (to me) that the parent
doesn't present any sort of verbal communication, just fear of beatings to
keep their kid in line.in 1988.
• In the song, singer Natalie Merchant narrates the role of a woman who
notices that her neighbors are abusing their young son, and struggles to
balance her desire to speak up for the child with her feeling that she must
not interfere in the family's affairs: "I'm tired of the excuses everybody
uses/He's your kid, do as you see fit/But get this through that I don't
approve of what you do to your own flesh and blood ... I want to say,
"What's the matter here?"/But I don't dare say..."
Huck Finn Analysis Sample Paragraph
& Sentence Frames
• In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the reader is
exposed to mostly physical forms of child abuse such as when Pap
“thrashed” Huck (23). Additionally, Huck describes Pap as getting
“too handy with the hickory [stick]” (8). Considering that child
protection did not begin to be formalized until 1875, children that
grew up during the 1830’s and 40’s, like Huck, were at the mercy of
their parent’s morality and child rearing practices or lack thereof. In
other words, whatever childrearing practices a parent saw fit for
his/her child was accepted by society with an attitude of to each his
own. Unfortunately, even after child protection became formalized
in the 1960’s, children continue to go unprotected. As shown in the
song “What’s the Matter Here?” by 10,000 Maniacs released in
1988, when people do not get involved and help to identify children
that are being abused. Every person must take responsibility to
intervene in order to protect every child; otherwise child abuse will
continue to be a dark reality for too many children in society.