A Sociopragmatic Study of Verbal Violence Against Women in “The Great Alone” Novel By Kristin Hannah
Asst. Prof: Wafaa Mokhlos Faisal (Ph.D.)1, Wafaa Abd Ali2
Professor, University of Babylon, College of Education for Human Sciences, Babylon, Iraq
E-Mail: hum.wafaa.mukhlus@uobabylon.edu.iq
2 Research Scholar, University of Babylon, College of Education for Human Sciences, Babylon, Iraq.
E-Mail: Waffaabidali90@gmail.com
HNSJ, 2024, 5(9); https://doi.org/10.53796/hnsj59/33
Citation Methods
Published at 01/09/2024 Accepted at 05/08/2024
Abstract
Verbal domestic violence is any pattern of systematic abuse in a relationship intended to establish and uphold dominance over another individual. It alludes to the use of violence by men against the woman they are married to or have a similar living arrangement with. This study investigates the socio-pragmatic aspects of the act of verbal violence against women. This work deals with the verbal violence in American novel by Kristin “The Great Alone”. Accordingly, the study aims to answer the following questions: (1)What are the socio-pragmatic stages of verbal domestic violence in “The Great Alone” novel?(2)What are the most pragmatic strategies of impoliteness are used to issue verbal domestic violence in the chosen novel? (3)Which of the following are the most prevalent structures of verbal violence that are used in the novel that were chosen?(4)What are the consequences of verbal violence occur by the victim in this novel?.It is hypothesized that This study analyses three texts both quantitatively and qualitatively. An eclectic model is used and it is based on Linder’s (2006) ,Gilbert and Daffern(2010) , Holms(2013), Labov(1966) and Huss(2009). The study shows that verbal violence is a process of a number of three stages. Gender and position are utilized by the abusers and considered as prerequisites to abuse others in the novel. Negative impoliteness strategy and bald on- record are impoliteness strategies used by the abuser in the novel to humiliate the victim. Put down, insult, Judging, Criticism, Blaming, Gaslighting and humiliation are used by the abusers in order to devalue the victim. Depression, lowered self- esteem, misplaced guilt and loneliness are consequences occur in the behavior of victim because of the stress that she faced.
Key Words: Sociopragmatic, structures, abusers, violence
1. Introduction
1.1 Verbal Domestic Violence
Verbal domestic violence is any pattern of systematic abuse in a relationship intended to establish and uphold dominance over another individual. It alludes to the use of violence by men against the woman they are married to or have a similar living arrangement with. The abuse takes many different forms and usually happens in the privacy of the victim’s home. For instance, the abuser may insult or try to humiliate the victim, accusing her of being overly sensitive or claiming that it was a joke and that she lacks humor. The abuser may also attempt to make the victim feel guilty and present himself as the victim (Sonkin and Durphy, 1982).
Nowadays, domestic abuse is a necessary topic in public discussions; many nations suffer from it, but not all societal segments are progressively becoming aware of it. People who belong to certain socioeconomic groups or classes that are marginalized in society are not the only ones who are subject to this kind of criminal violence. Many women have to deal with the reality that their spouses or partners have sometimes abused them during their lives. This is something that they have to endure. Within the realm of truth, the only two persons who are directly impacted by domestic violence perceive it to be a private matter are the individuals who have been abused themselves (Bruckner, 1998). Hence, it highlights the socio-pragmatic aspects American novels to dissolve the questions:
1.2 Social Variables
1.3 Impoliteness Strategies
Since politeness raises social harmony and encourages appropriate communication between interlocutors, it is a social and linguistic phenomenon that significantly influences language use. Not everyone is well-versed in manners. Even when they are enraged, they will say whatever they believe and feel. They will express all feelings without taking into account what other people think. Typically, anger and rudeness go hand in hand since those who are angry often lose control of their emotions (Revita, Trioclarise, & Anggreiny, 2017).
1.3.1 Bald On-Record Politeness
According to Brown and Levinson (1987), bald on-record is also known as “on-record without redressive action” or “on-record baldly” and refers to acting in the most straightforward manner.
1.3.2 On-Record Positive Politeness
According to Brown and Levinson (1987), on-record positive politeness tactics are corrective techniques aimed at H’s positive face. Their use demonstrates how SV of solidarity has an impact on linguistic usage.
1.3.3 On-Record Negative Politeness
According to Brown and Levinson (1987), on-record negative politeness is characterized by regressive tactics used to address H’s unfavorable face in order to fulfill his want to have unrestricted freedom of action by communicating in various ways that are similar to H’s wish.
1.3.4.Off-Record Politeness
According to Brown and Levinson (1987), off-record politeness refers to the indirect language use that S uses to conduct FTA off-the-record, leaving it up to H to determine how to interpret it.
1.4 Structures of Violence
1.4.1 Criticism that signifies or shows shame or embarrassment in a specific situation breeds violence. Someone in a position of leadership feels their standing slipping when they criticize others. Demeaning someone for their behaviors, attitudes, or other things that are significant to them can be accomplished through criticism.
1.4.2 Putdown
According to Linder (2000), the idea of putting down or holding the victim to the ground while acting on them and leaving them powerless is one of the features of violence.
1.4.3.Blaming
Giving the victim the impression that they are to blame for the abusive behavior or that they invited the verbal abuse upon themselves is known as blaming(Yun et al,2019).
1.4.4 Insult
Gabriel (1998) claims that the most common way to degrade someone is to insult them. As a result, it is any action or language that is perceived as insulting, humiliating, or offensive, whether it be oral or written.
1.4.5 Humiliation
It can be extremely unpleasant when you are insulted in front of others by a peer, friend, relative, or a romantic interest.
1.4.6 Gaslighting
Gaslighting is a sneaky and occasionally covert kind of emotional abuse in which the abuser tricks the victim into doubting their perceptions of reality(Sweet,2019).
1.4.7Judging
This kind of verbal abuse entails demeaning the victim, refusing to accept them for who they are, or placing unreasonable demands on them(Sweet,2019).
2.5 Consequences of Verbal Violence
Anyone who is the victim of verbal abuse is susceptible to its repercussions, which can be severe and long-lasting. Verbal abuse in relationships generally starts out mildly and worsens with time, acting as a trigger for the victim’s hazardous psychological effects(Holmes,2013).
1.Depression
Depression is a reasonable result of verbal abuse, particularly persistent abuse. Sadness, hopelessness, emptiness, difficulty sleeping, and even oversleeping are all typical signs of depression. After being subjected to verbal abuse for weeks, months, or even years on end, the victim may experience depression(Holmes,2013).
2. Lowered self- esteem
A decline in self-esteem A severe blow to anyone’s self-esteem and capacity to value oneself would be dealt by verbal abuse victims being called horrible names, humiliated. A person may experience emotions of helplessness and inability to accomplish simple chores as a result of the stress of the criticism.
4 Misplaced guilt
Most victims of verbal abuse have repeatedly been told that everything that goes wrong and by everything. This misplaced guilt will probably start in the relationship, but it will eventually spread to other aspects of the victim’s life, including other relationships, job, the victim’s own troubles, or the unfortunate circumstances of other people in his or her life (Sullivan,2003).
5.Loneliness
Unlike isolation, loneliness can strike even when a person is with other people. Feeling alone, misunderstood, uncared for, without friends or affection, without companionship, etc. are all examples of loneliness. Since loneliness is a psychological symptom rather than a physical state of being, it is completely possible to experience loneliness even when you are sitting right next to your lover or sleeping close to someone. (Huss,2009).
3. Data Analysis
The Great Alone
Text (1)
Leni shot her mother a warning look. Mama knew better than to say anything about anything when he was drunk. “When the shit hits the fan. You know. Martial law. A nuclear bomb. Or a pandemic.” He tore off a hunk of bread, dragged it in the meat juice. Mama sat back. She lit up a cigarette, eyeing him. Don’t do it, Mama, Leni thought. Don’t say anything. “I don’t like all of this end-of-the-world rhetoric, Ernt. And there’s Leni to consider. She—” Dad slammed his fist down on the table so hard everything rattled. “Damn it, Cora, can’t you ever just support me?” He got to his feet and went to the row of parkas hanging by the front door. He moved jerkily. She thought she heard him say, G-damn stupid, and mutter something else. He shook his head and flexed and un flexed his hands. Leni saw a wildness in him, barely contained emotion rising hard and fast. Mama ran after him, reached out. “Don’t touch me,” he snarled, shoving her away. Dad grabbed a parka and stepped into his boots and went outside, slamming the door shut behind him. Leni caught her mother’s gaze, held it. In those wide blue eyes that held on to every nuance of expression, she saw her own anxiety reflected. “Does he believe all of that end-of-the-world stuff?” “I think he does,” Mama said. “Or maybe he just wants to. Who knows? It doesn’t matter, though. It’s all talk.” Leni knew what did matter. The weather was getting worse. And so was he.”
(p,105)
First Stage: Triggering Stage (Tension Stage)
1.Social Variables
Gender: The abuser (Ernt) violates the two victims in his speech and in his behaviour. He is very rude with them because they afraid of him. Ernt doesn’t respect his wife when she speaks with him, his style is very strange. Ernt makes use of being a man and the victims are women, they cannot do everything with him even they know that he is wrong and must be punished. He says “Damn it, Cora, can’t you ever just support me?” He got to his feet and went to the row of parkas hanging by the front door. He moved jerkily”.
2.Impoliteness Strategies
Bald on Record: The abuser uses a very clear language against the victims, he says “Damn Cora”. He treats Leni his daughter very rude. In addition to that his treatment to his wife in this text when he says “Damn it, Cora, can’t you ever just support me?”. It is also appear in his replying for Kora when she tries to calm him he says “Don’t touch me,”. There is no politeness strategy in the abuser’s speech.
Second Stage: Developing Stage
1.Structures of Domestic Violence
a.Insult: The abuser insults the victims using many types of insult
1.Ridicule insult: Ernt tries to devalues his wife Cora in his phrase “Damn it, Cora, can’t you ever just support me”. And when Cora goes after him and tries ti calm him he says ““Don’t touch me”. This a very bad way to treat a kind person like Cora.
2.Projection insult: The abuser insults the victim because he tries to make her feels sad and lowered especially in front of her daughter Leni.
3.Power insult: The abuser violates and abuses the victim because they are in a strange city and the victims have no one from their relatives near them to help .
b. Judging: The abuser does not and cannot accept people in the new city they live with them. He is also cannot accept the conditions after the war, that is why he abuses his wife and his daughter.
Third Stage: Reacting Stage
1.Consequences of Verbal Domestic Violence
a. lowered self- esteem: The victim (Cora) feels very sad and lowered because of the abuser’s speech. Kora feels so feeling because she appears in a bad view in front of her daughter.
b. Depression: Cora feels depression through her speech with her daughter ““Does he believe all of that end-of-the-world stuff?” “I think he does,” Mama said. “Or maybe he just wants to. Who knows? It doesn’t matter, though. It’s all talk.” Leni knew what did matter. The weather was getting worse”. The weather means his behavior and his violence will be increase in the coming days. All these things lead Kora to feel of depression
Text (2)
“Is she okay?” Mama screamed. “Is she?” Dad pulled Leni to her feet. “No crying, Leni,” he said. “This isn’t some beauty-pageant training where you learn to sing for a college scholarship. You have to listen to me. This is your life I’m trying to save.” “But…” It hurt so badly. A headache burst into pounding life behind her eyes. She couldn’t see well out of her injured eye. Half the world was blurry. It hurt even more that he didn’t care about how much it hurt. She couldn’t help feeling sorry for herself. She would bet Tom Walker never treated Matthew this way. “Stop it, Lenora,” Dad said, giving her shoulder a little shake. “You said you liked Alaska and wanted to belong here.” “Ernt, please, she’s not a soldier,” Mama said. Dad spun Leni around, gripped her shoulders, shook her hard. “How many girls were abducted in Seattle before we left?” “L-lots. One every month. Sometimes more.” “Who were they?” “Just girls. Teenagers, mostly?” “And Patty Hearst was taken from her apartment, with her boyfriend right there, right?” Leni wiped her eyes, nodded. “You want to be a victim or a survivor, Lenora?” Leni had such a headache she couldn’t think. “S-survivor?” “We have to be ready for anything up here”
(p,79-80)
First Stage: Triggering Stage(Tension Stage)
1.Social Variables
Gender: Ernt forced his daughter Leni to use and practice gun although she is a female and she is afraid of the sound of it. Ernt treats Leni as if she is a man, he does not feel her fears. He tells her “No crying, Leni,” he said. “This isn’t some beauty-pageant training where you learn to sing for a college scholarship. You have to listen to me”.
2.Impoliteness Strategies
Negative Impoliteness Strategy: The use of this strategy designed to damage the victims’ negative face wants. Ernt emphasizes his relative power on his daughter when he obliged her to use gun although she is afraid of it and refuse to use it. Ernt is very hard with his family in his impolite behavior.
Second Stage: Developing Stage (Acting)
1.Structures of Verbal Domestic Violence
a. Insult: The abuser uses his relative power insult to devalue the victims and punish them through his speech “How many girls were abducted in Seattle before we left?” “L-lots. One every month. Sometimes more.” “Who were they?” “Just girls. Teenagers, mostly?” “And Patty Hearst was taken from her apartment, with her boyfriend right there, right?”. Ernt insult the victim in his speech because he knows that Leni loves a boy and talks like this talking for Leni.
b. Criticism: Ernt criticizes the victims and he tries to make her feel by weakness. The abuser is responsible to save the victims since he is the man and they are weak persons (women), but he tries to throw this responsibility on them. The fear inside the abuser destroys him and make him behaves like this behavior.
c. Blaming: The abuser blames the victim Leni because she cannot use the gun as if a man, but he tries to throw this responsibility on them. He blames them only to abuse and humiliate them.
Third Stage: Reacting Stage and Consequences of Verbal Violence
1.Consequences of Verbal Domestic Violence
Misplaced guilt: Ernt abuses his wife (Cora) and his daughter (Leni) and wants to make them feel guilty. He tries to criticize and blame them because Leni cannot use the gun and protect herself and her mum. This is not their responsibility because he brings them to this dangerous place and leave their place.
Text(3)
Dad was edgy, tense; he drank too much and muttered under his breath. The nightmares became more frequent. Three a week, every week. He was always moving, demanding, pushing. He ate, slept, breathed, and drank survival. He had become a soldier again, or that’s what Mama said, and Leni found herself tongue-tied around him, afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing. With as hard as she worked after school and on the weekends, Leni should have slept like the dead, but she didn’t. Night after night she lay awake, worrying. Her fear and anxiety about the world had been sharpened to a knifepoint. Tonight, as exhausted as she was, she lay awake, listening for his screams. When she did finally fall asleep, she landed in a dreamscape on fire, a place full of danger—a world at war, animals being slaughtered, girls being kidnapped, men screaming and pointing guns. She screamed for Matthew, but no one could hear one girl’s voice in a falling-apart world. And besides, what good would he be? She couldn’t tell Matthew this. Not this. Some fears you carried alone. “Leni!” She heard her name being called from far away. Where was she? It was the middle of the night. Was she still dreaming? Someone grabbed her, yanked her out of bed. It was real this time. A hand clamped over her mouth. She recognized his smell. “Dad?” she said through his hand. “Come on,” he said. “Now.” She stumbled over to the ladder, climbed down behind him in an utter darkness. None of the lamps were lit downstairs, but she could hear her mother breathing heavily. Dad led Leni to the newly fixed and steady card table; guided her to a seat. “Ernt, really—” Mama said. “Shut up, Cora,” Dad said. Something banged onto the table in front of Leni with a clatter and a clang. “What is it?” he said, standing right next to her. She reached out, her fingers trailing across the rough surface of the card table. A rifle. In pieces. “You need better training, Leni. When TSHTF, we’ll have to do things differently. What if it’s winter? Everything might be dark. You’ll be off guard, confused, sleepy. Excuses will get you killed. I want you to be able to do everything in the dark, when you’re scared.” “Ernt,” Mama said from the darkness, her voice uneven. “She’s just a girl. Let her go back to bed.” “When men are starving and we have food, will they care that she’s just a girl?” Leni heard the click of a stopwatch. “Go, Leni. Clean your weapon, put it back together.”
(P,108-109)
First Stage: Triggering Stage (Tension)
1.Social Variables
Position: Ernt makes advanced from his position as a man, and he is the person who controls the matters. So he makes everything he wants to do. The view of inferiority to women enforce him to punish and violate the victims without afraid. Because in their society women has no right to say or to complain. This makes him abuse the victims freely, in addition to that Ernt does not permit to Cora or Leni go out and communicate with other people or their neighbors.
2.Impoliteness Strategies
Bald on Record: Ernt performs the abuse in a direct , clear and unambiguous way. This is clear in the speech of Leni “When she did finally fall asleep, she landed in a dreamscape on fire, a place full of danger—a world at war, animals being slaughtered, girls being kidnapped, men screaming and pointing guns. Some fears you carried alone. “Leni!” She heard her name being called from far away. Where was she? It was the middle of the night. Was she still dreaming..). Leni feels very sad and feels depression , even in the dreams he is not comfortable. The violence of her father effects on her life. Ernt behaves impolitely with his wife Cora when she tries to make him let their daughter, Ernt replies ““Shut up, Cora,.”
Second Stage: Developing Stage(Acting)
1.Structures of Verbal Domestic Violence
a. Insult: Three types of insult occur in this text.
Projection insult: Ernt always insult and violates Cora in front of her daughter, and this is a very bad behavior towards the mother when her daughter sees this treatment. Ernt knows that the only relationship between them is Leni and he still insults Cora.
Power insult: Ernt has a man power , oppositely Cora has not any power in this far place. So the abuser is sure that no one can help Cora to escape and go out. His relative power because he is the man and he is the father and has the right to do everything in his house with his family.
Ridicule insult: The abuser insults the victims and uses phrase that devalue them and insult them.
b. Humiliation: Ernt humiliates Cora and Leni in his speech and in his behavior. He always uses bad words to ridicule them. For example when he says to Cora “Shut up Cora”
c. Put down: The abuser insults and put down the victims even in fronts of others. Ernt puts use of her weakness that she has no one to help.
d. Judging: Ernt refuses the fact that Leni is a kind girl who cannot use the weapon. The abuser does not accept the reality that his wife and his daughter has no guilty of what happen for him.
e. Gaslighting: Ernt is the reason of the misery of the mother and daughter, because the mother is has a famous family. Cora’s father is a famous lawyer and she lives a good life with her father and mother. Because of her love for Ernt she comes to the Alaska, and now he makes he feel guilty of their life.
Third Stage: Reacting Stage and Consequences of V.D.V.
1.Consequences of Verbal Domestic Violence
a. Lowered self- esteem: The victim Cora feels lowered self- esteem when the abuser her husband treats her in a badly way especially in front of her daughter. Cora feels lowered because Ernt ignores her two times when she talks to him.
b. Loneliness: The victim feels loneliness because of traumatic disorder, she always lit up a cigarette and stay silent thinking of her future and her daughter.
Text (4)
We should lock him out,” Leni said. “And let him break a window or tear a wall away to get in?” Outside, they heard a chain saw whir to life. “We could run away,” Leni said. Mama gave her a wan smile. “Sure. Yeah. He won’t come after us.” They knew, both of them, that Leni might (might) be able to get away and have a life. Not Mama. He would track her down wherever she went. They ate dinner in silence, each watching the door carefully, listening for an early warning sign of trouble. Then the door cracked open against the wall. Dad stood there, crazy eyed, hair covered in sawdust, holding a hatchet. Mama lurched to her feet, backed away. He swept in, muttering, yanked Mama into him, drew her outside, and dragged her down the driveway. Leni ran behind them. She heard Mama talking to him in that soothing voice of hers. He pulled Mama toward a pair of skinned logs that created a giant barricade at the end of their driveway. “I can build a wall. Put spikes on the top, maybe razor wire. Keep us safe inside. We don’t need the g-damn compound. Screw the Harlans.” “B-but Ernt … we can’t live—Think of it,” he said, pulling her close, a hatchet hanging from one hand. “Nothing to fear from the outside world anymore. We will be safe inside.
(p,279)
First Stage: Triggering Stage(Tension Stage)
1.Social Variables
Gender: The abuser is the only man in the family who decides everything in the house. He builds a wall and he wants to make barbed wire on the fence, he wants to separate the victims from the people out. The abuser says “I can build a wall. Put spikes on the top, maybe razor wire. Keep us safe inside. We don’t need the g-damn compound. Screw the Harlans”. In fact the abuser applies all his rules and orders on his family because he is the man and no one can prevents him.
2. Impoliteness Strategies
Negative Impoliteness Strategy: The abuser uses this strategy to damage the victim’s negative face wants. He associates Cora with a negative aspect, he uses the pronoun “I” , “we” without caring to the other side. He violates the structure of conversation, he decides alone to build a wall and puts wires without caring to his wife’s feelings and her face in front of others.
Second Stage: Developing Stage (Acting)
1.Structures of Verbal Domestic Violence
a. Insult: Projection insult is the form of domestic violence that used by the abuser in this text, he demeans the victims by building his wall. When he puts them in this house which surrounded by a high wall, this means they live like prisoners who are deprived from their rights because of certain crimes. But what crime Cora and Leni make?.
b. Judging: Ernt has a problem, he cannot accept or like other people around him. He does not like that those people relate and communicate with his wife and his daughter.
Third Stage: Reacting Stage and Consequences of V.D.V
Consequences of Verbal Domestic Violence
Lonliness: The victim has a traumatic disorder because of what the abuser tells and makes all the previous period. She is in a very bad mood because the abuser insults and hits her many times without any sin she makes.
5. Results
The following table presents a summary of the frequencies of occurrence of Factors of Violence, Speech Acts, Triggers of violence, and Impoliteness Strategies in the novel “Behind Closed Doors.”
Table 1
The Results of Initiating Stage in the Novel “Behind Closed Doors”
| No. | Social Variables | Freq. | Per. | Impoliteness Strategies | Freq. | Per. |
| 1. | Gender | 3 | 75% | Bald on- record | 2 | 50% |
| 2. | Position | 1 | 25% | Negative | 2 | 50% |
| Total | 4 | 100% | 4 | 100% |
As it is presented in the table (1) above, gender receives the higher percentage of all other variables, it makes (75%). So, the abuser in this novel depends on the gender because he is a male and the victims are female . Ernt abuses Cora and her daughter Leni because they are weak women and they are alone so no one help them in this far place. This variable is used in the novel “The Great Alone” more than other variable which this illustrates that Cora and her daughter Leni suffer from violence because they are females and because Cora leaves her family and goes far away so no one knows their suffering with her abuser husband. Position receives less than gender percentage, making (25%) . Ernt abuses his wife Cora and her daughter because her position is weak since she is a female, he prevents her from their rights like other people they live near them. Ernt is always treats his victims in a badly way.
The results of impoliteness strategies as in the above table demonstrate that Bald on Record and Negative impoliteness strategy receive the same percentage. They are amounted(50%), the abuser uses these strategies to abuse and violate the victims in a direct and clear way rather than an indirect abuse and in order to destroy and damage the victims by the bad treatment.
Table 2
The Result of Second Stage(Developing stage)
| No. | Structures of Verbal Violence | Frequency | Percentage |
| 1 | Insult | 3 | 27,27% |
| 2 | Judging | 3 | 27,27% |
| 3 | Criticism | 1 | 9% |
| 4 | Blaming | 1 | 9% |
| 5 | Humiliation | 1 | 9% |
| 6 | Put down | 1 | 9% |
| 7 | Gaslighting | 1 | 9% |
| Total | 11 | 100% |
In the table above, insult and judging have the most frequently percentage, ; they are amounted (27,27%) .This indicates that the abuser insults the victims because he has more power over them. Judging, criticism, blaming, humiliation, put down and gaslighting are equally used by the abuser, they are amounted(9%).This means that the abuser is a tyrant in his opinion and he humiliates the victims. It is clear how the abuser tries to make the victim feels guilty and he makes himself is the abused person, this illustrates that the abuser attempts to make the concept of violence resistance inside the victims.
Third Stage
The Result of Reacting Stage and consequences of verbal domestic violence
Table 3
| No | Consequences of Verbal Violence | Frequency | Per. |
| 1 | Depression | 1 | 17% |
| 2 | Lowered self-esteem | 2 | 33% |
| 3 | Misplaced guilt | 1 | 17% |
| 4 | Loneliness | 2 | 33% |
| Total | 6 | 100% |
In the table above, lowered self-esteem and loneliness receive the most frequent used. Their percentage(33%) this means that the effects of the abuser on the victim make the victims feel lowered self -esteem and makes them feel loneliness. Depression and misplaced guilt have the same percentage, they are (17) and this means American victims feel depression in most situations with the abuser and means that the abuser makes the victims feel guilty even she is not the reason of the problem.
Conclusions
Based on the analysis conducted in chapter four of the present study, the researcher concludes the following:
1.The three stages of the sociopragmatic structure of verbal abuse are the triggering stage, the violence-developing stage, and the reacting stage.
2 Gender is the social variable that the abuser in the novel uses the most frequently, according to an examination of the data.
3. Bald on –record and negative impoliteness strategies are mostly used by the American abuser against woman to insult and humiliate her.
5.The abusers of this novel (The Great Alone), as reveals by the analysis, use structures of verbal violence. However, they prefer particular types than others. The analysis indicates that insult and judging are the most common types used by the abusers in novel.
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