Caribbean Examination Council (CXC)

Advanced Proficiency Examination

Communication Studies
Internal Assessment
Theme: Domestic Violence
Topic: The Negative Effects of Domestic Violence on Women

Name of Candidate: Judine Fagan

Name of Teacher: Ms. Clarke
Centre: Meadowbrook High School
Centre Number:
Candidate Number:
Territory: Jamaica
Year: 2016-2017
 Title Page

Theme: Domestic Violence

Topic: The Negative Effects of Domestic Violence on Women
 Table of Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgement.1
Introduction2
Preface3
Reflective Piece..4
Language Analysis.7
Bibliography...8
 Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my teacher Ms. Clarke for helping me complete this Internal Assessment
and ensuring it was done to perfection. I would also like to thank God for giving me the strength,
knowledge, patience and willingness to start and complete this I.A in time for it to be marked.
Lastly, I would like to thank my parents for providing me with the necessary tools and equipment
required for the completion of this S.B.A.
 Introduction

This Internal Assessment is focused on the theme of Domestic Violence. Domestic Violence is
the violent or aggressive behavior within the home, typically involving the violent abuse of a
spouse or partner. This Internal Assessment will be examining the negative effects of domestic
violence on Women in the community of Duhaney Park where it is evident. This I.A also consists
of a story (an original piece) surrounding the topic.

On the other hand the I.A includes a preface which gives an analysis of writing the story entitled
Torn. The preface looks at the intended audience which are women who have experienced
domestic violence and the reason for selecting them.

There is also a language analysis which evaluates the use of language registers and dialectal
variations in the story. Another component of this I.A is the exposition that assesses how
domestic abuse affects women negatively in the community of Duhaney Park. Challenges faced
in investigating the issue will be discussed by the researcher and a synopsis of the effectiveness
and reliability of the sources given.

This I.A is geared towards educating and making more people aware of how domestic violence
affect women negatively, which is a problem that the researcher personally thinks need to be
dealt with by the government because of the mere fact that many women suffer in silence
because they are afraid of what their spouse may do.

From a sociological stand point the researcher sees domestic violence towards women as
unhealthy because of the emotional, physical and mental effects it causes that can scar the person
for a lifetime. This can lead to other social problems in society such as drug abuse.
 Preface

The fictional story Torn focuses on the life of a woman Maria who came from a poor
background and was abused as a child by her father and relived it later in adulthood with her
boyfriend John a man who was charming and came from a rich family all because of his jealousy
that all started when her best friend Chad came back home after many years of being away. The
story got to its climax when Chad went to see Maria and found her unconscious. Later in the
story Maria with the support of Chad put John in prison for what he had done to her.

The purpose of the story is to show the reader how some relationships become abusive which in
this case was out of pure jealousy, to show the mental physical and emotional effects and also to
show how with the right support women can get out of abusive relationships because in many
cases many women are afraid to speak up out of fear of what their spouse may do.

The target audience is from adolescence to adult both male and female. The target audience was
chosen to make them aware of domestic violence and at that age they would be better able to
understand..
Reflection

Torn

Maria stood in front of the mirror dabbing at the bruises on her face with some concealer,

something that had become religious of late in her life, because of how abusive her boyfriend

John had become. Maria came from a poor background and went through a lot of abuse as a

child, while John grew up in a rich family and was treated like a king, so when John came into

Marias life eight months ago and started to treat her extremely special, something she had never

experienced before she immediately fell in love with him. It all started when her best friend Chad

came home after being away for five years, during his time away they never got to speak or have

much face to face interaction, so now that he was back both of them started spending time

together like best friends do of course, but John started to get jealous to the point where he

started following her whenever she was going out with Chad. At one point he got so angry that

he dragged her out of the restaurant while she was having dinner with Chad. With rage in his

eyes, he threw her to the ground outside of the restaurant.

What the hell are you doing? He asked

What am I doing, the question is what is wrong with you?

Confused, she raised her tone even more and shouted out

You barge into the restaurant unannounced, then drag me out by my hair and have the audacity

to ask what I am doing.

She then calmed herself and lowered her voice and asked him what the reason was for all of this.

After having his head down throughout her entire speech, he slowly raised his head until her

eyes and his made four, he then apologized softly .She walked to him slowly, raised her hand

slowly then gave him a swift slap across his face. In that one moment everything froze. The

persons in the restaurant closely sticking to mirror watching with close intent. John couldnt

believe what had just happened as he had never been hit in his life. The day after, John had

gotten better as his jealously was lowered, but the fact that she hit him still roamed his mind.

Sometimes when he saw her thats all he could think about. One night after a bad day at work, he

decided to go home early. Upon reaching their apartment, he heard music and laughing from

outside the door.

What in the world is going on here? He angrily exclaimed.

I invited Chad over for some dinner. A calm Maria responded.

At that moment in time, Johns rage broke, he grabbed Chad and literally threw him out. He

slammed the door in his face, then turned slowly to Maria. Just by looking at her he induced fear

in its purest form into her. He walked slowly towards her, she began to beg and ask him to calm

down but nothing she tried worked. She had her hands up in a defensive position when she was

struck with a full blown fist to the face, she immediately fell to the ground and began to cry. John

stood over her, breathing heavily unable to calm down, he continued, slapping, fisting, stepping,

and showing no form of mercy towards her. When he was finished, he spat on her and told her

that if she said anything to anyone, he would kill her without a second thought.

Each and every night Maria cried herself to sleep. She stopped going out as she wasnt able to

conceal all the bruises. She also distanced herself from Chad. He called every day to speak to her
but never got an answer, until he got fed up of it. One day when he knew John was at work, he

went to their apartment to see if she was there. He was able to get in due to the fact that he saw

where Maria hid her spare key. He went in and saw her on the ground laying as if she was dead.

He quickly ran to her aid, checked for a pulse and then called 911. The four long hours he spent

in the waiting room felt like an eternity. The doctors appearance eased his agitated state. His

agitation turned to rage as he was told of Marias concussion, sprained ankle and cuts and bruises

all over her body and some of them even looked recent. He knew something wasnt right..John

was abusing her, he decided then and there that he would do everything in his power to protect

Maria and let John pay for what he had done to her.

A day later Maria awoke and as she noticed her surroundings she immediately started to

breakdown as Chad calmed and reassure her that everything would be okay and John was

nowhere near her. At the mention of Johns name he could see a face of relief change to one of

shame and embarrassment.

Hey, theres no need to be embarrassed.John can pay for what hes done to you, I will make

sure of it but its all up to you, you have to speak up, he said encouragingly.

The same day they went to the police station to file a report against John as well as a restraining

order. The same year John was sentenced to a year and a half in prison.
 Language Analysis

In the reflective piece Torn the writers use of language registers and dialectal variations were
evident. Language registers refer to the level of formality used at a given time depending on the
situation, while dialectal variations refer to the variety of a language that is a characteristic of a
particular area, community or group often with relatively minor differences in vocabulary, style,
spelling and pronunciation