Interview, Essay Example

Dr. Helen Robinson is an admirable woman who supports her two children alone and cares for many others as pediatrician. However, she was not always the strong, independent and confident woman she appears to be today. As a very young woman, she married an older man with whom she had two children, a boy and a girl. She is an impressive woman because she was able to take care of her children all by herself and to start all over again when her life with her husband turned into a nightmare.  From an abused housewife with no education, she transformed into a successful pediatrician. Asked about her experiences as a victim of domestic violence, Dr. Helen was happy to share her story, hoping that this way, she would prevent other young girls from falling into the trap of an abusive husband.

She married her husband when she was only 18, barely a high-school graduate, despite the advice of her mother. As soon as she arrived at her new home, her husband obliged Dr. Helen to wear baggy clothes and forbade her from wearing make-up, claiming that he was afraid she might be seduced by another man.  He used their age difference as an excuse to transform her into a victim. Dr. Helen said she did not even understand what was happening in the beginning. She explained that she was constantly afraid not to hurt his feelings because she was twenty years younger. She exclaimed, “I must have been blind to ignore what that man was doing to me!” She corrected herself a few seconds latee saying that she was rather  inexperienced and in love with the idea of marriage.

Moreover, she was not only abused by her husband but by his family as well. They seemed not to like her from the beginning, did not like her from the beginning, Dr. Helen confessed. “My mother in law used to look at me as if I were always dirty”, she said with a sad smile.  She could not win their sympathy despite her efforts. During her entire marriage, her in-laws kept attacking her verbally and accused her of marrying their son for money though she was only a girl and he was an experienced man.

Her husband did not allow her to go out unaccompanied and did not give her any money.  Dr. Helen explained that she began to feel that her marriage was rather a prison , but she did not try to escape because she had nowhere to go, no money and no education.  Her husband did not allow her to continue her education and “working was out of question”, Dr. Helen confessed. Her husband did not allow her to take a job and motivated his interdiction by the fact that he would constantly worry about her. He claimed that he wanted to take care of her, but Dr. Helen believes that he was actually afraid to let her grow up. She said, “My husband wanted a girl, not a woman, and he was determined to stop me from becoming an adult, by all means”.

Though she was miserable in her new home, she gave birth to two children, a girl and a boy, hoping that they would unite the family. She said “my twins were my escape”, meaning that they helped her to cope with the situation.  After the birth of her children, she hoped that the situation would change. She said, “In the day when my children were born, my husband promised me that he would change”. For a while, she explained, the entire family was so tired taking care of two new-born children in the same time that Dr. Helen’s situation indeed seemed to improve. However, soon enough, she started to suspect that her husband was cheating her with another woman.

Her husband did not even try to hide it. “A month or two after the children’s birth, he started to come home late, smelling like cheap perfume. I knew at once that he is cheating on me. I was devastated”. Despite everything she had suffered, Dr. Helen kept thinking that he and her husband could be a family. She said she had no one to advise her differently and no source of income. Besides, she had desperately hoped for a family when she was a child, so she was not ready to give it up so easily.

This decision began to evaporate when she caught her husband cheating on her. Besides, he also started hitting her because she was crying and asking him to stop and think of her and the children. Since nothing helped, Dr. Helen thought of how she could get out of that situation. She called her mother and told her everything. Dr. Helen’s mother had remarried, and her husban had a good position.  With her help, she took her children and left. This represented a new beginning for her. Her mother and step father took her and her children in and helped her start a new life. Dr. Helen needed the help of a psychologist to help her overcome the drama but nothing could stop her from then on.

Fifteen years have passed since then. Her children are walking into adulthood themselves. They are studious, good mannered and very attached to their mother. Dr. Helen smiles while looking at them. She said she would not change a single day of her life because each step brought her closer to who she is today.