Research Writing

The following research papers are works written by my peers and I during our time in college as a final year projects and as part of a research writing competition. one pertains to the psychology behind domestic abuse and the other is an analysis on an author. I have only provided the abstracts and introductions to my theses, the papers themselves if sought, may be acquired upon asking nicely.

Victims and Perpetrators of Domestic Violence: A Solution Focused View

Abstract

This research paper aims to gain insight into the current treatment of domestic violence concerning offenders and victims and to offer a solution focused perspective on domestic violence with respect to perpetrators and primary as well as secondary victims. A Solution Focused view, just as the name suggests, is one which stresses upon the strengths and solutions rather than the problem. Global estimates have put forward a staggering number of reported domestic violence cases. And although pre-existing laws on domestic violence are directed towards retributive justice, it is further emphasized here how a restorative view would better serve the best interests of those involved – be it on the side of the inflictor or the target(s). This paper reviews Solution Focused Practices, including Batterer Intervention Program (BIP) and Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) and its effectiveness on both, victims and perpetrators.

Introduction

Headlines like “Bride tortured to death for dowry...” and a lot more reports of such kinds of violence are found in newspapers all over the country. This is all we know through different forms of media, but there are many such cases which go unreported every day.In the Indian society, violence is rampant. It is practically omnipresent and commonly transpires behind closed doors of homes across the country, where people are tortured, beaten and killed. It transcends all social classes, genders, racial lines, age groups and resembles a legacy being passed on from one generation to another.The term given to describe this raging problem of violence within our homes is Domestic Violence.The World Health Organization defines domestic violence as “the range of sexually, psychologically and physically coercive acts used against adult and adolescent women by current or former male intimate partners (Violence Against Women, 1996).
In India, domestic violence (DV) is currently defined by the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act of 2005. According to Section 3 of the Act, “any act, omission or commission or conduct of the respondent shall constitute DV in case it:• harms or injures or endangers the health, safety, life, limb or well-being, whether mental or physical, of the aggrieved person or tends to do so and includes causing physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal and emotional abuse and economic abuse; or• harasses, harms, injures or endangers the aggrieved person with a view to coerce her or any other person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any dowry or other property or valuable security; or• as the effect of threatening the aggrieved person or any person related to her by any conduct mentioned in clause (a) or clause (b); or• otherwise injures or causes harm, whether physical or mental, to the aggrieved person.” (Parliament in the Fifty-sixth Year of The Republic of India, 2005)Essentially, it is the violence perpetrated towards members of a household be it the significant other, children, parents, grandparents etc. It can be a male/female’s monstrosity towards another person. This violence tends to explode in various forms such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and death.Current estimatesData from various surveys indicate a high prevalence of DV against women in all societies. In Western countries, an estimate about 25% of women experience DV over their lifetimes (American Medical Association, 1994). One perspective shows the seriousness of the problem in terms of how widespread it is in our societies but the other perspective that has received less attention wherein factually, most cases of DV go unreported.A recent study has interpreted that violence against women is the fastest-growing crime in India. According to a latest report prepared by India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), every three minutes, a crime has been recorded against women. Every 60 minutes, two women are raped and every six hours, a young married woman is found abused, harassed or murdered.The past decade has shown tremendous growth in DV research in India and South Asia. Domestic violence against women in India : A systematic review of a decade of quantitative studies contribute to the growing body of evidence, providing an important summary of the studies during this critical period and draws attention to the magnitude and security of the current epidemic in India. The reviewed literature estimates that 4 and 10 Indian women report experiencing domestic violence in their lifetime and 3 of 10 Indian women report experiencing domestic violence in the past year. The review also emphasizes the toll DV takes on the lives of many Indian women through its impact on mental, sexual, physical and reproductive health (Kalokhe, Rio, Tinkle, Stephenson, Metheny, Paranjape & Sahay, 2017) Used measures right nowAccording to Section 498A in The Indian Penal Code, “Husband or relative of husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty —whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable to fine.Explanation — For the purpose of this section, “cruelty” means—(a) Any willful conduct which is of such a nature as is likely to drive the woman to commit suicide or to cause grave injury or danger to life, limb or health (whether mental or physical) of the woman; or(b) Harassment of the woman where such harassment is with a view to coercing her or any person related to her to meet any unlawful demand for any property or valuable security or is on account of failure by her or any person related to her to meet such demand.When we speak of justice, two basic notions are put forward- that of retributive and restorative justice. Retributive justice is one that says that violation of a rule or law is deserving of a punishment, which should be proportional to the gravity of the crime; whereas Marshall (1999) defines the latter as “a process whereby all the parties with a stake in a particular offense come together to resolve collectively how to deal with the aftermath of the offense and its implications for the future.” Here, all concerned parties, be it the offenders, victims or the respective communities, are involved. We have seen earlier that in India, committing the crime of DV may result in imprisonment, fine, or both. Keeping these concepts of justice in mind, we note that the law against DV here is primarily retributive.What is Solution-Focused Practice?The idea of Solution Focused Practice was introduced by Steve de Shazer, Insoo Kim Berg and colleagues. In essence, it is a strength-based approach which uses the person’s existing skills to reach a desired goal. It is aimed towards the future and driven by objectives and says that the solution is greater than the problem. The individual is merely facilitated in creating their own solutions through their own capabilities (Dolan, 2017). This way, we shift the main focus onto the solutions, and not the problems.

Analyzing Gillian Flynn's Psycho-Thrillers

Introduction

Walking through a bookstore, when one comes across the crime and thriller section and is lucky enough to come across a Gillian Flynn novel, their mind immediately gravitates towards the tiny synopsis at the back of the book, and this tiny prelude to the thrilling universe of Gillian Flynn is enough to completely find yourself lost in her work. The raving reviews make it almost impossible to walk away without at least flipping through the pages. Once the reader is entrapped in her universe, it’s almost impossible to put the book down.In order to understand this enthralling universe, this dissertation aims to dive into the genius mind of Gillian Flynn. The paper attempts to understand who Gillian Flynn is as a writer through analyzing her writing style, which predominantly dabbles in the genre of Psycho-thrillers. Psychological thrillers are a type of thriller narrative that accentuates and works with the disturbed psychological condition of its characters. It is frequently expressed through the perspective of the mentally damaged or the emotionally stressed characters, with the progression of the story, their distorted mental viewpoints are eventually revealed and so are the strained convoluted relationships between the obsessive and pathological characters.
An aspect in which Gillian Flynn continues to work with is the feeling of constant dread through her setting and environment; which gives depth and growth to not just her characters but her plot as well, the theme of constant suspense; like stated earlier, Gillian uses dread and a constant feeling of uneasiness to her advantage and with this incites a certain unease in the reader through her graphic descriptions of otherwise normal actions and her rare skill to make everything seem too good to be true.Gillian doesn’t stop there, despite reaching the climax, the reader never truly feels comfortable with the environment out of sheer concern that they might not be out of her labyrinth yet. The paper aims to not only understand just Flynn’s writing style but her predominant patterns and use of damaged female psyche that are a recurring aspect throughout her bibliography.
This dissertation also attempts to look at Flynn’s works through an alternative lens, one wherein it dives into the mind of Gillian Flynn through the characters presented. The dissertation uses two of four books written by the author, and focuses on the psychology of the novels itself. Moreover, the paper attempts to understand Flynn’s style and characters through various interviews and speeches given by Flynn herself and also through articles written about her.The paper aims to analyse the works of Gillian Flynn and explore the writing styles, predominant themes, and the characters through them and also explores how important each of these aspects touched upon is and how they have helped her attain an ever-growing fan base, as well as reach the position of the award-winning and bestselling author she is today.

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