Victims of Violence in Joyce Carol Oates’ “Heat”

Abstract

The article entitled Victims of Violence in Joyce Carol Oates’ “Heat” explores violence, sexual assault and child murder which occur frequently in our society, yet it is unnoticed and forgotten. Menace, molestation and murder are the consistent elements in the works of Joyce Carol Oates. Women, particularly female children, become the target of abuse and are victimised. Men inflict pain on women, satiate their sensual pleasure, even kill them, but these perpetrators of violence never repent nor realise their wrongdoings.This paper seeks to explore how the child molester leads a life unaffected while the abused are in the coffin, dead.

The more that we choose not to talk about domestic violence, the more we shy away from the issue, the more we lose

• Russell Wilson