"WE BREAK THE PATTERN BEFORE THE PATTERN BREAKS US": a naturalização da violência doméstica no relacionamento abusivo na obra It Ends With Us (2016)

Abstract

One of the many possibilities of literary productions is to expose sociocultural issues in order to raise collective about of these themes. In this context, works that depict cases where women experience different forms of violence in romantic relationships play a crucial role, allowing us to reflect on this complex reality. In contemporary literature, one work that addresses this theme is It Ends With Us (2016), written by Colleen Hoover. Thus, this study aims to answer the following question: How does the naturalization of domestic violence contribute to the maintenance of the abusive relationship of Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid in It Ends With Us (2016)? Considering this, the general objective of this research is to investigate how the naturalization of domestic violence contributes to the maintenance of the abusive relationship of Lily Bloom and Ryle Kincaid in It Ends With Us (2016). To achieve this general objective, the following specific objectives were established: to discuss the theoretical assumptions of Feminist Studies, with emphasis on the concept of domestic violence from a physical and psychological perspective; to characterize the physical dimension of domestic violence experienced by Jenny Bloom, from the perspective of her daughter, Lily Bloom; to analyze how the abusive relationship of her parents contributed to the naturalization of the physical and psychological violence suffered by Lily Bloom in her marriage to Ryle Kincaid; and to understand how and why the cycle of domestic violence is broken by the protagonist. To achieve these objectives, a bibliographic investigation as conducted, with a qualitative approach, exploratory nature, and interpretivist character, based on authors such as Delap (2020), Hooks (2000), Millet ([1970] 2016) Saffioti (2015), Walker (2017), among others. The research results reveal that naturalization acts as a tool of patriarchy, helping to blind the victim to the domestic violence they experience, which perpetuates the cycle and impedes them from making decisions that could break the abuse.