Domestic Abuse in Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies

Abstract

This research work sheds the lights on domestic violence from Lian Moriarty’s perspective in her novel Big Little Lies (2014). Domestic violence is a serious a social phenomenon that spread over the existence; even in the twenty-first century, women are still exposed to violence by their fathers, brothers, and husband. This extended essay aims to study the novel Big Little Lies under the lenses of Michael Johnson’s theory “Typologies of Domestic Violence” that is concerned with situational couple violence, intimate terrorism, resistance violent, and mutual violent control. A literature review of domestic violence in general and more specifically Johnson’s point of view is explored in the theoretical chapter. In the thematic chapters, we will apply Johnson’s theory on the novel and investigate the effects of an abusive environment and the traumatic experiences on the child's development.