No description available.

A memoir is variously defined as an abbreviated autobiography; a record of events based on the writer's personal observation or knowledge; and the written story of one's own life. I set out to do those things. But when I sat back to read the first of many drafts, I discovered my story was her story-my mother's. At some level, I have always known this. But I was unprepared to see the evidence writ large. But more than that, I was dismayed that the wisdom I imagined my calendar years had conferred, was not reflected in my writing. There was still the primal wail of a weeping child. Quieter, of course. Wailing is not seemly for occasions other than childbirth, great loss, or sudden death. And railing against the past is utterly futile. Foolish. I found great comfort in the words of C. S. Lewis. They mirrored my experience. As the telling of my story deepened, the writing became, successively, an incision, a probe, and as Lewis says, a surgery of the gods. Like surgery, there was first of all fear, followed by pain, discovery, excision, loss, repair and restoration, and finally, healing and a different outlook altogether. I found great value in revisiting these memories and seeing that the giants of my young years are only human, after all, not the ogres I imagined. Like the shadow in a darkened room, the house cat stretched on the window sill looms like a great inscrutable Sphinx. A tree branch, benign by day, morphs into a grotesque claw, scratching and scraping at the window pane. Memories rear up at first like ghosts in a graveyard. But under a steady beam of light, the apparitions subside. Writing this memoir has been a window into the past, perhaps an icon, a way of seeing beyond the surface and into the soul. My own certainly, and perhaps glimpses of the others I've written about as well. Two central truths have emerged from writing my memoir. The first is the power of forgiveness in healing relationships. Forgiveness is not our natural bent; it goes completely against our natural state. But we can choose to change. Just as learning to swim is counter to our earthbound existence, but possible, learning to embrace the freedom of forgiveness is also possible. The second is something I've always sensed, but now know: the innate power of a mother to shape the soul of her child. / Graduation date: 2003

Thesis (M.A.B.C.)--The Master's College, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-83).

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No description available.

This study is a narrative inquiry of the daughter mother relationship of survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Interviews were conducted and narratives of the co-researchers experiences written. Understanding the role of the daughter mother relationship in the healing journey of women survivors was gained as the relationship was considered over time. <p> This study makes a unique contribution to the field of narrative research in childhood sexual abuse as well as a valuable contribution to research in daughter mother relationships. Two significant understandings have been gained through this work. First, the effects of child sexual abuse on the girl/woman were experienced as lasting and have demanded years of counselling and therapy to bring freedom to the psyche and autonomy to the woman. Second, and of particular note is the way childhood sexual abuse provoked a change of enormous magnitude to the daughter mother relationship, irrevocably altering it. <p>This study may enlighten issues of attachment, autonomy and independence within survivors of childhood sexual abuse. This study may have implications for the work of therapists and counsellors working with survivors.

This study is a narrative inquiry of the daughter mother relationship of survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Interviews were conducted and narratives of the co-researchers experiences written. Understanding the role of the daughter mother relationship in the healing journey of women survivors was gained as the relationship was considered over time. <p> This study makes a unique contribution to the field of narrative research in childhood sexual abuse as well as a valuable contribution to research in daughter mother relationships. Two significant understandings have been gained through this work. First, the effects of child sexual abuse on the girl/woman were experienced as lasting and have demanded years of counselling and therapy to bring freedom to the psyche and autonomy to the woman. Second, and of particular note is the way childhood sexual abuse provoked a change of enormous magnitude to the daughter mother relationship, irrevocably altering it. <p>This study may enlighten issues of attachment, autonomy and independence within survivors of childhood sexual abuse. This study may have implications for the work of therapists and counsellors working with survivors.

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Florida State University, College af Arts and Sciences, Dept. of English. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 21, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-102).

published_or_final_version / English / Master / Master of Philosophy