Barbara was a victim of domestic violence at some point of her life. Domestic violence is defined as "violent or aggressive behavior within the home, typically involving the violent abuse of a spouse or partner" (Oxford Dictionary). Barbara said, "It is like having your freedom taken away and being abused in every way possible by the person you love and that you thought loved you just as much". Women who suffer from domestic violence can be brutally emotionally and or physically abused. The abuser makes sure to destroy the victim's self-esteem by constantly abusing him/her verbally and or psychically. In the song "Human" Perri says, "Just a little human" (line 36) here we can see that the victim starts seeing themselves through the eyes of the abuser who doesn't value her; she is feeling broken and humiliated. Her self-esteem is completely destroyed and she is starting to see herself as something worthless; "a little human." This is verbal abuse, which is usually the first stage of domestic violence. However, this often transgresses to physical abuse.
Hitting someone is never okay. My uncle was a respected man. He had his own business, and a lot of people considered him to be a "good man." What people did not know was that he was far from being a good man. People did not know that he would come home and hit the woman he claimed to love. Barbara said, "He would come home and get very agitated about everything. He would start calling me words like "stupid" and telling me how I could never do anything right. Then he would hit me" This can be seen through these lyrics, "Your words in my head, and knives in my heart" (line 12). This quote explains how getting bombarded with offensive words can leave a mark on you forever. Words have the power to hurt or heal, and in this case we can see words are hurting. Harsh and hurtful words have the power to break someone's heart and leave emotional scars.