Breaking the Cycle of Abuse

Abuse is a cycle that is difficult, though not impossible, to break. In the novel It Ends With Us, Lily chooses to break the cycle of abuse because she does not want her newborn daughter to live through what she did with her parents abusive marriage.

As a child, Lily was devastated when her mother did not leave her father even after her father hurt Lily. In Lily’s own relationship, she is shocked when Ryle hurts her for the first time and wonders how she came to be in that position. It is only when Lily discovers she is pregnant with a child of her own that she realizes she has to be the one to have the strength to break the cycle.

Lily had always believed that if her father ever hurt Lily that her mother would leave him. Lily...