Social & Environmental Factors: Using any of the following theories (e.g., social construction, structural functionalist, ecological theory, person in the environment, etc.), describe the environmental and social barriers that the character faced. Did the character overcome any of these barriers? Use specific examples. Environmental Barriers Using the lens of the Person-In-Environment Theory, Foxy’s life was heavily influenced by the environment. Her life consisted in poor tenement housing in often poor living conditions. Her neighborhood was plagued by drugs, causing her to become addicted to substances as well. Her friends and family either used or sold drugs, which was apparent in many of the volatile relationships she was in that also reflected drug use. (pg 342) Her neighborhood promoted unhealthy foods, with many trips to the corner store and poor dental hygiene regarding candy. The cultural impact of being Puerto Rican also consisted of many fried foods that resulted in obesity. (pg 312) The lack of appropriate medical care and primary care physicians often led Foxy to the public psychiatric hospital when experiencing a nervous breakdown. Being heavily medicated while abusing drugs, left Foxy to be missing or …show more content…
Foxy looked for an escape with men, resorting in physical and sexual abuse. Foxy’s daughter, Iris, recalls “the trouble had gone on for years beforehand, and the beatings for a long as Iris could remember. Iris still recalled the horror of the time their father tied Foxy to the bed and raped her. Eventually she took him back, but he beat her again and ended up in jail” (p. 270). Foxy’s development was hindered early on regarding the violence and abuse of her father, Foxy predicted her granddaughter was going to run away, just as she had. Forxy was thirteens years old when she took off...her father’s brutality had contributed to her urge for adventure” (pg