Abuse of vulnerable adults in novels

[coget]

Hi, looking to link National Year of Reading with awareness of the abuse of vulnerable adults. Does anyone know of any novels that deal with this issue.
Thanks

[saxy_jag]

Not a novel, but the play 'Flowers for Algernon' is worth a look. It deals with a mentally disabled man who is ridiculed by his workmates and then is subject to a scientific experiment that turns him into a genius.

[eah]

try website TeacherVision.com for some ideas.....

[pingping]

Girl, Interrupted is a true story about the lives of young women in a mental hospital and some abuse from the hospital staff: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Interrupted-Susan na-Kaysen/dp/1860497926/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=b ooks&qid=1202134587&sr=1-1

It is not as depressing as it sounds and it was made into a film with Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172493/

[andrea81]

How about the book that concentrates on the life of the woman in the attic in 'Jane Eyre' Berth Mason (the mad wife of Mr Rochdale) The book is called Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.

It is very good and makes you wonder about how others contribute to anothers downfall!

[Bewlay Bros]

I don't know if "Dead Mans Shoes" has been novellised.

SPOLIERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

The Shane Meadows film deals with the gang abuse of an adult spastic whereby they feed him drugs and generally tease him, culminating in his own suicide.

The story is told with the ex-Para brother of the spastic and the "imaginary ghost" of the now dead spastic going through the different aspects of the abuse and then the revenge from the ex-Para on his brothers tormentors.

Great movie, if no book is available.

[jno]

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?

[Tom Braider]

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Practically every adult in it is vulnerable in one way or another, although only some of them are abused...