I do feel I understand battered women's syndrome to at least some degree. And I completely understand that it is human nature, especially in children, to choose the known over the unknown, even if the known entails abuse.
And I could accept that Tonya was too terrorized to protect herself, much less Aja, if they all lived in the same home. But they didn't. Tonya lived 100 miles from Hobbs, and Aja didn't live with her. So how could he be terrorizing her from such a distance, to the extent of compelling her to lie about where she was taking Aja?
Moreover, the comparison you make with abused children is incongruent because Tonya did comprehend the danger to herself and Aja, hence the application for the restraining order.
Please know I am not attacking your views or arguing for its own sake. I am asking these questions because I am really trying to grasp Tonya's thinking and I just don't. I know enough about battered women's syndrome to understand, for example, the "I deserved the beating because I didn't get the house clean enough" warped logic or the "He promised never to do it again and everything will be all right now!" over and over again, despite historical proof to the contrary, warped logic.
But I just cannot come up with any logic, however warped, to explain Tonya's putting Aja in Hobbs' presence. And for reasons that continue to escape me, I am finding it difficult to let go of this case until I do.
