The child isn't tortured in the original story. You misremember. The child is neglected, ignored and maltreated but the abuse is acts of ommision not commision.
The story doesn't say where the child is from, but it does say the child remembers its mother and how to speak.
The story ends saying that the ones who leave are going somewhere, we know not where nor why (it lightly implies the ones leave because the child is abused, but it could just as easily be they left because they learnt something).
Solitary confinement is commonly accepted to be a form of torture, and that usually involves rudimentary sanitation and nourishment. A confined, solitary, starving child living in its own excrement is being tortured, and I defy anybody to argue otherwise.
Also, confinement is not an "act of omission" any more than punching somebody in the face and then leaving them alone forever after is an act of omission.
robocat|2 years ago
The story doesn't say where the child is from, but it does say the child remembers its mother and how to speak.
The story ends saying that the ones who leave are going somewhere, we know not where nor why (it lightly implies the ones leave because the child is abused, but it could just as easily be they left because they learnt something).
rcoveson|2 years ago
Also, confinement is not an "act of omission" any more than punching somebody in the face and then leaving them alone forever after is an act of omission.