In Lynne Ramsay’s film of the book We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver, we meet a child who shows nothing but hatred and malice, one that could even be described as “pure evil.” From the very start, Kevin expresses no love or affection to the one that gave him life, only an unnerving malice, seemingly unthinkable to come from a toddler. He does not push his mother away, but instead finds new ways to play with her mind. Manipulating her every thought and weaving his way into every fragile crevice. Which brings us to the question: if the link between parent and child is somewhat strained, could that be the result of evil acts the child may commit, or could it be the cause?
From the very beginning, it is safe to say Kevin was
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Kevin was only able to truly be himself around his mother; lying about himself was not something he was capable of doing with Eva, he never had to 'fake' positive emotions in front of her. When with his father, however, he had to play the perfect son. Franklin was so dead-set on having the ‘perfect’ ‘ideal’ American family, he turned a blind eye to the things Kevin had done to his mother with a simple, “boys will be boys.” In turn, Kevin would play video games with Franklin, practice using a bow and arrow, the typical father-son bonding. Kevin might’ve even felt some form of admiration towards his mother. When Eva flung him across the room, he didn’t cry but instead obeyed what she said and during one of her visits, told her that he was proud of her and that was her ‘most honest moment.’ Kevin and Eva are similar in the sense that they are both resentful, judgmental, intelligent yet highly difficult people who pushed back against each other and refused to give in when they perceived a lack of love from the other. The eventual divorce between Franklin and Eva could have been what led to his last incident. The divorce would mean that Franklin would have custody of him and that would be hell for Kevin since he’d have to keep up the act of being perfect. He let Eva live because he ‘wanted the audience to be alive for the
Both authors provide a inspiring job of giving an explanation as to why ‘The interaction of biological variables with environment variables results in pro-social or antisocial outcomes.’ (Karr-Morse. Wiley, 1999) There are various examples of this interaction in every chaper of the book relating in very different scenarios. This then makes the reader quickly take that this is the important essential that needs to be made that ‘children will reflect what they have taken biologically and socially.’ Karr-Morse. Wiley, 1998) This book does an amazing job of assessing an amount of issues which are related to child abuse and neglect which include for example drugs being used whilst the child is in the womb, the relationship between the child and parent; whether there is enough interaction, any influence of an primary
If a child is neglected or abused by a parent or guardian, then such bad behaviors or mental disorders can develop. “According to Sigmund Freud the development of the unconscious personality early in childhood will influence behavior for the rest of one’s life” (Freeman, web). When a child has no foundation to learn from, they cannot learn how to be ethical. Also the child may not be able to be empathetic and learn how to understand other people’s feelings. “Childhood adversity, such as abuse, neglect, parental loss, and other stressful experiences, has been estimated to account for 45% of the variance in childhood-onset psychopathology and 26-32% of the risk for later-onset psychiatric disorders” (Burgers, web). An example of a child affected by a lack of parenting is a man named Charles Manson. He grew up in a very unstable home. His mother was a sixteen year old prostitute who tried to sell him for one bottle to alcohol. While growing up, he moved between different family members since his mother was incapable of raising a child. Manson said in his own words “Rejection, more than love or acceptance, has been a part of my life since birth” (Emmons, pg. 24). As a result of such neglect and abuse, Manson created an occult. He made the people in the occult his new family who he could control. He then manipulated them to kill multiple people. Manson was named the most dangerous man alive and has a book on his life experiences before the killings (Emmons, web). Another serial killer who was abused as a child is John Wayne Gacy. He was molested by his uncle on multiple occasions. He then raped and killed thirty-three young
Traditionally Kevin, his Father, Gary Hazen, and his brother, Gary David, all go out on the first hunt together at two in the morning after a breakfast of homemade pancakes, but this year is different. Kevin wants to break free from the life of his family and doesn't want to go on the hunt with his father and brother. He can't comprehend why his father is so set in his ways and Kevin doesn’t want to live his father's life. Gary is a forester and finds it important to work hard to most provide for his family and to conserve nature. Kevin, like most kids, doesn’t understand his fathers way of thinking, and wants to live his own life. A life away from Lost Lake. Kevin attempts to break free of his fathers lifestyle by attending a nearby college, in hopes to eventually become teacher. Gary isn't happy with his son's decision to go to school and Kevin can't understand his fathers views, which causes the two to butt heads throughout the novel. But a tragic accident suddenly leaves Kevin fighting for his and his fathers lives. Having to use the knowledge and skills that his father had taught Kevin suddenly suddenly realizes his dad was right after all.
The nurture of this boy is considered by me to be detrimental and can be the reason that he is labeled "evil." When a kid is growing up, he or she learns from watching others and imitating or reacting to them. This is why the way the boy acts can be blamed on nurture; the way he was brought up. The boy experienced things in his early life that is upsetting just to hear about. Putting kids up for adoption is enough to cause them to life that is considered evil, and that is just the start for this boy.
In each stage, there is a crisis of two opposing emotional forces (McLeod, 2013). From birth to age one is Erikson’s stage of trust vs. mistrust. If taken care of well and protected, a child will achieve a healthy balance of trust and mistrust. Even though Precious’s physical abuse did not start until she was three, there is a high chance that her living environment was not surrounded by safety and love. Precious may have developed mistrust because later on in her life she because suspicious of others and was not able to connect because of an overwhelming sense of fear and inability to trust.
After the 5 years of being apart from Dana, Kevin finally gets the letter that Dana has come back to get him. He was happy to find Dana on the Weylin's Farm and he tries to get away with her so they can leave the negative experiences behind them. When they try to get away, Rufus comes with a gun and tries to force Kevin into giving up Dana, so he could take her as a slave. Kevin didn't want to give up without a fight so he begins to become possessive of Dana. “Kevin stared at him. Until Rufus began to look uncomfortable instead of indignant.” (Kindred,185). Kevin changes from kind to possessive because he sees the way Rufus looks at Dana the same way he looks at Alice. Kevin understands that Rufus would do anything to keep Dana with him, so he must be possessive in order to keep Rufus in check. When Kevin comes back to the present, he does not come back the same. He has a Southern accent and he doesn't seem to remember how to use technology. He seems to be angry with himself because he struggles to get back into the present. When Dana tries to help him ease his way back into the present, he snaps and glares as at her which is something he had never done to Dana. “He stopped, glaring at me... The expression on his face was like... something I was used to seeing on Tom Weylin” (Kindred,194). In the five years, Kevin was in the antebellum south, he could have adopted the ways of the racist slave owners as he did the southern accent. Kevin is already showing their racist ways when he glares at Dana when she tries to help him, His action was like a white person to a black person in the Antebellum South. The experience negatively impacts Dana and Kevin because Kevin is not the same and kind man he was when Dana married him. Kevin comes back to the present as a stranger living with Dana because she doesn't
Subsequently, the parenting responsibilities in his home fell on his maternal grandparents. Furthermore, his mother lacked the appropriate nurturing skills and maturity needed to raise Kevin and his siblings. In turn, physical, emotional and verbal abuse was her answers to everything. As Kevin indicated, the abuse “Goes back as far as I can remember” and his mother would beat him with “Whatever she got her hands on.” The abuse was often unprovoked and out of nowhere. Painfully, he recalled how is mother would bind Hot-Wheel’s race tracks together with rubber bands and make him strip nude and utter the phrase, “Take you clothes off because I am beating you, not them.” Kevin was not the only sibling subjected to his mother wrath. His brother Kerry liked to play with matches and after being told by his mother to stop, Kevin recalled how his mother punished him by placing his hand over the open flame on the stove. These painful memories are still ripe in Kevin’s mind. The abuse inside the home would only end when his grandmother intervened. Despite this grandmother’s best efforts, she could not stop all the abuse, and his mother’s verbal abuse was just as
There are many different relationships that children develop as they grow, babies know that they cry to get attention from their parent for food or just a cuddle this is the beginning of learning to build relationships. Every child and family are different in how they believe relationships should be made and who children are allowed to talk to or be around so everyone is different when it comes to who they trust or get along with. Relationships children and young people may have are: parental, carer, sibling, family, friendship, emotional, acquaintance and professional. Parental/carer is the relationship between the child and the person who is their main carer(s).
“With a sudden slash of his hand, he knocked both the sharpener and the cup of pencils from his desk”(Butler, 194). Kevin has recently returned to his home, nevertheless he seems to have acquired a temper, one similar Tom Weylin or Rufus. The one person he can talk about his experience is with Dana, which is a bit restrictive, but who’s to say that he will talk to her or instead he may treat her as a slave. In addition, after Kevin’s experience Dana is soon being sent back to save Rufus, yet Kevin makes no move to follow her. “He said something, but suddenly, there was too much noise for me to hear him-even if he had still been there”(Butler, 197). Dana wants Kevin to stay in California, instead of going to Maryland and possibly getting trapped. He has been through an experience no one should go through, but that is his wife’s life possibly on the line. Maybe Kevin does not love her anymore, as a result of being around people who hate black people. Kevin was surrounded by people for five years who treated other human beings so poorly, as a result, he possibly does not like Dana as a person. In
When there has been unresolved issues in childhood, the parents re-enact these behaviours with their own children. Chetik (1976) believes that when a parent seeks therapy for their child it’s usually because they are aware that they may have unconsciously contributed to the current issue. Out of guilt, they seek some form of parent-child work to address their child’s and their own issues. Once the parents ' issues have been identified, worked through, and resolved, the child becomes free of the parents ' past issues, and the parent and child can develop a healthy relationship (Lewis, 1996).
Children can be led to cruelty and violence because of fear, chaos and many other instances.
There are many negative short and long-term emotional and behavioural effects of witnessing parental conflict on children and youth.
There is no doubt the youth of today are troubled. Many children today do not have the respect they did ten to twenty years ago. When it seems that there is a mass shooting on the news, or a troubled youth does something unthinkable, every few months. Could this be a result of modern parenting? Where did these kids learn to devalue human life so much? Is it modern society, or the modern family? Modern parenting and the values of a modern family are different from traditional views. Whatever the reason it seems kids committing horrible acts is more common today than in previous decades. Could these troubled youth be the product of an unhappy home, or is it something else? Does the modern child put a strain on a marriage? It is safe to say that a child 's behavior is not only influenced by their parents, but also by their peers. Kids see their friends doing things and don’t understand why they cant or shouldn’t do them as well. Modern views on punishment greatly differ from traditional views. Although from a psychological point of view punishment is a double edged sword, too much can also have adverse effects. One thing is for certain that raising children is a large aspect of a family, and if somebody isn 't happy it can take its toll on the whole
The psychological crisis at this stage is basic trust versus basic mistrust. This stage occurs between birth and approximately1 ½ years of age. According to Erikson, the trust versus mistrust stage is the most important period in a person’s life. The radius of significant relations revolves around the maternal person in which, is usually the mother. The ego strength is this stage is hope. The syntonic potential is basic trust and the dystonic antithesis is mistrust. The child will experience both and if the basic trust predominates the ego strength of hope emerges and if mistrust predominates than withdrawal emerges. The ego strength of hope is associated with the binding ritualization of numinous for example, the sense of the hallowed presence of the mother but if antipathy emerges it's associated with the ritualization of idolism. In application to Donald Silva, he displays a ritualism that in the stage of infancy is related to idolism and in Silva's case this emergence leads to withdrawal. Silva has withdrawn from society because all his energy is being focused around the young boys. Silva does not go anywhere or do anything that the outcome does not lead to a relationship with the little boys. Even in Silva's career he specializes in pediatrics he is consistently surrounded by little boys in which, he even mentions being involved in some sexual
There are many parents whose negative patterns of behavior are consistent and dominant within a child’s life. These are parents who do the harm. The term “Toxic Parents” is similar to a chemical toxin: the emotional, physical, or sexual damage inflicted spreads throughout the child’s being and as the child grows, so does that pain. Being a victim of physical and emotional abuse is not the ...