A Look At How A Dysfunctional Family Led To Tragedy
...) but no one said it to him aloud. The unspoken became more powerful than anything iterated by either of the parents. Their silence represents the withdrawal from love, affection, and genuine nurturing. It is this neglection that led Paul to a crazed obsession for his parent’s attention. “She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love them.” (p. 322). This quote creates an image of how cold the mother was towards her children. Hester stopped respecting and loving her husband once he was unable to provide her with all her extravagant taste. Hester blamed their misfortune on her “unlucky” husband. The situation made her grow bitter. Hester’s priorities, obviously not the children but her greed, made her unable to display any affection toward the children. The mother and father were selfish and indifferent regarding the children. Curious as to why his mother was so unhappy, one day Paul asked and his mother told him that they were the poor ones in the family because they were unlucky. Paul, in an attempt to please his mother told her that he was lucky. His mother belittled this idea causing Paul to feel rejected. Paul went in search of luck to gain his mother’s approval. Paul began going on frenzied journeys on his rocking horse; he wanted the rocking horse to help him find luck in order to please his mother. “He went off by himself, vaguely, in a childish way, seeking for the clue to ‘luck.’ Absorbed, taking no heed of other people, he went about with a snort of stealth, seeking inwardly for luck. He wanted luck, he wanted it, he wanted it.” (p. 324) Paul was starving for love and attention from his mother and tried to please her. His rocking-horse brought him the ‘answers.’ Answers that made him certain which horses in the race would win. For Paul, he hoped that these were the answers that he needed in order to make his mother happy and win her love. He became enthralled with betting on horse racing and making money. And he did. He made thousands of pounds for his mother, yet she was still unsatisfied. He ...