F Baker answers “Ok it seems pretty clear that Kevin poured...”

Toot Renoos asked this question about We Need to Talk About Kevin:

Ok it seems pretty clear that Kevin poured the Drano into his sister's eye, but at our book club last night there was a heated discussion about Cecilia. The group was split on these two issues 1) was she simply slow, developmental not where she should have been or 2) was she so tortured by Kevin that like an abused child will not point the figure at him. Did he treatment account for her unnatural fears?

F Baker I don't think Celia was 'slow' she was described as 'gentle' and that's not quite the same thing. Children raised in abusive situations often over em…more I don't think Celia was 'slow' she was described as 'gentle' and that's not quite the same thing. Children raised in abusive situations often over empathize with the abuser (in an attempt to understand/avoid abuse/reason with themselves that they are still loved). It's possible that she didn't want Kevin to get into trouble, not even just from fear alone, but also because she worried what would happen *to him* if she did. She also may have taken cues from her father who consistently praised Kevin, made excuses for him, minimized the cruelty he portrayed and villainized anyone who brought attention to it. Maybe she didn't want to be seen as a 'problem' - her father never listened to her mother and supported her, he only blamed her, so the daughter may have picked up on this and felt it was 'bad' to say that Kevin had done something to hurt her. Maybe she simply learned that, in her family, complaining about Kevin only led to more praise and protection for Kevin. It's also possible she didn't want her mother to get into trouble - if she told her mother it was Kevin, that could potentially tear her family apart.

It's not usually as straightforward as 'children are born bad' vs 'parents make children bad'. It often begins with a genetic disposition and the environment (especially parents) can either help a child navigate their difficulties or increase the child's difficulties through their own (the parents') behaviors or situation. This is why sometimes you find very pro-social and amenable people who grew up in harsh and hostile conditions and sometimes you find very difficult and anti-social behaviors in those who appear to have sprung from a stable home. As in real-life, the book doesn't clearly delineate just *how* unstable the parenting was, as we view the situation from the position of a potentially unreliable narrator. (less)

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We Need to Talk About Kevin

by Lionel Shriver (Goodreads Author)

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