Blog Post #3

     In the novel, Lullabies for little Criminals, the major issues presented in the book are the use of drugs, pimps, the constant moving from place to place, and an irresponsible father all make for a very poor childhood for the main character Baby.

     Ever since she was young, Baby has been exposed to drugs through her heroin addict father. Jules being the irresponsible father that he is, never took Baby's childhood into consideration and made drugs known to her. Baby seen this as a gateway and began trying drugs for herself with no one to guide her away from that. After becoming good friends with the local pimp, Alphonse, Baby becomes exposed to more drugs which creates her to follow into her fathers footsteps at a very young age.

     Baby has experienced a life full of moving from one hotel or apartment to another. She has never had the chance to settle in and make memories like a child should because she is constantly being dragged from one place to the next. This creates an unstable childhood for Baby since she knows she cannot become to comfortable in one place because they will be moving in a couple months time.

     Jules has been an irresponsible father since the day Baby was born. He exposed her to drugs and dragged her around from place to place, not considering her life as a child. He gave her trouble when no trouble was done, and blamed her for his own problems.

     Baby experiences a poor childhood and this is a major issue in the novel as it exposes her to many new things, things that may seem okay to her but really they aren't. The drugs put her on the same pathway as her father, the constant moving made for uncomfortable changes and an irresponsible father turned her life for the worst by not taking her childhood into consideration while he raised her.

ISP Blog Post #2 - Lullabies for Little Criminals

     As I've continued to read, "lullabies for little criminals" I've analyzed the text through an archetypal point of view. The main character Baby, started off loving her young, drug addict father through all the good times and bad. Although, when Jules gets out of rehab his behaviour changes quickly and he starts blaming many things, including his own problems, on Baby. Baby then begins to change when she starts doing drugs and begins hanging around the local pimp, Alphonse. You can clearly see the pattern of Baby and Jules, as Baby is following directly in Jules footsteps. She begins doing the drugs, and ends up being arrested from her home like Jules.

     Baby's ragdoll that was supposedly given to her from her mother, and it's a major symbol represented in the novel. The ragdoll was tattered, old, and falling apart at the seams but yet Baby loved and cared for it every day. The ragdoll symbolized Baby's life, and even though her life becomes tough with a drug addict father, she still loves and cares for him every single day. When Jules gets mad he ruins Baby's ragdoll, and ever since he ruined it Baby's behaviour and actions have changed for the worst. She visualized the ragdoll as her life, and when the doll becomes ruined her life begins to go down hill, following in Jules footsteps.

     Mary, Felix's mother, also has a specific meaning in the novel. When Baby is left to stay with them, Mary expresses lots of love towards Baby like a mother would. Mary symbolizes love in this novel and is a key reminder to Baby that love does exist in the world even if she may not think so. She plays as a mother figure that Baby has never had and shows her care and love during her stay without Jules.

    




    

ISP First Impressions Blog Post

The novel I am currently reading is Heather O'Neill's lullabies for little criminals. This novel is focused on Baby, a teenage girl living with her young, irresponsible father who tends to care more about himself then his own child.

Since the beginning of the novel the author has you see Baby as a strong child who puts up with all of her fathers problems. The constant moving from one apartment to the next, and Jules being a heroin addict formulated huge problems as how a child should be raised to me. The question I'm continually asking is, "Why are you doing this to your child?" Now that Baby has taken a liking to the attention that Alphonse is giving her, she is always wanting it and every time they meet I formulate that something much worse is going to take place and change her life. When Alphonse goes to compliment Baby I can't help but ask, "What could you possibly want her for, she's twelve." Baby is becoming riskier without Jules being around so much, and if this is going to be her attitude then problems are going to arise for the young teen.

When Baby has to move in with Mary while Jules is away at rehab, Mary shows so much love and compassion towards Baby. I believe Mary was included in this novel to show that love still does exist and that the world isn't all that bad. A lot of the novel is focused on just the "bad," for example the way Jules yells at Baby, the way Theo's mom abuses him, the drugs, etc. Having Mary come into the novel and express love to Baby is something that she doesn't experience a lot of the time with Jules, and I believe she was brought into the novel to give Baby hope and believe that love exists.

When Baby first starting doing drugs, all I could think of was, "She's following in Jules footsteps." I believe the point of this event is to hint to readers that Baby is taking after her father and is starting to follow in his footsteps by beginning to do drugs. After Jules returns home from rehab he begins to act different with Baby and then starts leaving for a couple days at a time which leaves Baby open to try new things, and take after her father.

The impression the book is giving me on the kind of person who wrote this is someone who went through a rough patch in their life and may have experienced something that made life difficult. I do not find it hard to sympathize with her view of the world because I know that specific events in the novel are closely related to what really does go on in the world whether we want to believe it or not. Unfortunately, there are people like Jules and there are people like Alphonse somewhere in the world and I strongly believe that the person who wrote this may have experienced some related events discussed in novel.

As a person I'm learning more and more about how lucky I am to not be living a life that involves constantly moving and dealing with heroin addict parents. As a reader I've come to learn that a strength of mine is beginning to understand the true meaning behind certain events that are or have taken place and that they're not only there to make the story flow. A weakness that I have as a reader is explaining the mental pictures inside my head, I have them there while I'm reading but explaining them seems to be difficult.

I'm really looking forward to continue reading and seeing what's up next for Baby and Jules!