This book continues to follow the story of the Gilley's and what would cause a son to kill both his parents. At this point, we are still following Billy's childhood and it is shocking to me how much he was abused. He eventually gave up and decided to run away, but after 3 weeks returned. His parents were " almost gleeful in his failure... now he would have no choice but to do everything that they told him to do"(67). After this event, I'm guessing Billy would have lost almost all of his self confidence. He had tried to rebel and failed, making it seem as though his parents would always be able to stop whatever he wanted to do. As they say " his sense of self was so impaired that he no longer believed in the possibility of his freedom"(68). He has been traumatized and abused by his parents, but does not have the spirit to rebel as he feels his parents will just be able to stop him. So in his mind the logical connection would be to eliminate his parents, and then he would be able to do whatever he wanted to.
One of the most traumatic moments described in teh book thus far occured at a community pool. Billy was trying to learn to swim with a pair of water wings. Bill ashamed to have a sissy son grabbed him and jumped off the diving board. He would then let go at the lowest point of the dive, leaving Billy to try desperately to swim to the surface. "The hostility-- the malice-- of this "lesson" would have frightened a child who could swim"(87). Bill was so obssessed with getting a "manly" son that he tortured Billy and scarred him certainly for life. It makes perfect sense that "Billy was not only disruptive in the classroom, but also began picking physical fights on the playground"(94). He may have been trying to assert himself and prove to someone that he was worth something. If someone was scared of him, then at least tehy respected him, which was way more than you could say of his father.
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The book you're reading seems to connect with the question "what causes normal people to commit acts of astrocity?" The answer you have come to makes complete sense (though it is disturbing). He has had his reasons, and the thinks he can justify the horrible things he does. I wonder if the poor kid will ever find his way without violence.
His father seems to believe that his son is a reflection of himself. He feels the need to shape him into his ideals and he is willing to do devastating things to achieve this goal. His childhood was certainly traumatic and it will be interesting to see if Billy is able to find a way out of this lifestyle.
It must be very hard to live without support from his parents. I am not surprised at all to find out that Billy gets in fights at school. This is most likely because he is trying to get out his anger. I also agree that it could be because he wants to be respected and he believes this is the only way to earn respect. Along with this, kids usually follow in their parents footsteps, Billy seems to be following in his father's.
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