Analysis on All God's Children
Early life experiences are undoubtedly instrumental in determining who we will be for the rest of our lives. Certain circumstances, both positive and negative, can go a long way in shaping us. As an analogy, George W. Bush probably never would have had a chance at running for the presidency if his father were never elected to this title. Likewise, there are probably many promising children being raised in low socio-economic status areas that will never be given an opportunity to hone their skills and talents. The latter is representative of the type of life that both Butch and Willie Bosket had to endure. Butch and Willie are two extremely violent criminals who lives were written about in All God's Children, by Fox Butterfield. Butch is the father, and Willie his son; both were victims of circumstances that eventually led to serious time in juvenile and child detention facilities, jails, and ultimately prison (Butterfield, 1995). Caregiving is an important factor in determining how children will turn out; as Michael L. Benson states in Crime and the Life Course, "Whoever plays the role of caregiver...will have a profound impact on how that infant develops" (Benson, 2002: p. 49). Perhaps if they had better caregiving as ch
Benson later cites a study by Sampson and Laub, which shows that children tend to display more aggressive behavior if their parents use harsh punishment and reject them (Benson, 2002). Both Willie and Butch were beaten as a form of punishment, even at young ages; often times they were severely beaten. As for neglect, they both probably felt a sense of abandonment from their mothers. Butch's mother left him without notice at a young age, and made him feel unwanted when he was brought back to her. Her neglect got so severe, he was forced to a Children's Center. Although Willie was probably not beaten as often as Butch, he still experienced high levels of rejection from his mother. She would say things such as, "Boy, you bad, just like your father. You sure got the Devil in you. You're going to grow up to be no good" (Butterfield, 1995: p. 141). Laura also turned Willie over to the Bureau of Child Welfare at the age of nine. Although more reluctant than any of Butch's caregivers, she handed him to Wiltwyck (the same child center Butch had been sent to) leaving Willie with a sense of abandonment (Butterfield, 1995). The second paradigm is conflict, or being raised in a family that is continuously in conflict with one another (Benson, 2002). Butch was severely beaten by his father for the two month period that he moved back in. Prior to Butch's father moving in, Butch's mother left him; he was raised to hate her, and was even encouraged to spit on her upon seeing her again (Butterfield, 1995). Once Butch moved to Harlem to live with his mother, who clearly did not want him, his stepfather began to beat him. The beatings got so severe that Butch even set fire to the house to get even after a beating (Butterfield, 1995). Willie was also no stranger to conflict in the homes in which he grew up. Laura use to bring in different men on a consistent basis, often times they would beat her. Willie once witnessed a man burn his mother against a radiator, Willie reacted by hitting the man with a pipe and slashing him with a knife. Another man beat his mom so badly, Willie tried to set fire to the house-much the same way his father had. As Willie got a little bit older, he would be sent to stay with his grandfather (James) on weekends. James would trick Willie and proceed to raping him; on on
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Approximate Word count = 1560
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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