Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill tells the story of a young girl named Baby with little fortune and a young drug addicted father. Grown accustomed to the constant changes in her living situations and long periods of loneliness, Baby finds herself lacking affection when the other half of her two-person family goes to rehab. This launches her on a quest to find love. Throughout her protagonist’s expedition, O’Neill directly criticizes social institutions by displaying their failure in providing Baby with the affection she seeks and indirectly criticizes them by contrasting them to a family’s ability to provide affection. The foster care system presented in the novel is shown to have certain strengths but through Baby’s description
…show more content…
Baby is sent to the center by Jules after he discovers that she is in a relation with a pimp named Alphonse, yet the outcome of this visit only increases her need for affection, an “affection that no one can give” (O’Neill 197). This pushes her back to Alphonse’s gifts and attention. Ian Urbina explains this behavior in his article “For Runaways, Sex Buys Survival” by stating that pimps “go after girls with low self-esteem” more specifically juveniles because they “are far easier to manipulate” (For Runaways). The goal of these pimps is to make the girls “feel wanted” (For Runaways). In the case of young girls, Harvey Washington a pimp that was interviewed for the article states that if “you promise them heaven, they’ll follow you to hell” (For Runaways). Juvenile delinquent centers fail to provide them with the affection they need and therefore in many ways make pimps jobs much easier. During her stay at the juvenile delinquent center Baby describes the lack of affection the children receive from the workers, “most of them seemed to sit behind their desk in a sort coma. The only ones who were interested in the kids were the ones who were molesting them” (O’Neill 191). The small amounts of affection the children do receive is when they would pretend to be sick just “to be touched by a caring adult” and continually get their haircut by a social worker to the …show more content…
The possibility of a future different from her reality as a drug addict and prostitute is proposed by her father, Jules. He takes his most prominent step towards being a responsible father when he decides to send Baby to live with his cousin, Janine. This decision explained by Jules, gives her a chance at possibilities such as “university” by removing her from the city that is corrupting her and causing her to grow up too quick (O’Neill 319). He gives her a new beginning and a return to childhood. Jules provides an end to Baby’s quest for affection when he gives her to Janine, who can fill the role of a mother figure. This becomes apparent when Baby first meets her. Baby’s description of her heart settling to a normal rhythm when Janine “hugged” her, this differs from her accelerated heartbeat as a response to the other possible mother substitutes she encountered (O’Neill 330). Janine doesn’t see her as tarnished or inherently “unlucky”, this is shown when she takes a “good look at” Baby which contrasts the looks she received in the past (O’Neill 27, 330). This extended glance makes it seem as if Baby was seeing her reflection through a “mother’s” eye. In addition to this, Baby immediately associates Janine to family when she looks up at her “big blue eyes” identical to her and Jule’s (O’Neill 330). The final paragraph gives the reader a sense
Baby is sent to the center by Jules after he discovers that she is in a relation with a pimp named Alphonse, yet the outcome of this visit only increases her need for affection, an “affection that no one can give” (O’Neill 197). This pushes her back to Alphonse’s gifts and attention. Ian Urbina explains this behavior in his article “For Runaways, Sex Buys Survival” by stating that pimps “go after girls with low self-esteem” more specifically juveniles because they “are far easier to manipulate” (For Runaways). The goal of these pimps is to make the girls “feel wanted” (For Runaways). In the case of young girls, Harvey Washington a pimp that was interviewed for the article states that if “you promise them heaven, they’ll follow you to hell” (For Runaways). Juvenile delinquent centers fail to provide them with the affection they need and therefore in many ways make pimps jobs much easier. During her stay at the juvenile delinquent center Baby describes the lack of affection the children receive from the workers, “most of them seemed to sit behind their desk in a sort coma. The only ones who were interested in the kids were the ones who were molesting them” (O’Neill 191). The small amounts of affection the children do receive is when they would pretend to be sick just “to be touched by a caring adult” and continually get their haircut by a social worker to the …show more content…
The possibility of a future different from her reality as a drug addict and prostitute is proposed by her father, Jules. He takes his most prominent step towards being a responsible father when he decides to send Baby to live with his cousin, Janine. This decision explained by Jules, gives her a chance at possibilities such as “university” by removing her from the city that is corrupting her and causing her to grow up too quick (O’Neill 319). He gives her a new beginning and a return to childhood. Jules provides an end to Baby’s quest for affection when he gives her to Janine, who can fill the role of a mother figure. This becomes apparent when Baby first meets her. Baby’s description of her heart settling to a normal rhythm when Janine “hugged” her, this differs from her accelerated heartbeat as a response to the other possible mother substitutes she encountered (O’Neill 330). Janine doesn’t see her as tarnished or inherently “unlucky”, this is shown when she takes a “good look at” Baby which contrasts the looks she received in the past (O’Neill 27, 330). This extended glance makes it seem as if Baby was seeing her reflection through a “mother’s” eye. In addition to this, Baby immediately associates Janine to family when she looks up at her “big blue eyes” identical to her and Jule’s (O’Neill 330). The final paragraph gives the reader a sense