Review Of Heather O 'Neill's Lullabies For Little Criminals'

Lullabies for Little Criminals: Journal Entry #1 Subsequent to reading the first half of Lullabies for Little Criminals, written by Heather O'Neill, I became very intrigued by the novel as a whole, but particularly the protagonist of the story, Baby, as her dysfunctional childhood is sympathetic and compelling. The first impression I received from this novel was that it was going to be very sad and depressing. The novel commences by providing the reader with insight into the history behind Baby’s birth. Both of her parents were "fifteen when [she was] born” (O’Neill, 4) and her mother “died a year later, [leading Jules] to raise [Baby] all by himself" (O’Neill, 4). As they were both very young when Baby was born, it unveils that her birth …show more content…
As the novel progresses it reads like a fight for Baby’s soul. Each day she falls further and further from grace. As she begins to traverse the unsettling road between adulthood and childhood, she possesses a growing awareness of what she has missed out on in her life. Due to lack of support from Jules, she begins to take drugs, and disobey her father which causes her innocent character to slowly deteriorate. Her life flips upside down when her father leaves her, and she ultimately finds herself tumbling into a life with the absence of love. As a result, she clings to anything with close relations to love, specifically including her relationship with Alphonse. Alphonse is a neighbourhood pimp who is “terribly interested in women” (O’Neill, 195), and who becomes Baby’s biggest predator. He forces her to become a prostitute at the early age of thirteen which is the reason why she loses all of her remaining innocence. We see an utter transformation in Baby’s character as she is now a young, wild and immature teenage girl. At such a young age, she should not be engaged in acts of prostitution as it could potentially bring her harm. Baby is aware that “it’s harder to pick up a trick when you’re wearing a yellow pom-pom hat” (O’Neill, 291) which clearly exhibits the dual sides of her character. It displays how quickly Baby desires to grow into a mature adult, however, it also shows there are still elements to her character that bring out her inner child which can be easily discerned by everyone. Alphonse convinces Baby that he loves her and that they they will be very happy together and, as she is still young and vulnerable, she falls for his duplicitous scheme and runs away from home. Even Alphonse is aware that Baby is “just a little kid” (O’Neill, 248), however, he continues to play mental games with her and exposes her to sex, prostitution, drugs