We The Animals By Justin Torres Character Analysis

Mother of the Pack In Justin Torres’ We the Animals, Ma is a major character that frequently gets dominated and oppressed from either her husband, Paps or the boys. Like a wolf pack, the boys are extremely high maintenance, constantly craving attention and following their father, the alpha male. Inevitably, Ma gets left behind and trampled on. The males of the family’s abuse deteriorate Ma into the shell of a woman, frequently unstable and manipulated. Throughout the novel, Ma’s role as a parent further degrades as her children grow up and her marriage falls further into shambles, as seen by her interactions between the boys and Paps. At the beginning of the novel, Ma is shown to be a weak woman, constantly struggling with the reality of her life. Since she had her first child at the age of fourteen, she is uneducated and didn’t get to experience a normal adolescent life. Due to this, she works the night shifts at the graveyard. This job, along with her toxic relationship with her family lead her to the brink of insanity.
But there were times, quiet moments, when our mother was sleeping, when she hadn’t slept in two days, and any noise, any stair creak, any shut door, …show more content…
The reader watches him grow and mature. With all the change, however, Ma remains a static character. She is constantly being dominated by other characters and dragged along in life. She has virtually no power within the household and when she does attempt to exert her power, she is unsuccessful. Although the story might be an exaggeration of a tragic family situation, Ma is an archetype of a typical abused mother and wife. Ma as an idea is very real and plenty of women are forced to live her horror story of a life. The relationship style is very primitive and abusive, fitting for We the Animals, where the family is comparable to a pack of wild animals. The men dominate and oppress the women, leading to their eventual