Loss Of Children In The Stone Boy By Gina Berriault

Life is not what everybody expects as days pass life changes and gets harder every day. In Hope’s boy, Andrew Bridge was a 5 year old boy who had the love from her mother and share a deep connection with, who thought that nothing else mattered. However, ended up getting separated from her mother at only 7 years of age because of her mother’s mental illness. Nevertheless, Andrew suffered from her mother’s separation having to be placed in a foster care and deal with loveless foster parents. Andrew was placed with the family Leonard’s who refuse to identify him as one of their children. Andrew experience emotional and physical abuse in the Leonard’s household. Mrs. Leonard was such a heartless person to Andrew. There was a time when little things will make Mrs. Leonard mad such as maybe Andrew leaving socks in the floor, not picking up after himself or maybe nothing at all and take it out on him. Andrew Bridge stated “Digging into my arms or grabbing at my face, she screamed that the foster child in front of her was ungrateful, lazy, obnoxious, confrontational, stupid, and undeserving. With her hand at my ear or at the base of my neck, she pulled me to the floor and through rooms” (181-182). This shows how the Leonard’s treated Andrew using physical abuse. Mrs. Leonard wanted to make Andrew feel what she felt when she was a young girl. As if Andrew didn’t had enough with Mrs. Leonard’s rejection he had to suffer being emotional abuse, bulled by Christopher Mrs. Leonard’s son.

The 14 year old kid named Arnold, had alcoholism influencing him for the duration his life. One

Arnolds father was arrested for over drinking according to Jim Murphy, and his family name had lost much respect. So Arnold a confident, and strong man devoted his life to gain much of

how Arnold Friend sees her and does not realize that she cannot see him or his motives. Arnold

Connie does not want to be the nice and innocent pretty girl. She wants to be known for being very sexual. In the story she makes fun of her sister June because she is very modest and not sexual and causes conflict with their family. Also June is overweight twenty-four years old and still living at home. But she also does chores and does them without complaining to her parents. While Connie is a way from home she has two totally different ways of acting. Be that as it may, Arnold friend ‘s landing in her home drives her two sides to consolidate fiercely. As it were, Connie is not completely sexual until Arnold's interruption into her home until then; her sexuality was something outside of her "actual" self, the self that she permitted her family to see. Arnold also has a friend named Ellie. While Arnold drives up to Connie’s house Ellie stays in the car and she listens to music while Arnold speaks to Connie. Also Connie’s mother shows a large amount of frustration towards her and the way she acts and dresses. Connie and her mother fight constantly. But towards the end of the story when Connie is attacked my Arnold she cries out to her

“Nothing about Arnold Friend is genuine, except his violent intentions and his skill at psychological and physical intimidation. By the story’s end, Connie understands that she is not the confident flirt she thought, but a powerless pawn in the hands of a dangerous individual.” (Cormier)

Arnold Friend's façade gives the reader the feeling that something is wrong, as if Oates were trying to persuade Connie away from her impending doom. When Arnold first pulls into Connie's driveway, the reader is alarmed. Connie notices that he is actually much older than he appears and the reader knows that

The physical traits of Arnold Friend that the narrator describes are additional clues that Arnold is not who he claims to be. The three physical traits are: his eyelashes look painted, it looks like he is wearing a wig, and he put something in his shoes to make himself taller: “she saw how thick the lashes were, thick and black as if painted with a black tarlike material” (Oates, 1966), “He placed his sunglasses on top of his head, carefully, as if he were indeed wearing a wig, and

First, it is clear that Arnold is like the Big Bad Wolf in “The Three Little Pigs”. At one point, this is shown when he threatens to break into Connie’s home, and says, “I mean, anybody can break through a screen door and glass and wood and iron or anything else if he needs to, especially Arnold Friend,” (24). Arnold declares he can break through a door after Connie tries to lock the door to prevent Arnold from coming inside. This makes it seem like a threat, and that even locking the door, which is supposed to be safe, still can’t stop Arnold Friend. Essentially, it makes him seem very dangerous or crafty, like the Wolf. In the “Three Little Pigs”, when each pig locks themselves inside their home, the Big Bad Wolf declares that he

based on this event it is obvious that the environment defines who we are and by changing our environment, we can change ourselves. Just like what had happened with Arnold when he created his new identity. For example, me my self as an international student, had to blend in the new environment I am in in order to socialize and be recognized as a member of culture. All that has benfited me back and gave the chance to adjust my lifestyle and adabt in a short period of time. Unlike others who still struggle between sticking their original identities and the identity of the culture

Arnold took advantage of Connie’s vulnerability. For once, Connie was compared to June without being second best. He praised her beauty with compliments for example calling her “a pretty girl ‘’ (292) something her mother had never done and he told Connie that she was “the one’’ (297). Unlike her father, Arnold admitted he took “a special interest ‘’ (292) in her. He took the time to investigate all about her (292). Arnold gave Connie compliments, promises of affection, and attention, things she was not used to. Arnold reminds Connie that her family never showed interest in her, he reminded her that they knew anything about her, and reassured her that she was better than them. (300). Connie then made the absurd decision to get in the car with a man who proved to me dangerous and a possible psychopath.

Although we never fully discover the humanness of Arnold, one thing is for sure, “He invites fear rather than attraction when he claims to know things about her family and neighbors that he couldn’t possibly know.”(SparkNotes Editors)

16). Arnold perceives himself within his relations with his family and the reservation, thus his self-esteem is directly tied to his place within the two groups. However near the end of the book, Arnold cries for his “fellow tribal members” future in the reservation (Alexie, 2009, p. 216) and acknowledges that he “was the only one who was brave and crazy enough to leave the rez…. The only one with enough arrogance” (Alexie, 2009, p. 217). Although part of his self image is still tied to his tribe, Arnold sees himself as independent from them. He has a sense of who he is from his choice to leave the reservation and the qualities that allowed him to do so. The experiences Arnold encountered along the way such as exclusion, individuals with highly independent self-construals, and the deaths of his led to changes in his self-concept.

The father Arnold Friedman was initially under investigation because child pornography ordered in his name from Europe was intersected by the police, and being a school teacher this raised a number of ethical issues. Through a police set up Arnold was tricked into taking the magazine from a police officer, and thus a search warrant was instituted. The police found piles of child pornography magazines hidden next to his piano, and in his office. His wife seemed unaware of these magazines, but not because Arnold Although, the photographs of the crime scene show an organized normal looking house, the polices claims make it sound like they had porno on their coffee table. Regardless of this, Arnold had a history of fervent sexuality in his life, beginning in early childhood he was exposed to the very private and sexual part of his mothers life, and therefor starting exploring his own sexuality through mimicking behavior he had seen with his younger brother. Arnold overdosed on antidepressants and killed himself while he was still in jail, although David remembers it as a heart attack.

Arnold’s change of identity is shown through the author’s use of setting. At first, he lives in Wellpinit, an Indian reservation. On the reservation there is violence, poverty, and alcoholism. Arnold does not appreciate where he lives because his “reservation is located approximately one million miles north of [important] and two billion miles west of [happy]” (Alexie 30). Arnold does not like his culture, nor does he like his home. He thinks that his race is far from important and happy. This contributes to his identity crisis. He does not like his identity, but one thing that keeps him from forsaking it, is his