In the absence of human companionship, children are exposed to all kinds of trauma and repression, eventually leading them to face reality in harmful. It is crucial, especially during adolescence, that children live in a warm and loving home so that they can manage their emotional relationships in the future. Imagine not having your mother as much of your childhood as you would have liked. She may be there physically, but she is not there mentally, thus showing no emotional support. You don't know why she's never here, all you feel is her absence. This might seem a little uncomfortable and tragic, to say the least. Having both parents in your childhood is essential for growing up without repressions or childhood trauma. As a society, we often think that a mother's influence on her daughters and a father's influence on his sons are sufficient because they impart masculinity and femininity to each child. However, socially and historically, a son does indeed need the same degree of exposure and influence from his mother as he does from a daughter. The absence of a mother for a son can be just as detrimental to his future as the absence of his father. The book Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood was published in 2003, but the futuristic feel of the book suggests that it is set in a realm that has not yet been seen. The story begins with Snowman living in a post-apocalyptic world populated by genetically modified humanoids called Crackers. Although it seems that Snowman managed to survive such a catastrophe, he is exposed to extreme loneliness. Throughout Snowman's daily existence, we learn about his childhood through his flashbacks. As a child, his name was Jimmy, which he eventually changed to Snowman. His dysfunctional family caused him to internalize the trauma he faced due to his parents' constant bickering, thus leading to his repressed emotions. Due to this deep attachment to his childhood, he considers himself a victim of his past. Jimmy seeks to end his lack of a strong relationship with his mother by indulging in his sexual addiction and violence. In her science fiction novel, Atwood explores the dynamics of the state of human relationships, extinction and evolution, corporate power and commodification, and much more. The repression of his mother's absence in his childhood pushes Jimmy to fill the void by giving in to his porn addiction and forming fragile relationships with others. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In Atwood's novel Oryx and Crake, readers follow Jimmy throughout his life. Jimmy was raised by a very neglectful father who was too busy with his work and never took any time from him and by a mother who was not mentally stable. Jimmy was not being supervised at all and this becomes evident when he burns his hair. This act would upset most parents, but fortunately for Jimmy, it only caused an argument between his mother and father. Atwood writes: “Once the fight began, Jimmy felt relieved, because then he knew he would not be punished. All he had to do was say nothing and pretty soon they would forget why they started arguing” (Atwood 16). This quote describes the commonality of Jimmy's parents' struggles and his immunity to them. Fights happened so often that the reason for the argument was forgotten. This is just one of many borderline violent tendencies that Jimmy's parents displayed. During theJimmy's early years, both his parents worked a lot. However, as he grew older, his mother stayed home more often. Jimmy's mother tries to make him believe that she stopped working to spend more time with him. However, Jimmy does not believe this to be true as she is often irritated with him and does not seem interested. Jimmy's mother is constantly irritated with the world and forgets to show affection towards her own son. In a study by Brigid Schulte, she states that these tendencies manifest when parents are depressed or suffer from substance abuse. Coincidentally, Jimmy's mother does both. At one point in Jimmy's life, he had a nanny named Dolores who he greatly admired because of the affection she had for him. She made him feel like he was her son, but left when Jimmy's mother came home, putting Jimmy back in his unhealthy situation. It didn't take long for Jimmy to become a positive, loving influence and, seeing the lack in his own family, he began to think about what a mother could be like. Jimmy described his relationship with his mother as "porcelain" due to her efforts to be a "real" mother to him. Occasionally she was "dressed neatly, her lipstick smile echoing the jelly smile on the sandwich, and she was all sparkling attention, to him and his silly stories." The Uncanny psychologist Sigmund Freud states that childhood memories and experiences influence how they express themselves as adults. The Uncanny is primarily interested in the links between childhood development and artistic expression, the consequences of emotional repression, and the mechanisms for preventing children from knowing too much that could affect them later. Freud's theory suggests that anxiety arises from repressed impulses, concluding: "Every emotional affect transformed by repression into morbid anxiety." Therefore, "such cases of anxiety must exist a class in which the anxiety can be shown to arise from something repressed coming back." . Anxiety is likely to arise when one notices their impulse and tries to suppress it. Freud believes that the uncanny occurs when something that, as if repressed, often reveals itself in the course of everyday life. For Jimmy's life, as he enters college, we see how his unstable environment at home has affected him thus far. As Jimmy attempts to repress his childhood emotions and memories, this only makes things worse, leading him to "roll a few joints and smoke while watching executions and porn" (Atwood 196). Jimmy clearly becomes much more rebellious during his teenage years. From a young age, Jimmy became addicted to obscene content on the Internet such as executions, pornography, and animal cruelty. His relationship with the woman quickly soured because he lacked the foundation for a healthy relationship. During his college years, he had very few girlfriends and the ones he did have were treated quite horribly. Rebellious behavior that prevents one from maintaining meaningful, stable relationships is a clear indicator of irresponsible parenting. We can see the effect this had on Jimmy's life as he "no longer thought of women as girlfriends: now they were lovers." They were all married or equivalent, looking for an opportunity to sneak up on their husbands... to prove that they were still young or to get revenge. Or they were hurt and wanted comfort. » Jimmy's indifferent parents are a perfect way to rationalize his angry behavior. A study conducted by the..