Gabriel Johnson - Elizabeth's 45 pages of letters

[gitana1]

Gitana-

I was just rereading her letters myself. Elizabeth's writings about her mother don't really track reality. Her mother was an alcoholic, in trouble with the law, and in fact used the alias "Jones" as EJ did in SA. I think her foster care placements in Boston were while her mother was still alive because she moved to AZ after her death. IMO, Elizabeth has tried to deal with her mother's alcohol issues by re-characterizing neglect as indulgent affection. I can imagine how confused and conflicted she was about her role as a mother when Gabriel was born.

btw- EJ's mother drowned when Elizabeth was 12 and she used to lie about that. Instead of telling a true (and very sad) story, she told people her mother had been gunned down on the street in front of her and her twin.

moo

I see your point! But I think both could have occurred - indulgent affection (or spoiling the heck out of her) and precarious neglect. In fact, from experiences I have had with family law child custody evaluations, that is the type of thing that can make a kid go insane. Usually, though, the dichotomy occurs via two parents - one who treats the child like a superstar gem and the other who treats the child like a pariah who needs to be constantly punished.

Let me re-word that - in the cases I have seen (which are all divorce or paternity cases), the dichotomy comes from two parents. But I can easily see how an alcoholic or a mentally ill parent can exhibit the same dichotomy within their own parenting.

So, if EJ's mom alternately fawned over her kids and told them and everyone else how wonderful they were and that they could do no wrong and then neglected the heck out of them, or even abused them (kind of how I see cindy anthony's parenting techniques), it could have resulted in what we see today. A sociopathic nut.