Johnny would consistantly beat on Anthony, and the mother never tried to prevent that. Once Anthony finally killed Johnny, the mother acted like she didn't care what happen to Anthony, all she seem to care about was that Anthony killed Johnny.
So did the mother love Johnny more than she loved Anthony? If so, was it because Johnny reminded her of her late husband? How did Johnny and Anthony's father die?
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Personally I think the mother had some mental issues going on! I hated the way she always put Johnny before Anthony it was really sad.
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As someone who has grown up in a dysfunctional family, I can say family members are often in denial. They make excuses and even though they want their kids lives to be better than theirs they struggle to still stay close to their own abusers. When this happens the bad habits and family dysfunction continues. I've seen it time and time again in family group therapy and other family support groups. It's very hard for an adult child to stand up to their past and pretty much cut off all family connections so that their own kids can grow up in a healthy environment but sometimes that is your only choice. Trust me I'm speaking from experience here.
It's very clear this mother grew up in similar situations. She likely watched her own mother stand by and do nothing because she felt helpless. I'm sure she swore to herself she'd never do that but she also fought to keep her family together and that included letting an abusive brother remain part of the family. When you stand on sidelines it seems easy to push away the troubled child and protect the one who is getting hurt, but it is not easy at all esp. when you are a mother and your heart is going in two directions.
The real family was low income and poor. Another thing to remember too is lack of mental health care and also the need to admit the family even needed help. As I said this likely happened in her how family and in her parent's families and on down the generation line. She may have felt ashamed to even admit her own little family turned out bad
So as easy as it is to blame the mother, believe me, I want to scream in her face to wake up and see what is happening, she too has her own struggles that blind her to see it.