Batgirl #8

[aeka]

After a nice chat with Dinah in the last issue, Barbara decides to confront one of her major issues....and it's not the *story that shall not be named*










I'm not sure I understand what the message here is. Did Barbara's mum think she was already a bad parent prior to James Jr killing the cat? Or did she think it was her fault that James Jr was a sociopath? Also how exactly is leaving your daughter with a son you know is a killing sociopath supposed to "save" her?

Sure, I could buy into Barbara's mum not being in her right mind, but if she was worried about her daughter's safety, surely she would have taken her daughter with her? Also, why exactly did she feel like she herself was a danger to her own daughter? For that matter why did she think she was a bad parent?

I'm back to square one.

Comments

[icon_uk]

He appears to have convinced her that she was the reason he was a monster, which in her fragile state could lead to the logical conclusion that if she WASN'T there, he'd be better. Hence, she left.

She says she was was having a breakdown, so at a guess logic wasn't really high on her list of priorities, it was a reason that made sense TO HER.

[shadowpsykie]

i wish we had a like button....

[jlbarnett]

okay, but why was she in a fragile state at that point. Seriously if she's that mentally fragile...

[darkknightjrk]

Well, if we consider what she went through in Year One, her son was kidnapped as an infant, and she found out that her husband was having an affair with another woman, and his quick rise to Commissioner of this crazy-ass town put a lot of stress on the whole family in general.

[icon_uk]

Flippant answer - She's in Gotham for heavens sake, where everyone is "one bad day" away from complete sociopathy.

More reasonable answer - People have breakdowns, it's a sad fact of life. Pressures of life, particular events, family circumstances, and yes, some people are just that "fragile" from time to time.

[golden_orange]

In addition to what's said above (the crappy experiences in Year One, her husband having an affair, Gotham in general being a pretty crappy place, especially for the wife of the Police Commissioner), I also imagine that raising a son who turned out to be a complete sociopath who obviously liked playing mind games probably didn't do wonders for her mental state either. It can perhaps be reasonably assumed that this wasn't the first time dear little James Jr. liked playing these kinds of tricks on Mommy.

And yeah, some people are pretty mentally fragile to begin with. Sad but true.

[darkknightjrk]

That's a good point--she says herself that she saw signs before, but what James Jr. did to the cat was the final straw that proved it. He'd probably been playing mind games with her since he learned to talk.