1. psychological determinism: your environment and social conditioning leave an indelible print on your personality that no degree of “free-will” can change or erase. You are a product of forces beyond your control. Also referred to as “naturalism.” Early in the story we see that Uncle Gil has never outgrown the habit of referring to him and his friends as “delinquents,” suggesting he’s never escaped that identity, true or false as it may be.
2. disaffected: the condition of being emotionally withdrawn, reserved in a condition of learned helplessness and cynicism, emotionally unreachable by the wall of defenses that were created long, long ago. We this disaffected quality in Uncle Gil who seems to have no ambitions or lofty aspirations. We can also infer that he has no commitment in his life, including commitment to a woman.
3. Innocent child’s dream of the omniscient parent: Andrea sees his father as “the perfect being, the creator of the sky and the earth.”
4. Sadistic: taking pleasure in meanness, which is to say exacting cruelty upon others, especially the helpless
5. Post-traumatic stress disorder: depression, aggression, violence, and paranoia that results from repeated violent abuse. Sadly, we see that Valerio suffers from this disorder.
6. Rite of passage; a significant event that marks the passing from innocence to initiation; dubious outsider to loyal tribal member; childhood to adulthood; placid passivity to rigorous curiosity (the need to see how the world really works, in Andrea’s case).
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