An Unstable Enviroment

In the novel, The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson portrays a united family distorted from normalcy.   The children Annie and Buster grow up in an unstable and exploited environment, which guides them to make unethical choices.  The parents, Caleb and Camille, ultimately corrupt their children’s adulthood through their depiction of “art,” which makes them lose their identity and make immoral choices.

As Annie grows older, she decides to pursue acting but hates it.  When Annie and Buster were growing up, Caleb and Camille would force them to enter beauty pageants and consider it “art.”  Caleb and Camille would mock their children’s performance and embarrass them on stage.  So when Annie pursues acting, she looks for others to make decisions for her; “If Lucky had told her to take her top off she would not have questioned it.”  Annie was misguided by her parents, which forced her to turn to others to make decisions for her, although these decisions aren’t always in her best interest.  Ultimately this shows that Annie has lost her identity.  Annie isn’t the innocent abiding child she once was; she has grown into an indecisive woman searching for guidance. 

            In addition, Buster makes multiple immoral choices in his adulthood, which is caused by his chaotic childhood and his parent’s depiction of “art.”  When Buster travels to Nebraska to interview ex-solders, his trip quickly escalates into a life or death situation.  He decides to let a man shoot a beer can off his head; this decision is influenced by his distorted childhood.  He cannot distinguish between safe and harmful because he was taught to accept everything Caleb and Camille asked him to do.   Like Annie, Buster lusts for chaos, which causes him to make unethical choices.

            Throughout the novel, Annie and Buster are characterized by their chaotic choices that were molded from their childhood.  Caleb and Camille constantly force, embarrass, and insult their children in an unstable environment, misguiding the children as they grow into adulthood.  Wilson illustrates the importance of a stable childhood and an environment because that can ultimately shape their future.  Caleb and Camille’s obsession with their “art” seems to take a negative toil on their children.  Annie struggles to find her identity while Buster makes unethical choices.  How would they have been had they grown up in a constructive environment and had affirmative guidance?