The place in which we grow up can have a drastic effect on our personalities, moral and values, and even our future. Some may even say the circumstances in which we grow up shape who we are as people. Whilst reading "Lullabies for Little Criminals" by Heather O'Neill, I noticed the importance of the setting within the novel and how the author used the setting to her advantage to add to the books plot, character development and foreshadowing events.
The story is narrated by Baby, a 13 year old girl who lives with her 26 year old drug addicted father Jules. Jules does not have a solid job and often leaves Baby at home by herself for days. Baby spends most of her childhood in the streets of Montreal moving from apartment to apartment, occasionally spending time in foster homes. Eventually Baby falls in the hands of a local pimp, as the line between childhood and adulthood begins to blur. The novel follows nieve Baby as she has a moral dilemma of what path she would like to follow.
The setting of this story is in a very run down area of Montreal, with lots of bad kids around to negatively influence Baby. Jules also brings his drug addict friends around often, so Baby has never had a “normal” parental figure around to raise her. Growing up in such a bad area has made Baby immune to the street life. Parents doing heroin and being abusive is something that becomes normalized to her. Within the book, she often talks very casually about situations that are unusual. For example, when Jules goes away for a few days, Baby says “That whole weekend I missed waking up to Jules screaming at the radio. ‘Play another song motherfucker!’ he would scream at the announcer.” (O’Neill 142). It quite inappropriate for a parent to be screaming cuss words at a radio in the presence of a 12 year old, however this is something that Baby is used to. Since these type of actions are normal to Baby, this foreshadows how she may act out in the future.
In the beginning of the book, Baby is in foster care with a very nice family in a much nicer neighbourhood. In this period of time she starts to get on the right path and is able to rightfully act like a kid. However right when she moves back with her father, she begins hanging around the wrong people and making the wrong decisions. She is even a lot happier in the foster home as she has a proper parental figure around. When Baby leaves the foster home she says “The nights at Isabelle's house were very quiet. I could really fall into a deep sleep because I knew i would be able to sleep until the morning.” (O’Neill 47). This shows how much happier she is living in a proper home. She is less stressed out which would causes her to not want to act out. In the neighbourhood she is from there are so many temptations and pressure put in front of her such as drugs and prostitution, that she eventually gives into as she was bound to from the beginning. Her environment/setting really influences how she acts and what choices she makes as she is very impressionable as a young preteen.
If I were put in Baby’s neighbourhood, it would be very hard to adapt. I, as a teenager, would most likely feel a lot of pressure from kids around me to make bad decisions. As a result of this I probably wouldn't make many friends and I would feel very stressed out. In general I would not be able to adapt very well, coming from a relatively safe neighbourhood. Baby’s circumstances are very unfortunate, and the setting she lives in negatively affects how she acts, feels, and what choices she makes as it would anyone.
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