I dunno about what you said about Blanche. In this chapter he didn't seem to have any problem with her, he even danced with her. I'll trust what he said himself, he distanced himself from her to make her grow some backbone. Which is stupid, but people can be bad at parenting, my father had some scard and I was such a crybaby, he saw himself in me and was really scared I would become like him. He wanted to teach me how to fight back by putting me under pressure and even use violence to make me stop crying. I was 6years old. Pretty bad parenting. But that's just him being ignorant of a childs developpement. Since ML was surprised when Blanche was courageous and said "did she have a predisposition for that?" I think he is as ignorant as my father. No, she didn't have a predisposition, you don't need to have a predisposition, you need an adult that believes in you, and here, that's Abi
I totally get your point and i’m sorry your father put you through that. I wasnt trying to excuse his behavior towards his daughter bc of what he was put through, she does not deserve any of that. I just wanted to point out that his behavior to her is sadly common from parents who are raising their SA kid. He definitely deserves to be criticized on his parenting skills because him being absent and strict is greatly damaging her. I hope throughout the chapters that he self reflects and raise his daughter with proper care and attention that she needs.
Oh, there seem to be a misunderstanding. I'm not blaming you for trying to justify his actions, I simply disagree. I see your point too, what I meant is that to me, the ML thinks he is being a good father. I believe he sincerely thinks he made the best choice for his kid, his trauma might have played apart, but it doesn't feel like so atm. He might have more affection for blanche than we think. That's why I thought that the right justification for his behaviour is that he is ignorant about how you should raise a kid.
Both our experience seems to influence the way we interpret his actions.
I also hope he will self reflect and get better at parenting, now that the new Abi is here, she will probably have to teach him a lot lol
As someone who went through SA as a kid, i know exactly how the king feels. I also hate physical contact; I've had my own mom tell me that she felt like she was walking on eggshells around me and i had an ex-friend tell me that they felt unwanted when I avoided their touch. Ofc, they don’t know what Ive been through since i never told them what happened to me, so their reaction is understandable from their point of view.
The king probably never told anyone that his kid was through rape and that he suffers ptsd bc of it. His reactions is very realistic, especially from someone who probably never went to therapy or been counseled. Being AS as a kid is absolutely traumatizing, pushing people away is just a defense mechanism he picked up to protect himself.
Ofc, that isn't an excuse to treat his daughter and the FL like that. Hi daughter did nothing wrong but exist but her existence is a constant reminder of what happened to him. He seems to understand that his reactions is hurting people around him and he’s trying to fix that. Its a slow and painful process and it takes even more courage to tell others what he’s been through.