Lullabies for Little Criminals Analysis From a Feminist Perspective

Samantha Peters

ENG4U
July 31, 2017

Baby, the main character in the novel Lullabies for Little Criminals is just a young girl who is
shown to make all the wrong decisions and get herself into many bad situations. The female
characters in the novel are preserved one of two ways, either as the typical women of the
household or as naive and helpless with zero self respect and controlled by men.

From a very young age Baby was taught very untrue lessons about women and the control
they had over their bodies. Her father would tell her thing like if you stayed out after nine and
you were a girl it meant that you wanted to have sex with whoever was passing by. He told me
that if I got raped after nine o'clock the courts would probably say I deserved it.(ONeill, 170).
This and many of the other things that Jules says taught Baby that men had more control over
her body than she did. Jules was always calling Baby names like whore and saying that she
won't accomplish anything good in her life." Youre a goddamn liar and youre a whore... You're
going to be a pervert!... You'll only be fit for drug addicts. Why can't you be a normal girl?... Id
be embarrassed to walk down the street with you (ONeill, 156). These comments had a huge
effect on Baby's confidence and her self esteem and taught her all of the wrong lessons.

Baby was raised in a bad environment and was surrounded by people who set a bad
example for her. She was exposed to thing like drugs and prostitution at a young age and that
affected that way that she viewed them."She reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of
bills. [...] 'I had sex with a man for fifty bucks,'" (ONeill,16). Her friends around her were involved
in these kinds of things so Baby was destined to become a part of them too if she did not have
someone looking out for her. She was also introduced to drugs because of Juless heroin addict.
I was very firm on the idea that I would become a drug addict too now.I didnt care what drugs I
was going to be addicted to. A fool like Oliver could hang out with my dad just because he was
a stoner(ONeill, 72). Baby was neglected by her dad and she thought that the only way to get
his attention was to follow his role and become a drug addict. Because Baby was introduced to
drugs and prostitution at a young age she thought they were just a part of life that she would
participate in eventually. I knew Alphonse was a pimp and that sooner or later I was going to
have to turn a trick (O'Neill, 215). The lessons that Baby was taught and the role models that
she followed made her have zero self respect and confidence and she did not care what
happened to her body.

Men in the story were always shown as more powerful and in control of women. Baby was
always being controlled by men whether it was her pimp, the men that were paying to have sex
with her or even Jules. Alphonse controls Baby, he takes her virginity and then forces her to
have sex with older men.Baby is taken advantage of by a pimp who takes her virginity and then
later forces her to sell her body to older men, When youre young, sex doesnt mean as much,
it isnt sacred. Children make the best prostitutes because theyre the most perfunctory about
the whole encounter. The whole act is like a dare, like kissing a frog or something. (ONeill,
253). He lashes out on her when she does not do thing that he wants and he tells her that he
will kill her multiple times. He told me I was white trash and he slapped me (ONeill, 188) The
men that baby is having sex with control her by using their money to get what they want from
her. These men have no problems with taking advantage of a young girl as some of them know
her age but still pay to have sex with her. I want to have sex with you, Ill give you a hundred
bucks(ONeill, 219). Jules controls Baby but not in the typical way that a parent who is
concerned about their child would, as Jules does not care about Baby or her safety. He uses
her to take his anger out on and blames her for everything. Baby just takes all of the abuse that
she gets from Jules and the other men in her life because she has learned to expect it and
thinks that is the way that men are supposed to treat women.

Alphonse took advantage of the fact that Baby craved attention. She did not have a stable
parent figure in her life. He father being a heroin addict often neglected her and would disappear
for days and her mother died when she was young. She had no one to look out for her and be
there for her and Alphonse took advantage of that he paid attention to her and told her things
likeYou are the prettiest girl on the street. Ill tell you that much. I know because I was walking
around over there and I got bored to death. Just a lot of people not my style (ONeill, 158). He
bought her many gifts like the white socks and the ring. He took care of her so she felt like she
could trust him. But he was only doing all of this so that he could use her, he forced her to have
sex with strangers and give him the money that she made so he could buy heroin.Since I would
be scared to death doing it by myself, I thought he deserved the money (ONeill, 228). Baby
was seeking a parent figure and when Alphonse came along he was able to kind of fill that role
so Baby was willing to do anything that he wanted her to. When Alphonse came into my life, it
strangely felt a little bit like he was a mother figure. Every good pimp is a mother. When
Alphonse spoke to me, his voice always had the same tempo as a lullaby (O'Neill, 186).

The other way that women in Lullabies for Little Children are as the ones who run the
household. They don't work, they cook and clean and take care of the kids. Some examples of
these characters in the novel would be Isabella and Mary. They are the foster mothers that
Baby lives with while Jules is in and out of the hospital and rehab. Even though Baby only lived
with them for short periods of time they both took on motherly/ caregiver roles which Baby was
always looking for. While living with them Baby was actually able to act like a child and she did
not want that to end. When Jules came to pick her up after he got out of the hospital and Baby
and Isabella were saying goodbye she wasnt sure whether I wanted her to let me go (ONeill,
47).

In conclusion this novel did not show women in a positive way.Even though this story is
fiction there are many cases that happen like this in real life which is very sad. After analyzing
the novel from a feminist perspective the female characters are either seen as naive objects that
men can control or as the typical housewife.

References
O'Neill, Heather. Lullabies for Little Criminals: A Novel. New York: Harper Perennial, 2006. Print.