The story is a tragic example of the deep damage that can occur in a toxic parent-child relationship when the more normal feelings of mutual affection get distorted into a mirroring of the mutual defenses of numbing and out-of-control acting out.

Who shall I curse that I grew up / believing in my mother’s face / or that I lived in fear of potent darkness / wearing my father’s shape / they have both marked me / with their blind and terrible love / and I am lustful now for my own name.