Being the careless, selfish and ignorant individuals they were, they both drank irresponsibly and were never around family. Bret states, "My father created me, criticized me, destroyed me" (Ellis 8). With time, Bret came to the realization he was exactly like his father. This led him to feel frightful and defeated. He felt as though his self worth and confidence was not good enough to escape his condemned fate. Psychologically speaking, Bret is not to blame for his outcome. He was only practicing and performing the attributes his father taught him. .
Freud stated that in self-defense of their Oedipus complex, children develop an influential conscience called the superego (Berger 272). The superego's goal is to apply values, morals and standards of one's parents. At an early age, a child develops a superego through interactions with the parents. This happens by pursuing the parents' standards, values, and rules. If the child does not see the love returned to them by their parents, they being to suffer. Typically, when a parent is neglectful, a child could rebel and could potentially have a hard time understanding the factors of a relationship that allow it to flourish. Adults who were maltreated in childhood often use drugs or alcohol to numb their emotions; they often enter unsupportive relationships as the victims or aggressors, sabotage their own careers and engage in self-destructive behavior. (Berger 225). This statement connects with Bret and his father. Because Bret's father mistreated him, it led him in the wrong direction, such as drugs and alcohol. Also, the mistreatment caused by Bret's father led him to become an unsupportive partner. Bret mentions at the end of the novel that he did not want any explanations for why his life was the way it was. The author reveals Bret's failures to him when he says, "your love was a mask, the scale of your lies, the irresponsible adult at loose, all the things you hid, the mindless pull of sex, the father who never paid attention" (Ellis 386).