Loss of Innocence in Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill

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Young adults are losing their childhood innocence; replacing it with the world of adulthood. The most reoccurring theme throughout the book, Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill is the loss of innocence. The protagonist named Baby, lives with her father, Jules who is a heroin addict. Jules and Baby are constantly moving to different apartments in Montreal, where Baby is exposed to drugs, juvenile detention and forced into prostitution by her pimp. Baby experiences many obstacles in her life at the age of thirteen because she doesn’t have a father that loves her enough to guide her into the right path of life. Therefore it did not take long for Baby to lose her innocence.
In society, many kids are exposed to drugs at a very young age such as Baby. Since Baby’s father is a heroin addiction, she would always experience Jules under the influence of drugs. Jules influenced Baby the most by exposing her to drugs which made her lose her childhood innocence. “I was very firm on the idea that I would become a drug addict too now. I didn’t care what drug I was going to be addicted too” (O’ Neill 72). Baby does not have any knowledge about drugs. She believes that her knowledge of drugs comes from her father and her father’s friends; majority of them were “junkies”. Jules’ addiction eventually got worse and he began to release his problems by abusing Baby; the relationship between her father and her becomes more distant. She feels that if she tries heroin, she will be able to become closer to her dad. At this point in time Baby is very vulnerable because she’s basically raising herself on her own; her dad is not there for her which leaves Baby with no choice but to let go of her innocence, due to adult temptation.
The l...

... middle of paper ...

...ts to go back to her childhood days, but she continues to ruin her life with situations that she shouldn’t be involved in.

Throughout Baby’s life she has experienced many cases where she has lost her innocence. Baby is young enough to bring her dolls around in a vinyl suitcase, yet old enough to experience more than she should about the world’s hardships. Baby and Jules had a lot of misfortunes in their life, and Baby’s vulnerability contributes to her misfortune, in being unable to differentiate between right and wrong, due to her desire to be loved; which Jules always failed to show her. There are many reasons why young adults feel the need to grow up fast in the adulthood world but in the end it’s not worth it. The childhood stage is overlooked and that’s the most important stage of life that young adults should cherish, because you only live through it once.

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