Lullabies For Little Criminals Summary

“Lullabies For Little Criminals” is an award-winning novel by the Canadian novelist, poet, short story writer, screenwriter and journalist Heather O’Neill. The book won the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Governor General's Award. Born in Montreal, Heather O’Neill grew up with divorced parents, and is now a single-parent to her daughter. The story is centered on the twelve year old protagonist, Baby, who lives and moves frequently with her young heroin-addicted father, Jules, around the province of Montreal. Baby was born while Jules was in high school with her mother, who died soon after Baby was born. As the plot unwinds, the reader learns about the challenging life that Baby

lives, and follows her path of growth and maturity.

The primary climax of the novel occurs when Baby meets an older guy that she likes, called Alphonse.

Although this may have seemed like a wonderful event for Baby, Alphonse was unfortunately a bad influence for Baby. Teaching her to steal, to consume drugs and alcohol, and introducing her to prostitution, it can be said that he stole her innocence, however, giving more depth and excitement to the plot of the novel. Prior to meeting Alphonse, Baby spent her time away from Jules, who often left her from a week to over a month at a time, with delinquent kids at the Community Centre, or just by herself and her dolls. She often found herself wandering the rural streets of Montreal alone. Everytime Jules leaves, Baby gets up to something interesting, whether it be a good or bad thing, creating many subplots in the novel. When Jules is sick with Tuberculosis, Baby is sent into a foster home by Child Protective Services, where she makes friends with other kids her age. Many weeks later, Jules recovers and promises her that everything will be okay, but Baby was too naive to believe that everything was actually going to be normal again. Despite of her young age of only 12 years, Baby is as pure as the colour white, but at the same time, she is very mature, and takes care of her dad, especially when he is high on heroin. No matter how much Jules would hurt her due to his addictions, Baby would still love him unconditionally. It is then that Baby runs away from home and encounters a

pimp in her neighbourhood, Alphonse.

Due to the fact that Alphonse teaches Baby to use drugs, Jules soon finds out about them being together, and without explaining the reason to Baby, he kicks her out and send her to their Juvenile Detention Centre. After being freed from Detention, Baby develops and intimate relationship with Baby, taking her virginity and introduces her to prostitution, forcefully. When Jules locks out Baby permanently from their home, Baby lives with Alphonse and becomes addicted to heroin. At school, Baby meets a nerdy boy, Xavier, who she slowly falls in love with. They become very intimate, and Baby realizes that the love she has for Xavier is totally different from that for Alphonse, that her love for Xavier was real. Alphonse strongly disagrees with their relationship and insists that Baby should not hangout with Xavier, beating him up and telling him to leave Baby alone, but shortly after, Alphonse dies of a drug overdose. With no one by her side, Baby goes on the lookout for her dad. She finds him at a local homeless shelter and finds that he had completely changed since they parted from one another. - He now seemed like a real father, concerned for Baby's nutrition and health, once he learned that his daughter was starving. The father and daughter relocate their love for each other, but sadly, Jules tells Baby that she is to stay with his cousin who lives outside of Montreal. On the way there, he explains to Baby somethine he had never revealed… The death of her mother. After years of telling Baby nonsense stories, Jules explains that Bab`s mother had died in a car crash, when Jules was driving and a drunk driver hit them.
Throughout the first half of the story, the reader is presented with the complete naivety of Baby and her pureness.

Nonetheless, this quickly changes when she meets a pimp named Alphonse, thus illustrating the theme of the Loss of Innocence. Baby no longer dragged around her suitcase filled with dolls, and “little-girl things”. She was now experienced with drugs and alcohol, and has been having sexual interactions with strangers for money. It could be possible that Baby would not have taken this wrong path if she had a better caring father, or if her mother hadn’t passed away. According to Psychology Attachment theories, specifically that of John Bowlby, initial relationships with parents, especially with the mother, is crucial for child development. He states that “What cannot be communicated to the [m]other cannot be communicated to the self.” Since Baby lost her mother when she was a Baby, her entire childhood was altered due to the lack of mother-love, and support. This absence of good parenting guidance is one of the main factors to Baby’s poor decisions. Despite baby’s increase in maturity and loss of purity, she still has moments where she does not be the cool girl. Sometimes, she would rather be playing with dolls and reading books, but Alphonse forces her to continue what she has gotten herself into. Baby, herself, was aware of “growing up” too fast, which was shown when she stated:“Becoming a child again is what is impossible. That's what you have a legitimate

reason to be upset over. Childhood is the most valuable thing that's taken away from you in life, if you think about it.” (p 77) She missed being a kid, and doing kid things, being a little crazy… She was excited at first to be so attractive to older men, but she quickly realizes that what she really wanted, was simply the love of her father, and to be a true child again.

Although I fully enjoyed reading the whole story, my favourite part of the novel is the end. I love the ending because it is when Baby is reunited with Jules, and her awful influence, Alphonse, is removed from her life. Despite the ending being very open ended, leaving the reader to decide what happens, I could sense that it was a happy ending. Baby gets to live with her dad’s cousin, away from the community filled with drug-addicts and people who will lead her onto the wrong path. The very last line of the book, “her green winter jacket smelled like rain” (p 330) was very short, but very meaningful. The colour green is representative of life, renewal, nature, growth, harmony, freshness, and safety. Rain can also symbolize rebirth. Both these elements combined may suggest a new beginning for Baby, something that relieves a stressed part of me that existed throughout the entire story.

Overall, this was a touching and very shocking novel to read. It was heartbreaking to read and imagine how Baby would have felt in her situation, living with a drug addict father, without a mother, and having to lose her virginity at such a young age. It is not possible for me to put myself in Baby’s shoes - I would lose my mind if I had to live such a tough life without a mother and a father like Jules. It must have taken a ton of courage to overcome all the difficulties Baby has gone through, and that truly touched me as I read the story. Despite her innocent tone of voice, Baby is such a strong little girl. She may have taken a wrong step in her life, but she hasn’t gone too far to go back. The end of the novel does not give many details on what happens when Baby stays with Jules’ cousin, away from the “bad people”, but I hope that she regains her true self, and lives the rest of her life healthily, and happily.