Deconstructing Odyssey: A Child's Perspective of the Spanking Episode

I've talked about the infamous spanking episode a lot, and I'm not done because there is so much to unpack with such a simple premise. Evangelicals often refuse to see the perspective of the other, especially the perspective of a child, simply because they believe they're always right. I'm going to give some perspective into what 8 year old Monty Whittaker was likely thinking regarding the situation he was placed in and why a child's perspective matters so much.

You're an 8 year old child and you're obviously close with your mother. You're on the introverted side as new people can be scary and uncomfortable for you so you don't really open up until you get to know new people better. You find it uncomfortable when people force themselves on you so you tend to politely withdraw when that happens. Your parents are divorced and that's already creating trust issues, so it's a big shock when you find out you're staying with your stingy, militantly conservative obnoxiously religious grandfather you haven't seen for 3 years, for 8 weeks in a town miles from what you know and the drama's just getting started.

You lose your months worth of spending money mom gave you after doing a very typical kid thing, forgetting your jacket, so you have no resources financially when you land in this odd little town of religious fanaticism. You brought your special interest, movies, with you, to provide some comfort in this strange venture, and you see this old zealot grandfather you've been away from since you were 5, talking fairly intimately with this stranger, this old man with a hick accent, you know new people stress you out so you mentally prepare for the inevitable forced interaction with this creepy looking hillbilly friend of grandpa. Grandpa sees you and warmly hugs you, but then the hillbilly man starts forcing himself on you, pushing conversation about baseball, something you have no interest in, you're a movie buff right?

You politely greet this hillbilly man but you give the non verbal indication that this is too much, that this person is treading too close without your consent, and the hillbilly man and your grandfather are offended by this, your honestly clashes with their out of date "values" that you must kowtow to any old white religious man in your life. They both start to think of you as rude, when you were just politely setting a boundary for space, and as you get in the car, these two old men are totally offended that you aren't into sports like a "typical" Christian white boy ought to be, but gasp...you love the arts, film and oh no...creativity. They belittle you for your interests, try to force baseball on you, and grandpa makes it very clear there will be no movies at his house, so your special interest won't be able to provide much safety netting for you in this environment.

You arrive at grandpas home, your mom probably communicated to him beforehand that you're not into frozen pizza, but he just makes that anyways because gotta eat what the white man serves you even if you hate it, and then there's the brownies. Grandpa offers them to you, but fails to communicate a limit on how many. You're a child, you thrive on clear and literal communication, so you assume there's no limit as you weren't told otherwise. Grandpa whit starts to throw a fit at you for eating too many, but he didn't provide a specific limit to begin with so you're confused. You're not being rude, you're just trying to get answers and work out compromise, but this man is so stubborn and angry that he sends you to your room for the night over a basic question,

"Can I have one more before I go upstairs to rest?"

He's offended by this, how dare you ask a question, it's his way or the highway even though it was HIS communication that was poor in the first place. You go upstairs though, and turn on some music to relax and shrug it off, but grandpa starts screaming at you to turn it down, even though to you, it's not that loud. He's angry, he's in your face, and he's only adding fuel to the fire, a fire HE started. He then starts yelling at you for losing your spending money and shames your mother for providing it in the first place, you should be completely dependent on this white man, you're a kid, he wants you under his thumb as a power trip because autonomy is threatening for him. He has millions upon millions to give, but he's stingy and refuses to share a lick with you after you lost your 100$ for 2 months of your stay here. He wants you to do whatever he wants whenever he wants, and when you ask any basic questions, he gets offended and shuts you down. You have no voice here.

The next day, you call your mom to tell her to get you, this man is out of line, and she says she's busy with work so you're stuck there. Grandpa whit tells you he'll give you minimum wage if you work in his back room of his restaurant for him, and you're a kid, what? To you, you're not free labor. This feels so unfair and you react impulsively because you're a kid, you're going to do stupid things sometimes, especially when you're frustrated that you aren't being heard. It's wrong to steal, but you feel there's no choice now, he's denying you basic resources, shutting you down any time you ask basic questions, refuses to provide clear instructions, so you take matters into your own hands and take money out of the register because you don't know when you'll have autonomy again. Yes this is wrong to do, but you're scared and confused, you're a kid, how are you supposed to know how to regulate emotions when you aren't allowed to express them?

The man you call grandpa finds out and slaps you aggressively with a belt, and then gaslights you. He tries to convince you that this is what his God told him to do, he manipulates you with a story about a kid who's puppy got hit by a truck because it was off leash, he's trying to coat his abuse as "love" but it's not love, it's hate, it's control, it's cruelty, but you're broken now, your spirit is broken. You feel your personality shrink, you have to hide your true self, you have to be what he wants, that's how you'll survive these 8 weeks, you have no choice, you're too afraid and weak to stand up for yourself anymore. You are a shell of your former self, you discard your special interest in film to please this zealot, you give in and join the baseball team to please him, and the hillbilly who coaches it, you're a robot, and your real self is buried in this mask now, because someone who was supposed to care for you assaulted you, in the name of his God. It's no wonder your mom is terrified when she sees you in this state after she finally gets to your rescue.

This is the harm of corporal punishment, it's abuse.