Free Will In Mary Gaitskill's Tiny Smiling Daddy

Is there truly free will, or is it the combination of choices that creates one’s fate? In Mary Gaitskill’s “Tiny Smiling Daddy,” we follow the main protagonist, Stew, through his thought process before, during, and after reading an article his daughter wrote about him. Stew and his daughter, Kitty, were estranged; they have a broken relationship. In this story, Stew places Kitty and those close to him into pre-defined “boxes,” causing conflict. While it might seem that Stew placed others into rigid roles as if he were a homophobic dictator, yet the lasting effects of his father’s emotional abuse, his wife’s distant attitude, and Kitty’s metamorphosis into something he despises breaks the picture of his perfect family. Therefor Stew uses control
Stew tried and failed to escape this path. In Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, Bryan explores the effect of unsatisfactory households on the future lives of children. Antonio Nunez lived in South Los Angeles, an area filled with crime. After living through his brother’s murder and rough treatment from the police, Antonio was convinced by two older men to commit a crime, leading to Antonio’s arrest for “attempted murder” (Stevenson 156). Antonio’s rough childhood led to him following the cycle of abuse. Because he was exposed to numerous crimes and harsh treatment when he was young, Antonio was coerced into committing a crime. Stew also followed this pattern; Stew was abused and grew to hurt his own daughter. He unknowingly became what he strived to avoid: an abusive father and
However, no one can completely change someone’s innate being. In Jennifer Ouellette’s book Me, Myself, and Why A peculiar case of sense of self is analyzed. David Reimer was a child that had a failed circumcision leading to the removal of his penis. The doctors recommended a sex reassignment surgery including hormone supplements to turn David into Brenda. However, “Brenda” rejected all feminine activities and continued to display boyish activities (Ouellette 187). Kitty too rejected the gender role thrust upon her by Stew. She was a lesbian, not Stew’s stereotypically perfect, heterosexual little princess. This illustrates that Stew’s expectations for his family would never be fulfilled. The roles he designated for those around him did not keep his family “perfect,” they only destroyed his relationships with his wife and