Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris Book Analysis Essay

The concept of home is one shared by humans throughout the world, whether it’s constantly changing or stable and calm, one's first home will play an important part in the development of your character in its entirety. This is evident in B.A Paris’s novel Behind Closed Doors where Jack, the main antagonist of the novel is negatively influenced by his “home”, specifically the experiences he collects from it. As a child, Jack lived in an abusive household, where his father cruelly abused his mother and detained her in a basement. As a result of his mother being unable to defend herself and him from being subjected to such aggression Jack grew resentful towards his mother and her displays of weakness.  A home is a place of experience, and emotional haven, where many find comfort in their home, other’s are drowned in inescapable fear and terror, and just as it is human nature and instinct to learn as one grows, the same is true for past experiences, seeing as we learn just as much in the present as we do from the past.

The state of Jack’s home leads him to a crossroad, as he is only a child at the time, an impressionable child at that, with no secure guidance or positive influence in his life, he is left with a choice to make, continue to suffer as a victim, or assume a position of power. The resentment he holds for his mother binds his conscience and fuels his rage, from that moment forward, Jack as well as the father proceed to torture the mother mentally and physically. Jack finds himself addicted to the role he’s taken over, to standing at the peak of “power” in his “home”, eventually that addiction runs its course and leads to Jack murdering his mother, and placing blame on his father. With his father being sent to prison Jack finds himself torn from the catalyst of “experiences” in his young life, unfortunately even with the removal of Jack from his home, he is not free from his “experiences” Jack finds himself overcome with numbness, and as he has grown older, he’s never forgotten those experiences from his “home”, they are a constant reminder, a familiar experience, a solution to the growing problems he finds himself in. In time Jack becomes a lawyer, a very high status, and rich one at that, one that specializes in domestic violence and abuse cases, specifically that concerning women victims. This profession is a direct result of Jacks connection to his “home”, the only true happiness and excitement he explicitly experiences is that of his mother’s brutalized face and body, the look of fear and terror forever plastered on her face, the realization of the type of reaction he could install in a person.

Jack is continuously influenced by these experiences not only because they are among the first experiences of happiness and excitement he posses in a very violent household, but also because he cannot move past them, this can be seen in how he installs a basement exactly like that of his old “home”, a basement that locks from the outside giving him a sealed room to which he can feed off the fear of his chosen victim. something that would be considered traumatic to many, was an abundance of excitement and pure ecstasy to Jack, which is the bane of all Jack’s decisions and motives, he is hinged to whatever would allow him to experience that feeling again, what position could gain him this satisfaction? Turns out being a rich, popular, beloved defender of women has its perk in his situation.

Jack’s idea of home is a direct contrast to that of Angel, his wife, the protagonist, and a victim of his “excitement”. Where Jack seems to be unable to remove himself from his past “home”, Angel sets her gaze towards the future, she’s learned from the past, but she does not seek to mimic it, instead, she strives for better, where Jack strives for simple self-enjoyment. This principle of conflict is built upon both characters upbringings and actions, where Angel was brought up with an extremely close relationship with her sister, Millie, who happens to be autistic, Jack had no such relationships, Angel grew up with a loving family, and with a desire to take care of her sister, to the point of basing who she would date on Millies Compatability entirely, a very unselfish, but expected action based of Angel's relationship with her sister. The differences of “home” and experiences each character posses all play an important part in displaying the theme of fear throughout the novel, how each character uses it or is used by fear. A prime example of this being Jack, who once feared his father and loved his mother, but encountered a deep sense of realization that he enjoyed the beatings and craved the sense of dread and fear he could collect from her, this loss of innocence turns his psyche into that of a psychopath who then follows whatever course can indulge his selfish desire to install a dominating fear.

In Behind Closed Doors the importance of home is found in the experiences, and the character’s response and ability towards them. For better or for worse, presence or absence, home is the most crucial point of reference. It holds influence over memories, feelings, and imagination. It is the base for a person’s story, their narrative, how they understand and react to the world. It is a series of experiences that will determine whether they find growth within themselves or find themselves hindered, or rather if they find peace with the past and look for a brighter future or are stuck in the past unable to move forward.