Not Your Typical Family

Narcissism
As said by www.dictionary.com, narcissism can be defined as, “…Erotic gratification derived from admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, being a normal condition at the infantile level of personality development.” Narcissism is a trait that people may have in which they are infatuated with themselves and have a very proud personality. Other traits include becoming jealous very easily and easily angered. Being denied by someone else can be a form of criticism, which one can also be blatantly criticized. In this event, someone with a narcissistic personality will overreact to this, which may result in uncalled for actions. As a result of criticism the person will also become very angry and humiliated. It is hard for someone with such a strong, confident, and arrogant ego to accept criticism and this leads to exaggerated responses.
People who suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder have many identifiable symptoms. Some of these symptoms include an exaggerated sense of self-importance and a feeling that others are envious of him or her. While the person with NPD feels that others envy their lives or characteristics, he or she will not be empathetic of others’ feelings or will try to put them down. This is exemplified in the 2002 movie, White Oleander in which a mother cares for her daughter with an indulgent parenting style in which she is there for her daughter but puts few limits on her and does not set restrictions. The mother, Ingrid, is an example of someone who has Narcissistic Personality Disorder. She continuously and indirectly puts her daughter down. As a result of criticism, the mother kills a man because she cannot handle the rejection. She puts herself first and believes she is everything perfect and has a lot of pride. Click here (5:40-6:15 in clip) to see how the mother is confident about her work but at the same time puts her daughter down while allowing her daughter to think she was complimented. Then, watch this clip (7:54-end of part 3) and this clip (beginning of part 4-2:05) to see how the mother feels bout the murder and how she again puts her daughter down while accepting complements and priding herself on her thoughts and actions and believing she is right.

http://www.narcissism101.com/Beginning/dsm_iv.html > For more information

Phallic Stage- Effect on a child as a result of the absence of a father
Freud depicted five separate stages of personality development. Beginning in birth continuing to adulthood, people are categorized through time periods of different developments. One stage in particular, called the phallic stage, is centered on the child’s development of admiration for the opposite sex. This is called the Electra complex for women. This stage is developed when the child is from 3 to 6 years of age. Freud explained that women experience ‘castration completed’ which becomes penis envy. It is believe the woman wants to have a penis and therefore gets married and has a son. Often times though, the lack of a father present during this time in the daughter’s life can have a large effect on the feelings the young girl has towards other boys and men. Eventually the child begins to identify with the parent and then begins to desire the other parent.
Resulting from the lack of a parent, a daughter may find difficulties in self-identification and can develop the wrong idea of the role a man plays in her life. The daughter wants a man to be her fatherly figure but will look for it in the correct way. In the movie White Oleander, this is exemplified when the daughter Astrid grows up without a father. After her experience of her mother going to prison, Astrid is sent off to many foster homes. The first one though, Astrid spends a lot of time with the foster father because she is intrigued by his role as a father. Although it begins as innocence, it then leads to Astrid having sexual relations with the man more than once. She is given the wrong idea about his role and now has a misconception about how to receive love from a man that is playing the role of a father. Throughout the film Astrid struggles with her identity and finding the right place a man should fill in her life. Click here (2:50-5:55 and 7:55 -9:44 in clip) to watch a clip from the film in which Astrid interacts with Ray and how she talks about her knowledge of men. Also, click here (:10-:25 in clip) to watch when Astrid struggles with her identity.

For further information, feel free to click on the picture of a video below to watch all of Astrid's relationships that develop because of her mother's narcissistic influence and the absence of a father.