What this post will explore is the impact of England’s
parenting style on America. There is no good and bad here. All I aim to do is
give reason and meaning to the problematic behaviour and relationships that are
depicted in the series. The characterization is done for a specific purpose;
what I seek to do is bring several parallels to light to prove this.
Horney’s Theory of
Parenting and its Relation to Hetalia:
One of psychologist Karen Horney’s theories explored how
problematic parent-child relationships often result in the child developing
neuroses (mental health complications), such as anxiety or depression.
However, rather than assert all the blame on the parent, she
went on to explain how parents who have been reared in an environment void of
love, care, and affection are typically incapable of raising their kids in any other
manner.
Put another way, parents pass on their neuroses to their
children. You can’t expect someone to consistently provide the care, warmth, and love that
they’ve never experienced and learned themselves. On the other end of the
spectrum, these problematic parent-child-relationships and parenting techniques
are learned and repeated through generation-to-generation. It’s a cyclical
process, that, unless consciously recognized, results in all sorts of emotional
trauma.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that the parents can’t provide this warmth or affection.
What Horney believed to be the Basic Evil of these problematic parenting styles is Parental Indifference, which can also
include a hostile or rejecting attitude of the parents toward the child. This
parental indifference can cause the child to develop feelings of Basic Anxiety or Basic Hostility – both of which, if not attended to, can lead to mental
health issues.
For the purposes of this post, I only need to focus on Basic
Anxiety. Basic Anxiety occurs when the child develops feelings of loneliness
and helplessness in a world that they perceive to be hostile and dangerous.
That said, what I’ll now analyze is how England’s own
upbringing and resulting mental health issues from it were passed down to
America.
Let’s tie this back to the strips.
Loneliness + Black Sheep Syndrome:
England’s isolated upbringing as the Black Sheep of Europe
leads him to unconsciously replicate this isolation in how he raises America.
Since he grew up alone, he doesn’t see a problem in leaving America for long
periods of time. He even admits to America that this is what he had to go
through as a child.
Thing is, while this is normal to England, it’s obviously
an abnormal parenting practice.
The point to stress here is that England is repeating
the problematic parenting styles of his older brothers, who played no part in
raising him. They would send him hexes or drive him away with arrows if he
got too close for their liking.
The parallels of loneliness and helplessness are quite
clear.
Ex: England feels
isolated in Europe, often a result of his hostile attitude toward other nations.
Ex: He feels
helpless when he realizes that everyone has turned against him during the
American Revolution.
The loneliness is most prevalent when England pokes into
America’s business, wanting to bridge the gap in their relationship, but being
too prideful and hostile to get anywhere with this.
Ex: He visits
America to “check up” on Lithuania, who was living with America at the time.
America also fears being alone and experiences feelings of
helplessness. This childhood fear still persists.
Ex: America pokes
his nose into other nations’ business to the detriment of damaging his
relationships with them. As such, he fears being alone and desperately clings
on to the few he’s able to maintain a good relationship with (e.g., Japan).
Inferiority Complexes:
Both feel a compulsion to be the #1 at everything. As I’ll
get into in a moment, this likely stems from low feelings of self-worth and
poor self-esteem. What you’ll also see is that England especially hates coming second
to America.
Ex: England training to become physically stronger.
The
strip this is taken from is titled “England’s plan to be the strongest.”
Hmmm…
Ex: America mass producing and becoming a dominant economic power.
His dethronement of England in becoming the world’s #1
industrial power is not taken well by the latter.
Poor Self-Esteem:
Constantly being ostracized and insulted by other nations
has had a devastating impact on how England views himself.
America also struggles with self-esteem issues, although it
mostly has to do with his weight.
Ex: He refuses to
accept the number on the scale and claims that it’s broken.
Escaping from Reality:
Both cope with the stresses and difficulties of daily life
by hiding in their imaginations.
Ex: America’s
go-to safety mechanism is imagining superheroes to solve his problems.
Notice how England calls out how unrealistic America’s
reality is.
Of course, this is hypocritical given that England escapes
into the world of fantasy and magic when he’s feeling lonely or stressed.
Overall, what I find interesting and would highly recommend that
others look into is how similar England and America experience themselves and
their problems. Personality-wise, they couldn’t be any more different;
mentally, however, they’re quite alike.
Ellawritesficssometimes 