What this post will explore
is the impact of Austria’s and Hungary’s parenting style on Italy. 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 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 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.

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 Austria’s and Hungary’s upbringings were passed down to Italy.

Let’s tie this back to the
strips.

Austria and Italy: Intergenerational Helplessness 

As expected, having had to
fight for their autonomy to prevent themselves from being conquered caused
most of the nations to have rough childhoods. The world of war is full of
uncertainties, fears, and insecurities. Of course, Austria was no exception and
had to experience this too. However, rather than fighting, he attained his
security through many alliances and marriages (e.g., the Swiss-Austro
partnership and the Austro-Hungarian empire).

Nonetheless, Austria did
experience a total loss of control as a child [many times].

Ex: He lost several battles to Hungary [x].

This total loss of control is
later inflicted onto those who Austria conquers. Again, I’m not attempting to
justify any of the following behaviours. What I hope to do is provide insight
into the reasoning behind these behaviours. I should also mention that there
are a lot of grey areas in the manga; to depict the scenarios as black and
white doesn’t do the series and characters any favors.

What’s important is that
these behaviours have been wrongly normalized as the ways in which nations
function and interact with each other. It’s a cycle that’s repeated.

When Austria first assumes
control over Italy, he makes him the equivalent of a servant. As such, Italy
loses total control over his political affairs [x].

It’s a harsh world where
deviance [rebellion] is strictly prohibited. The punishments are respectively
just as strict and harsh—this would entail the hostility component of Horney’s
theory.

Of course, this doesn’t mean
that Austria wasn’t only hostile with Italy. They shared several fond moments
together and were considered to be a family unit. 

What would matter to Horney
is how Austria’s inconsistent parenting style of being a simultaneous source of
love and affection and a hostile enemy to be feared affects Italy’s mental
health later in life.

Italy’s helplessness in
adulthood is most seen in his clinginess, stemming from his desire to seek
safety and security from the world that has consistently proven to be dangerous
to him. First, Rome died and Italy was conquered by Austria. Flash forward to
WW1 and he’s once again in the hostile, unpredictable, and insecure world of
war.

So, what does Italy do?

He seeks safety.

With who?

Germany, his enemy at the
time.

When taken as a prisoner of
war by Germany, Italy doesn’t attempt to escape, even when provided with the opportunity
to. How I’ve interpreted this before is that Italy does this to seek security.
He explicitly states this too. Even as a POW, he still has a roof over his
head, can sleep without worrying about being attacked, and can expect to be
fed.

On the other hand, war isn’t
the only sphere in which Italy feels helpless. Corruption and the tyranny of
the mafia have once again rendered him void of total control over his political
affairs. I would even go so far as to say that he’s adopted a sense of learned
helplessness.

Learned helplessness occurs
when a being recognizes the inevitability of their negative situation. The result
is that they don’t attempt to escape from this situation but instead cope with
it.

A prime example of this would
be when Italy has his car and wallet stolen from him. Rather than calling the
police, he goes to Germany for help. The fact that it’s Germany and not Italy
who reports to the police implies a conscious recognition on Italy’s part of
their inability to do anything about the event [x].

In other words, being stolen
from is something that Italy’s normalized.

Italy and Hungary: Intergenerational Trust

Hungary, having been reared
in a more supportive environment, doesn’t pass down neuroses to Italy, unlike
Austria. 

Instead, Hungary passes down the ability to trust in others. She had the
rare privilege of growing up with a parent figure. Magyar raised her to be just
like him [x]. 

Point is, this ability to love and care unconditionally is replicated
in Hungary’s treatment of Italy.

The cycle repeats as Italy learns
from Hungary that even in the most hostile of environments, trust can still be
established with other nations. This trust is often excessive and nonsensical
at times, as Italy forgives quickly and will openly befriend enemies.

Ex: Italy is noted to be a
nation that doesn’t hold grudges. He hugs Austria despite having recently
fought a naval battle against him.

Ex: Italy fondly refers to
France as “oni-chan” when they both get shipwrecked during WW2.

In sum, when looking at Italy
from this perspective, it’s easy to see how Austria and Hungary have influenced
his personality.