The Ballad of Little Santino episode

I think in general, growing up in an atmosphere where a parent's brutal, murderous acts are public and commonly held to be acceptable can influence a child, obviously. We've seen it throughout history; children repeat attitudes and behaviors they've been taught and witnessed. It's how prejudice is transmitted through the generations ("Teach Your Children" - CSN).

That said, several details argue against that scenario and the genetic one you suggest, especially in this case. First, luckily, not every child is subject to such indoctrination. My parents probably wouldn't ever consider themselves racist; in fact, my mother would be highly insulted by the mere suggestion. But my sister and I grew up hearing the usual buzz words during the 60s and 70s. Still, we instinctively reacted against that whole attitude. It can be done!

Second, I think it was made clear in this episode that while it was generally known what the father had done, it wasn't a subject that was ever spoken about.

Finally, my impression was Javier felt such overwhelming guilt for the death of his favorite brother, magnified by the blame his father piled on him, and was still so young and impressionable, that in his grief compounded by the additional loss of his family, he punished himself and internalized the label of "killler". Of course, his sister was quite correct: that was when he was still a child. He then made a choice to continue killing innocent people, probably because he'd become comfortable earning easy money doing something at which he'd gotten very good. But he obviously has a soft spot for young children: his brother, the child killed by the drunk driver, Letty's son, the son of the guy who hired him to kill his wife over the custody battle. Ultimately, he reluctantly shot the man in self defense (not in a legal "definition" of the term, of course). While I'd never justify the acts of a hitman, taking that out of the equation, Javier is actually a kinder, rather more moral person than Letty, which is what makes their relationship do interesting.

God, that dinner scene made me so mad! Knowing myself, I could never have shown that bastard the respect and restraint Javier achieved, even before his attack. During the accusations, knives would have been thrown, both verbal and actual. And when the rest of the family, especially the mother, simply fell in line and meekly followed the dictator out of the room, abandoning her son yet again?! As a feminist I was livid! And I'm not interested in hearing any cultural or age-related defense *beep* In fact, I believe their motivation was more financial than anything else. Ugh!!!

I'm so glad Lettie didn't turn tail and run out on him. I guess she figures her family isn't so bad afterall!

I too, wanted to hug the hitman, lol!!!

I can't tell from your comment whether you approve of the whole patriarchal thing. Do you? And does that mean you approve of what this particular patriarch did?

(Coming from a definite matriarchy, I once commented on a first date that the men in my family were incidental. He wrote a song about it.)