In his book Kill the Possum, James Moloney explores the subject of child abuse and the various ways in which abused children cope with this situation. The Beals: Kirsty, Tim, and their mom, have recently separated from their mom's abusive ex-husband, Ian. They live, together, with Ian and Mrs. Beal's daughter, Melanie, in a house in the suburbs. When Ian drops Melanie off after custody visits, he continues to threaten and verbally abuse the family that had assumed they had finally gotten free of him. Kirsty's friend Dylan witnesses one of these visits one day and devises a plan with Tim to murder Ian. The actual event goes wrong and ends up with Kirsty and Ian dead, Ian having committed suicide, and with Tim injured and sent to a psych ward.
The children in this story deal with their abuse in various self-destructive ways, evidence of the toxic way abuse perpetuates in a cycle. Because children are wired to trust their parents, they often cannot understand that abuse is wrong; instead they internalize the abusive messages and often conclude that they were the source because they are somehow wrong or broken. For Kirsty this looks like an acceptance of responsibility that isn't hers. She views the whole family, including her mother, has her personal responsibility. She blames herself with hateful self-talk and emotional punishments when she cannot effectively protect them, but she couldn't even though she wants to. Tim, only twelve-years-old, skips school and drinks too much. And young Melanie has become a silent, sullen kid who refuses to open up to anybody. She's internalized the abuse and retreated into herself in mute rejection.
Dylan, perhaps the most disturbing character of all, is also a victim of abuse. His father left his family a few years back, moved to England, and started a new family there. He effectively told his son that Dylan is worthless. Having attempted to wrestle with this internal worthless feeling, Dylan now views Ian as a fitting representative of his own father. He transforms Ian into a villain deserving death, the same way he transforms the possum in his mind into Ian in order to kill it. The process is projection of Dylan's own self-worth crisis, causing him to view all life as worthless, especially that which resembles his hated father. Although Dylan is also a victim of abuse, he perpetuates the cycle by blurring the lines between himself and the world. In his twisted view of vengeance one wrong can be fixed by another -- abuse by murder.
