The Malignant Narcissist Mother is Grandiose and Indifferent

In the last post; I wrote about the malignant narcissist mother in the films Million Dollar Baby and Ordinary People.

Although the mother (Earline) in Million Dollar Baby is only in a couple of scenes; she is easy to identify as evil because of her outrageous selfishness and blatant cruelty toward her daughter Maggie.

On the other hand, the mother (Beth) in Ordinary People is far more insidious because she is very controlled and expertly obscures her malice toward her son behind a smokescreen of stiff detachment. Plus, she is skilled at projecting an image of the perfect, upscale, suburban housewife.

In his ground-breaking book People of The Lie, M. Scott Peck looks at the behaviour of ordinary criminals versus the behaviour of those he terms ‘evil’. He notes that there is a general randomness to the criminal’s destructiveness, and they are rather careless and open about their conduct: they’re not particularly interested in covering-up who they really are. In fact, they seem rather proud of their inability to hide their dishonesty and this is what makes them ‘honest criminals.’

Compare the common criminal to the malignant narcissist mother Beth in Ordinary People whose destructiveness toward Conrad is entirely selective and consistent. Her hostility toward her son is a deliberate pattern of behaviour. She chooses to go out of her way to harm him yet is careful to do it on the sly – that’s malice. Moreover, she is incredibly skilled in the art of deception and covert operation.

In describing those he calls ‘evil’ Peck writes:

Utterly dedicated to preserving their self-image of perfection, they are unceasingly engaged in the effort to maintain the appearance of moral purity. They worry about this a great deal. They are acutely sensitive to social norms and what other might think of them. They dress well, go to work on time, pay their taxes and outwardly seem to live lives that are beyond reproach.

The words “image,” “appearance,” “outwardly,” are crucial to understanding the morality of evil. While they seem to lack any motivation to be good, they intensely desire to appear good. Their “goodness” is all on the level of pretence. It is, in effect, a lie. This is why they are the “people of the lie.”

Beth and Conrad - Ordinary People

Something that’s important to note in the film Ordinary People is that Conrad is on to his mother. He knows that she doesn’t care about him and that her only concern is what other people think. His older brother Buck – the ‘Golden Boy’ who died in the boating accident – was a charismatic, outgoing, star athlete type and likely not as smart and sensitive as Conrad. Therefore, Buck is the obvious choice to be the ‘Chosen One’ – he is amendable to being a human extension whereas Conrad is a much stronger personality though he may appear weaker because he’s thoughtful and kind.  Never mistake kindness for weakness. He did, after all, survive the boating accident while his brother perished. 

I think for a malignant narcissist mother like Beth, it’s Conrad’s awareness and independence that she fears the most because it threatens her delusions of grandeur and incites her greatest terror - exposure. How dare he have a mind of his own! How dare he not defer to me as God Almighty! He must be destroyed! 

Conrad isn’t like Buck. He doesn’t do for his mother what Buck did: he doesn’t ‘glow’ in his mother’s presence. There’s a flash back scene where Buck is telling his mother a funny story, he is beaming and she is giggling away like a school girl and beaming too. They are flirting with each other and basking in one another’s attention. It is a seduction scene between two narcissists - a real mutual admiration society - and it’s creepy.  The thing is; Conrad isn’t able to reflect back to his mother the admiration that Buck did and she views this as an attack that threatens her world of make believe as the most beautiful, wonderful, perfect, powerful, and desirable woman that ever lived. In other words, he unwittingly challenges her delusions and she’s not having it.

Yes, narcissists view others relating to them as equals as an actual attack.  Narcissists consider your failure to admire, worship and obey them as an attack. Yes, interacting with them as an equal is in their eyes hostile. Why? Because in their eyes you are beneath them, and by not acting out their fantasy for them, it is making their fantasies harder to believe, and delusional narcissists hate you for shining the light of reality on them, so they’re going to make you pay.

Narcissists think they are God Almighty which means everyone else is an insignificant bug.  And to maintain their position of superiority they must show they are better than you in every interaction with you. They must treat you like dirt; deny you any kind of regard including sympathy, affection, praise and all other forms of positive attention. In fact, many narcissists can’t even bring themselves to give-out negative attention because any attention at all takes the focus off of them and they can’t stand not being the centre of the universe at all times.  

So, don’t think even for a second that the malignant narcissist mother in Ordinary People is going to go visit her distressed son in the hospital. Hell no, that would be giving him attention and she needs to make it clear to him every day, and in every way that he is nothing and he doesn’t matter and that she wishes it was he who died in the accident not Buck.

In fact, Conrad’s suicide attempt annoys the hell out of her because his father is giving him attention which means she’s not getting every last drop of it.  So Beth convinces Calvin to ditch Conrad and go away with her to Houston during the Christmas holidays. Beth would rather abandon her fragile, suicidal son during his time of need than compete with him for attention. And, while his parents are away, Conrad faces a major crisis – the suicide of a friend from the hospital – and he comes very close to suicide once again.

In Houston Beth is absolutely beaming – ditching the Conrad has done her a world of good. Grinning from ear to ear, she suggests to Calvin that they go away again on another vacation soon. “Connie would like that, “ says Calvin. Beth snaps and shouts, “Why do you always feel the need to do that?! He controls you even when he’s 2000 miles away!” So, Beth attacks her husband even at the mention of Conrad’s name and adds a little projection to the mix. All narcissists are petulant little children and they need all the attention at all time. And, if they’re getting all of it, you’re getting none of it.

One way a narcissist can hijack all the attention is by eliminating the competition – in Beth’s case; her son Conrad. So, when she’s not making nothing of him by refusing to be in a photo with him, belittling him, ignoring or excluding him, she’s plotting to have him shipped away to boarding school. Or, in a dark way is continuing to drive him to suicide. Unfortunately for Beth, her son survived his suicide and now he’s got a shrink that seems to be helping him. So what does she scheme to do? Interrupt his therapy. Yes, she wants to go to London for three weeks and this time bring Conrad – I wonder why? But, Conrad’s Dad doesn’t want his son’s therapy to be disrupted because he sees that it’s helping him and Calvin actually loves his son.

Narcissists see themselves as supreme beings which means compared to them, everyone else is dirt, and with every interaction they need to prove this. Don’t bother trying to penetrate their callousness or expect them to show you regard of any kind especially love – they are not capable of it. Would you show sympathy toward a squashed ant? That’s how the narcissist views you – with complete indifference. They would rather leave you to fend for yourself in a crisis than expend an ounce of energy attending to your needs.

“I don’t know what he expects of me!” Beth says to her husband. “I never have known. He wants me to throw my arms around him every time he passes an exam?” Well, I can’t do it! I cannot respond when someone says here I just did this great thing - love me.”

The narcissist’s withholding and neglectful nature is active not passive – it requires thought and the appropriate action. They deliberately go out of their way to consistently deny others attention. Think about the psychic energy required in order to make others feel like nothing so they can maintain their delusions of superiority. And, in the case of the malignant narcissist mother Beth in Ordinary People, there seems to be no lengths she would go to, to sacrifice her son in order to preserve her narcissistic self-image. And, that is the only thing she actually grieved when her son Buck died – the loss of the image of the perfect family.

When it comes to narcissists of all stripes; don’t have low expectations; have no expectations. Accept them for what they are, not what you wish them to be. They have about as much concern for you as that fly you just swatted.

The Malignant Narcissist Mother is Callous and Selfish

Earline Fitzgerald - Million Dollar Baby

In acknowledgement of Mother’s Day, I present to you, two of the most chilling screen portrayals of malignant narcissist mothers:

 

Beth Jarret - Ordinary People



Here we have Earline Fitzgerald visiting her daughter Maggie who is staying in a medical rehabilitation facility after a $1 million dollar fighting match has left her a quadriplegic. Of course, Earline first visits the happiest place on earth: Disneyland. And shows up with a lawyer in tow to arrange the transfer of Maggie’s cash.

Below, we have Beth Jarrett getting a hug from her suicidal son Conrad who has recently returned home after a four month stay in a psychiatric hospital.  Beth doesn't bother to visit Conrad in the hospital at all, and instead opts for a relaxing vacation in Spain and Portugal.

Though these two women seem very different, they are not. They are both malignant narcissists whose only concern is their own selfish needs. The one thing distinguishing them - besides where they holiday while their children fight for their lives - is their social standing and social intelligence. Earline is white trash and Beth is upper-middle-class. Their difference in social class is what makes for two very different depictions of the same type of evil – malignant narcissist mothers.

Earline is not only callously indifferent to Maggie, she is also overtly abusive, and when Maggie saves up enough money to buy her a house, instead of being grateful, Earline gives Maggie hell for endangering her welfare payments and medical benefits. She also belittles her daughter’s success as a fighter, saying that everyone is laughing at her. This is what makes the scene in the hospital so heartbreaking. Maggie has done everything she could to win the love of her mother, and her mother has no more regard for her than she would a bug. But because Earline isn’t sophisticated enough to hide her selfishness and outright contempt for her daughter, she is in fact less dangerous than her upper-class counterpart Beth. And Maggie quickly sees through her greedy, scheming ways and orders her out of her life, threatening to sell her house out from under her if she ever shows her face again. 

Conrad, however, has to deal with a more subtle form of covert abuse from a gracious, image conscious mother who is finely attuned to social mores. Beth isn’t a crude redneck like Earline but a refined, social butterfly that serves homemade candy apples to the neighbourhood trick or treaters, shows-up at parties with a smile on her face and a gift for the hostess, and sends Christmas presents to a long list of friends and family. She always remembers to be considerate and do the right thing on the right occasion. However, when it comes to her son Conrad, she neither acknowledges nor considers what is best for him. The fact is, her insensitivity toward Conrad is selective: a pattern of choices she makes at every turn to disregard him which confuses and destabilizes him to the point of suicide. So, like Earline, Beth's lack of concern for Conrad as a person is utterly consistent.  It would appear then, that both these ‘mothers’ – though one more obvious than the other – actually want to destroy their child.

Both films offer a poignant look at the narcissistic mother and it is in the evidence of their malignancy that each story reaches a resolution. For example, when Frankie – Maggie’s boxing coach played by Clint Eastwood – sees how outrageously cruel and greedy her mother is, he decides to carry-out Maggie’s wish to help her die. When Calvin watches Beth’s icy and bizarre reaction to Conrad’s expression of love - a hug - he finally faces the reality that his wife isn’t capable of love and decides to end the marriage. In this regard, both films end on a positive note with both children being saved from the destructive influence of their mothers. Particularly Ordinary People, for Calvin finally sees through Beth’s false front, which has collapsed, revealing her inner emptiness, and she is abandoned precisely for that reason – being empty.

I think the film’s title: Ordinary People is significant in that it describes the ‘ordinary’ existence of a family torn apart by tragedy and the ‘ordinary’ appearance of the existence of evil - Beth.     

For those of you who have yet to see the film here is a quick synopsis written from the perspective on an adult child of a malignant narcissist mother:

Everything about the Beth character screams narcissist and I remember when I saw the film – way back in the 80s – I leaned over to my friend and whispered, “My mother is just like her but way meaner.” With wide-eyed disbelief, all my new pal could utter was, “Oh Lise!”

After the death of her ‘Golden Boy’ in a boating accident, a malignant narcissist mother tries to drive her other son to suicide so she can rid herself of the inconvenience and focus on a life with her husband.

Ordinary People is one of the few films that I know of that closely examines the role a narcissistic parent plays not only in the destruction of a child but of the family unit. Though, those who aren’t familiar with NPD may find the character of Beth absolutely baffling. The description on the back of the DVD cover describes her as ‘the inexplicably aloof mother.' Even the shrink in the film doesn’t get it. In a therapy session he tells Conrad, “Recognize her limitations and don’t blame her for not loving more than she’s able. Maybe she just can’t show the way she feels.” Ha! She shows the way she feels alright: by an absolute refusal to give Conrad any attention she is letting him know, in no uncertain terms, that he is nothing - which is the essence of narcissistic abuse.

Ordinary People is such an excellent rendition of the essence of narcissistic abuse and the subtleties of narcissism, that I’m convinced Judith Guest – who wrote the novel the film is based on – had a very close encounter with a narcissistic parent of some sort.