Work is ridiculously busy for me at the moment and added to that my kids are super busy with their marching band so i have been struggling to keep up with the thread as of late but a couple of things i just wanted to bring up....
Its been bugging me since I've seen the unblurred pictures and the wedding video.. the middle sons stance. In every picture/video it is fairly obvious he has some kind of sight problem, his eyes seem quite unfocussed and he lifts his head as if he has to do that in order to see...out the lower half of his eyes. I've done some rudimentary searching to see if there are any conditions where this may be the case and the only thing I've come across which could explain it is Superior Hermianopia which affects the upper vision of both eyes. Its generally caused by damage to the optic nerves either because of a stroke or a brain injury...not saying this is the case and he has this condition but its certainly food for thought....
Which then brings me on to the second point...we know that at least at some point the eldest son was seen and given glasses..so why wasnt this poor child when he is so obviously affected by his vision..is it a case of not being bothered? Was the eldest son part of some bigger picture where he was given certain privileges?
We know he was given certain opportunities not afforded to the other children...college for one...why? Of course I'm happy he was allowed these moments of normality but again why? For what purpose? I know some WS have suggested he was being prepared to become the next breadwinner but this doesn't ring true for me...firstly the classes he was taken weren't necessarily geared up for preparing him for employment...more along the line of hobbies and interests...but secondly...LT couldn't leave him alone at campus preferring to wait outside for him...if she can't leave him alone for this short amount of time would she really risk him going out into the wide world for extended periods of time to undertake a job...and risk the potential repercussions???...i don't think so...so why?
And lastly. .i believe some (if not most) of the classes were night classes...we know that DT worked nights so where were the other kids?...at home, being looked after by the older kids?...so LT couldn't leave the oldest son for a short amount of time but was happy to leave all the other children at home,alone knowing that at least on one other occasion children had tried to escape...what is the logic?
Sorry for the ramblings. There's just so many questions...i doubt we will ever have the answers to them
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Great questions!
I wonder that same thing. Accolades to the oldest Turpin son for doing so well and having at least some small exposure to the outside world, even for that short of a time. I never thought about him wearing glasses! I will give some numbered ideas as theries to answer the questions. But these are questions that we would need David and Louise to answer to get the full picture:
1.) JT was about twenty six years old. He may have had some early life experiances before the family became "nuts." He was probably given rights because DT saw him as a "leader." Maybe JT was supposed to be the patriach of the family if DT and Louise were to die.
2.) Note that it is believed that son JT was home-schooled. Maybe because he was the best behaved and the least problematic, his "reward" was being able to attend college classes. I am sure that this took A TON of convincing and DT and LT made certain demands of JT. "You will succeed You will not disclose our family values to anybody at school. You will talk only when spoken to by your teachers.Your Mother will wait for you at school for all classes. You will come straight home after school."
3.) The classes that JT was taking were only basic skills kinds of classes, so they really would not help JT get ahead considering his age, the level of those classes mostly geared for Freshmen or Sophmore high school students at best.
4.) Maybe this class attending wasn't a choice, but a demand by the Turpins, that the eldest son had to take classes, because he was old enough to do that. However, this goes against everything that was the parental Turpin's life-style to avoid people as much as possible, keep to themselves, and chagrin against anybody who offered any kind of conversation to them. JT had an opportunity to open up at school. But maybe that is why LT was always there. To prevent him from disclosing any outside information that wasn't specific to assigned coursework. But again, why take that risk?
5.) The other kids were probably at home chained up and rotting in their filthy clothes and environment.
Satch