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Ara Matevosian

English 115

Professor Erickson

October 22, 2023

Broken Children of Broken Homes

The novel, Gabi, a Girl in Pieces, portrays the life of a girl brought up with the trauma of

having a drug addict father, left to put her life together from the pieces it had fallen to. Halfway

through the novel, Gabi walks into her garage to find her dad’s lifeless body. The body of a man

who suffered from a life fast lived, controlled by substance abuse, and absent from his daughter’s

upbringing. Gabi was not surprised when finding her dad in this state, as she had “dreamed this

very scene” (Quintero 151). Gabi’s childhood was controlled by the fear of wondering where her

father was at any moment, due to him living on the streets away from his family at most times.

Gabi, “in these moments of despair,” notes that even finding her dad dead would give her a form

of relief because at least then, she would know where he was (Quintero 151). Many are unable to

have an upbringing in a stable household, and the effect that it has during youth can be

detrimental to a child for the rest of their lives. Gabi’s father’s absence left something to be

desired in her development as a young adult, which could lead to mental health issues in

adolescence.

The importance of growing up with a father figure is as chemical as it is emotional. The

DemoSoc Research Unit of Pompeu Fabra University conducted a mass study on relating child

development directly to father-child time together. The research group was composed of 6,960

children from the ages 4-8. This study was able to find the importance of the role of fathers in

early child development as well as a direct correlation to how parental involvement and time
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input affected their cognitive development. “[The] conclusion drawn from our analyses is that

father–child time is more strongly associated with children’s cognitive outcomes when that time

is spent in educational activities (such as reading or educational play)” (Cano 177). Children fare

better when their father and they engage in cognitively stimulating activities like reading, playing

games, doing homework, or attending social gatherings together than when they spend their time

together in other ways. It was shown that these activities are crucial to cognitive development. In

the novel Gabi, a Girl in Pieces, Gabi still has a mother, who is very involved in her life. While

it is still possible for a mother to help take the role of both parental figures in a fatherless

household, the estimated associations between mother-child time and children's cognitive

outcomes were smaller and occasionally statistically insignificant within the research study.

There are often arguments stating that parental education would affect the quality of time

spent with their children. In the novel, Gabi’s father is not well educated, and suffers drug

addiction. Even with those factors, Gabi’s fathers involvement in her life could have still helped

her develop in a more healthy manner. In the previously mentioned research study, it was found

father-child time is not more strongly associated with children's cognitive functioning when

fathers have higher levels of education.

“We found no evidence that 1 hour of father–child time yields more benefit to the

child when fathers have tertiary education qualifications. Instead, our results indicated

that 1 hour of father–child time (overall, as well as across activity types) yielded the same

returns to the children of highly and less highly educated fathers." (Cano 178)

This information can lead to assumptions that the main factor of Gabi’s struggles are the absence

of her father, rather than his drug addiction. Although his drug addiction still plays a major role,

it is his absence that truly burdens Gabi. This can be seen in how Gabi views her father-child
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relationship. In the novel, Gabi uses letters as a form of self expression. She writes letters to

people that she does not send, but rather uses it to express her emotions and inner thoughts. In

the beginning of the novel, Gabi writes a letter to her dad (he is still alive at this time).

“You have broken my heart again…I want you to get help…I shouldn’t have to

worry every night that we’ll get a call telling us someone found you in a park, beaten,

overdosed or dead…Papi I love you…Come back, please.” (Quintero 41)

When Gabi describes her childhood, there is a recurring fear of not knowing where her father is.

This fear embodies his absence. She notes being worried, scared, and anxious all the time. Her

fathers absence directly correlates with her anxieties. Living without her father from a young

age, she had to come to terms with things that a child should not have to know or worry about

that early in their lives. This constant fear scarred her, and eventually led to the way she

responded to her fathers death, as mentioned earlier.

The absence of Gabi’s father influences other people in her life too, notedly her brother.

Gabi’s brother suffers cases of delinquency. In the novel, it is revealed that Gabi’s brother would

commonly skip school and vandalize public areas with graffiti. “Her perfect son, the little one

that breaks no plates, the quiet one, got caught tagging and destroying public property” (Quintero

80). At first glance, Gabi holds her mother to blame, and often reflects, thinking that her brother

is the way he is because of their mother. Gabi also finds herself feeling responsible, as she

mentions she feels that she is failing in her role as a sister. Gabi explains that her mother “has

expected less of him, and he has realized this. I cannot remind her that our father gave up, but

that she doesn’t have to” (Quintero). While Gabi looks at her brother's actions as a result of her

mother or herself, the truth is her dads absence could be the main underlying influence. The

Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, and the University of Maryland, worked
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together in 2015 to develop a controlled study regarding research in crime and delinquency. This

study involved the psychoanalysis of children with fathers who had been incarcerated, and in

turn, become absent in their lives. In relation to Gabi, a Girl in Pieces, incarceration may not be

the exact case for their father, but the underlying effects of a fathers absence is correlated with

his drug abuse and lack of communication with his family.

“[The organization] interviewed 100 caregivers of children with an incarcerated

mother or father. In cases of paternal incarceration, 67 percent of caregivers described

negative changes in family and child well-being, often citing declines in children’s

emotional and mental states.” (Porter and King 149)

It has become clear that the absence of a father negatively affects a family, but Gabi’s brother's

response with aggressive conduct is a defense mechanism against unpleasant stimuli. The

underlying claim in the study is that people have a tendency to lash out at others in response to

an occurrence that causes them grief or stress. Any negative emotion, including sadness,

depression, and constant irritability, will result in aggressive tendencies and the basic emotion of

anger before more reasoning kicks in. In other words, Gabi’s brother's aggressive behavior is

likely to result from unpleasant feelings and is reactive. This can apply to many of the characters

in the novel, but in Gabi’s brother's case, his delinquency is simply a subconscious reaction to

the absence of his father.

Unfortunately, father-absent households have become more common. The two-parent

household has historically been regarded as one of society's fundamental building blocks. It is

clear from research that fewer children are now growing up in this type of traditional family. In

many cases, a family's downfall is typically explained as a process that begins with a father being

present, followed by difficulties in the family, and eventually the father leaving. This pattern has
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been common in American families and can result in various emotional and financial challenges.

However, this traditional family structure may not accurately represent the experiences of many

American families today. Many young women are now having children without being married or

in stable relationships, and they often raise their children without the father's involvement from

the start. In the novel Gabi, a Girl in Pieces, one of Gabi’s best friends becomes pregnant. The

pregnancy is unwanted as she is still in highschool. In Gabi’s culture, child pregnancy is

common, and her parents constantly warn her and her friends of it. Unfortunately, this applies to

the real world, and is not a work of fiction. The Center for Human Resource Research of Ohio

State conducted a study on the ages in which fathers begin to become absent. “In the years

following the birth, the overall percentage of fathers present gradually declined, masking the

substantial movement of biological fathers out of and into the home” (Mott 514). This is

important because it applies to both of the themes in the novel. In the first scenario in the novel,

Gabi is dealing with a semi-absent father figure. Semi-absent because he still has a role in her

life, but due to his drug addiction, he serves no real value to their family's ecosystem. The second

scenario of an absent father is Gabi’s pregnant friend. In this situation, the child will be born and

grow up never to know his father. This case study proves that both situations still have the same

negative effects on the child.

Finally, how does this all affect Gabi? Gabi is in what is commonly referred to as a

“broken household”. While her father was still alive, he was absent. Accredited psychologist

Dale M. Kushner describes the different forms of abandonment. “To be a fatherless daughter is to

feel abandoned by a paternal figure, emotionally, physically, or both. A father may be absent

from the home for reasons beyond his control”(Kushner). Gabi is a victim to all of these forms of

abandonment. There are several reasons why a father abandons his family, and each event affects
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a daughter differently. Gabi’s father, who was somewhat physically present but emotionally

distant, manipulative, abusive, and depressed, set up his daughter for psychological trauma. Her

relationship with her father influences the way she shapes her sense of self, ambition,

independence, and trust in the world. Even when Gabi describes her fathers body at the wake,

she goes on to mention that it does not look like him. “There was color in his face, more brown

and less yellow…I hadn’t seen his hair combed for months. No long homeless beard…the scars

from all the scratching, barely visible underneath the makeup. Rotted teeth hidden,” (Quintero

153). The unfortunate truth is that this is the image of her father that Gabi holds in her head, and

this is the last impression she will ever have of him. It is not her fault, and her fathers

wrongdoings can affect her the rest of her life.

To conclude, the book, Gabi, a Girl in Pieces, follows the story of a girl growing up with

a drug abusing and emotionally absent father. Because of the choices her father made, spending

time apart from his family most of his existence, Gabi's upbringing was ruled by the anxiety of

never knowing where he was. The importance of a father figure is unfathomable to a young

child, and unfortunately, single mother households have become more common in recent years.

Many people are unable to grow up in stable homes, and the consequences of this can negatively

affect a kid for the rest of their lives. The lack of Gabi's father affected her development as a

young adult, along with the “18.4 million children in the world growing up without father

figures”(U.S. Census Bureau. 2022). Fatherlessness and a broken family has had detrimental

effects on Gabi, leaving her as a girl in pieces.

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Works Cited:

Cano, Tomás, et al. “A Matter of Time: Father Involvement and Child Cognitive Outcomes.”

Journal of Marriage and Family, vol. 81, no. 1, 2019, pp. 164–84,

https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12532.

Porter, Lauren C., and Ryan D. King. “Absent Fathers or Absent Variables? A New Look at

Paternal Incarceration and Delinquency.” The Journal of Research in Crime and

Delinquency, vol. 52, no. 3, 2015, pp. 414–43,

https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427814552080.

Mott, Frank L. “When Is a Father Really Gone? Paternal--Child Contact in Father-Absent

Homes.” Demography, vol. 27, no. 4, 1990, pp. 499–517,

https://doi.org/10.2307/2061567.

“Fatherless Daughters: The Impact of Absence.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers,

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/transcending-the-past/202305/fatherless-daughters-th

e-impact-of-absence. Accessed 16 Oct. 2023.

National Fatherhood Initiative®, a 501c3 Non-Profit. “Father Absence Statistics.” Father

Absence Statistics, www.fatherhood.org/father-absence-statistic. Accessed 16 Oct. 2023.

Quintero, Isabel. Gabi, a Girl in Pieces. First edition. El Paso, Tejas, Cinco Puntos Press, 2014.