Family and Friendship Theme Analysis

The protagonists of The Wasp Factory, half-siblings Frank and Eric, and their father, Angus, are part of a tight family unit. Although Eric has been locked away in a mental institution for many years, he casts a shadow over Frank and Angus, and much of their lives are centered on memories of him and anxiety around his recent escape. Although Angus and Eric’s internal lives do not receive much space in the novel, Frank, the narrator, is shown to also have a single important friend, Jamie, a man with dwarfism who lives in the nearby town. Frank’s relationships with these three men are the center of his emotional and social life, and although in many ways he is antisocial and arguably sociopathic—as seen in his treatment of women, animals, and strangers—these few close relationships provide him with stability and comfort. The Wasp Factory argues that even the strangest, most violent people are capable of giving and receiving love and affection, and in fact often rely upon these close relationships to retain any sense of normalcy.

The bonds of family and friendship are important to the novel’s central characters. When their relationships are going well, the protagonists look out for each other, and improve the quality of one another’s lives. Frank has a single friend, Jamie, and although Frank is rarely seen making sacrifices for other people, he genuinely cares for Jamie, and often takes steps to help his friend. For example, they often go to music concerts together, and Frank always lets Jamie sit on his shoulders. Additionally, although Frank hates talking to and interacting with women, he will stand near them for Jamie’s sake, letting his friend remain on his shoulders so he can talk to girls face to face. Jamie often returns the favor. In one particular scene Frank becomes incredibly drunk, and Jamie helps take care of him, leaving a conversation with a woman he is interested in to chase Frank down, and holding him as he vomits on a city street. Frank also discusses his relationship with his brother, Eric. Although Eric is violent and insane, in the end, Frank continues to love and support him. He explains, “he was my brother, and I still loved him in a way. I loved him despite his alternation the way, I suppose, he had loved me despite my disability. That feeling of wanting to protect, I suppose, which women are supposed to feel for the young and men are meant to feel for women.” Frank appreciates that his family and single friend love and care for him in spite of his castration, which he sees as a disability. In turn, he loves them, despite what he sees as their imperfections.

Love between family members is also not always a positive thing. It can be a source of anxiety, or it can lead to dangerous behavior, as individuals attempt to get each other to prove their love, or else act irrationally, ostensibly in the best interests of their loved ones. For example, although Frank loves Eric, Eric cannot always tell. After he has escaped from the asylum where he was imprisoned, he calls home to talk to his brother. He frequently questions their relationship, complaining that their father no longer loves him, but asking Frank to prove his loyalty. In one phone call home Eric complains, “He [Angus] doesn’t love me. You love me, though, don’t you, h’m?” The idea that his brother has somehow moved on or forgotten about him is incredibly stressful to Eric, and further unhinges the already unstable young man. Similarly, although Angus loved his sons, his love is toxic. He cares for them, but he also controls and manipulates them. Late in the novel, when Frank realizes that he was born a girl named Frances, he sees that his father has been experimenting on him his entire life. This behavior is essentially abusive, but it stems from a desire to keep Frank close to him, and reliant on him.

Although Frank does have a handful of close relationships with people that he genuinely cares about and actively makes sacrifices for, just because someone is related to him does not mean that he will give them any special treatment. Physical or biological proximity are not enough to guarantee that Frank will care for any given person. Instead, Frank has a hierarchy of people that he cares about, and will protect those in his inner circle from anyone he perceives as an outsider, even if that outsider is technically his relative. Significantly, the three children Frank murdered were all related to him. However, in each case he had a justification. Frank kills his cousin Blyth after Blyth sets his and Eric’s pet rabbits on fire. This upsets Eric especially, and Frank recalls, “He cried like a girl. I wanted to kill Blyth there and then” for what “he’d done to Eric, my brother.” Frank cares more about Eric’s feelings than about Blyth’s life, and, therefore, Blyth must die. Frank also murders his little brother, Paul. Although Frank understands that Paul is his brother, he feels none of the love for him that he feels for Eric. Instead, Frank associates Paul with his castration (because he believes Paul is the incarnation of Old Saul, the family dog) and so Frank thinks that, if he is to move on with his life, Paul has to die.  Frank also hates his mother, Agnes. This is related to a more general hatred of women, but also his belief that she indirectly caused both his castration (by giving birth and distracting his father, therefore giving Old Saul time to bite him) and injured his father for life (by running over his leg on her motorbike).

Even the disturbed protagonists of The Wasp Factory need love and affection. Though Frank and Eric exhibit sociopathic behavior, they enjoy the company of their friends and family, and require the help and attention of the ones they love. Although Banks never implies that a more robust social network would prevent Eric and Frank from committing such violent acts, it is clear that they are soothed by certain interpersonal connections, and that their violence is often a tool used in service of protecting or avenging each other, a twisted way of demonstrating their love and care.