The Perfect Child

Christopher Bauer is one of two protagonists and main narrators in the story. Like his wife, Hannah, Christopher is a round and dynamic character who changes as a result of Janie’s introduction into the household. Christopher is an orthopedic surgeon and (initially) a doting husband who has stuck by Hannah’s side through several miscarriages. However, Christopher’s doting personality soon finds another object: his patient Janie, whom he feels instantly connected to and responsible for. Christopher ends up pressuring Hannah to try to bond with Janie and eventually adopt her. Hannah makes the sacrifice for the sake of Janie and her husband, though she has always wanted a baby of her own and recognizes the challenges that parenting a severely traumatized child could pose. By contrast, as Piper explains, “[Christopher] was fully aware of her potential difficulties and problems. He just didn’t care” (55).

This unwavering attachment to Janie makes Christopher central to the novel’s exploration of The Sinister Side of Unconditional Love. After Janie moves in, Christopher starts putting her before his wife, sleeping next to her, and turning against Hannah when she voices fears that Janie could harm the family. Christopher can’t imagine that a six-year-old could be manipulative or motivated to hurt others, and he continues to feel this way until it is too late. Initially, he doesn’t even like the idea of diagnosing her or trying to change her behavior, believing that she should be allowed to heal in her own time. As the family situation worsens and Janie’s aggression becomes more severe, Christopher starts to realize that she needs more professional care: “Bones were like pieces of glass. When they broke, you put them back together again. That was what I was good at—fixing things. But I didn’t know how to fix this” (225).

Although Christopher and Hannah’s marriage suffers as a result of adopting Janie, Christopher never leaves her, even when she tries to kill Janie and has to stay in the hospital for several months. However, Christopher’s unconditional love also extends to Janie, whom he continues to visit even after she kills Allison: “I’d never been blinded by love before. I’d thought that was reserved for romantic love, but it wasn’t. I loved Janie in ways I couldn’t describe or understand. I probably never would. Even after everything she’d done” (338). His words here imply that he ends the novel more aware of his own fallibility, but his inability to act on this recognition makes him a tragic figure.

Janie is the most important secondary character in the story and the primary driver of its plot. She is six years old when she is found alone, starving, and covered in blood and bruises. Janie’s character is ambiguous, as her young age would seem to suggest that it is impossible for her to fully understand the consequences of her actions; moreover, the novel at times strongly indicates that her behavior stems from trauma. Janie comes from an extremely troubled past, as she and her mother, Becky, had a volatile and violent relationship. Becky felt unable to parent a child like Janie and abused and neglected her. Nevertheless, there are also indications that Janie is “evil”—even supernaturally so. Her characterization therefore both challenges and upholds stereotypes about “sociopathy,” variously suggesting that it is a reaction to trauma and that it is an inherent and intractable personality trait.

Regardless of the source of her behavior, Janie is both extremely manipulative and violent, though the latter only emerges over time. She kills her own cat, kicks Cole out of his carrier, bites Hannah, and eventually kills Allison; it is further revealed that she murdered Becky. Janie also has regular tantrums that last for hours—she breaks things, screams, and urinates or spreads feces when she is angry—though again, there is some ambiguity as to how in control of her behavior she is.

Christopher instantly feels for Janie and wants to protect her; he is inspired by the way she sees the world as new, and by her quick and intense attachment to him. Janie uses this to her advantage. She knows just how to get Christopher to side with her and feel bad for her, and this quickly leads to conflict between Christopher and Hannah. Even as Janie’s behavior escalates, Christopher continues loving and supporting her, demonstrating how a person overwhelmed by love may put themselves or their loved ones in danger. When Janie ends up in a residential home, Christopher continues to visit her.

By contrast, Janie rejects Hannah from the very beginning, and Hannah intuitively knows this. Hannah continuously tries to get close to Janie but eventually gives up and starts treating her much in the same way that Becky did. Dr. Chandler diagnoses Janie with reactive attachment disorder, which means she had no close relationship with her mother and now lacks empathy and relationship-building skills with others—particularly women, in whom she sees her abusive mother. Hannah ultimately grows to hate Janie and wants nothing to do with her, reaching a point where she tries to drown Janie in the bathtub and views her as a demon: “I feel the ice cold breath of her demon. It blows on my neck while I’m feeding Cole. I can see the demon in her eyes when I look at her. The twisted grin on its face. It licks its fangs like it wants to hurt Cole” (301). Being around Janie turns Hannah into a different person, one who needs serious psychiatric treatment herself.

Piper Goldstein is the social worker assigned to the Bauers’ case. She is a dynamic character who reveals more about herself and the circumstances of her involvement with the Bauers as the story progresses. Piper’s narratives are interspersed between Hannah’s and Christopher’s chapters and are told through her own first-person perspectives. These narratives take place almost entirely within the context of a police interview after Allison’s death, and they see Piper illuminating otherwise untold aspects of the plot line. In particular, Piper’s conversations with the police foreshadow Becky’s murder as well as many of the other problems that the Bauers encounter.

Piper became involved with the Bauers after Janie was adopted (it ultimately emerges she had previously been assigned to Becky’s case) and carries guilt over not paying more attention to the family in those difficult months: “The memories hurt. I looked down at my hands twisting on my lap. This case would haunt me in ways I would never forget” (152). Indeed, the police imply Piper should have known that the Bauers needed additional support. However, Piper always trusted the Bauers and saw them as loving parents who would be the perfect choice to raise Janie. At the same time, she kept several incidents to herself rather than reporting them and reported other incidents later than she should have—actions that call her reliability into question even before her longstanding involvement with Janie becomes clear.

Allison is Hannah’s sister. Although her character does not shift throughout the story, her secondary role is key because she becomes the most significant victim of Janie’s aggression. Allison is the more serious and logical sister, and she is concerned about Hannah’s decision to take in Janie from the very beginning. Allison has children of her own and knows how hard parenting is even in the absence of a history of trauma; she anticipates that life with Janie will be exponentially harder. However, though Hannah and Allison are extremely close, Hannah rarely takes Allison’s advice, preferring to appease Christopher and fulfill her desire to be a parent.

Allison is kind enough to take Janie in while Cole is in the hospital and Hannah and Christopher are being investigated for child abuse. Her death is ironic because she had just told Christopher that she wanted Janie out of her house; however, Janie overheard her and killed her by pushing her down the stairs. Allison’s death proves to be the final element in Hannah’s mental health crisis, demonstrates the sinister side of unconditional love, and proves to Christopher that Janie needs a type of care that he is not able to provide.