Understand Kenny... And the stranger. And Lilly too
http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/depression-grief
So let's start off by stating the obvious. They both lost their family.
I'll be using Kenny as my example because we are shown his side of the story more than the Stranger.
When you lose someone you care about, especially a child, you go through the five stages of grief. These are in no particular order.
Denial and Isolation - This is perfectly illustrated when Kenny kept telling Lee that Duck would be fine. Even getting extremely defensive to the point where Lee had to beat some sense into him. Blocking out the truth.
Anger - BEN. BEN... Do I need to say more? This applies to the stranger as well. Taking those supplies from his car ruined his life. So, the Stranger jumped from Bargaining and Anger as he plotted his revenge against Lee. When you lose someone so abruptly (Katjaa), it's kind of like you're desperate to point the blame at someone. Either because you thought they could've done a better job saving your loved one, Sarita, or simply because your actions caused a chain reaction that lead to the loved ones death.
Bargaining - Could've, would've, should've. This is the part where the person thinks of specific ways they could've helped save their loved ones. A second opinion from a doctor, more medication, killing Ben when you had the chance.. The Stranger mentions a couple when talking to Lee.
Depression - This is when you begin to realize the true extent of the loss. Symptoms of depression are trouble sleeping, poor appetite, fatigue, lack of energy, and crying spells. This when you stop caring about yourself basically. We may also have self-pity and feel lonely, isolated, empty, lost, and anxious. Depression can lead to suicide.
Acceptance - You basically come to terms and healing process begin. But, some don't have the luxury of reaching this stage.
Please Note: Throughout life, you may suddenly return to one of these stages. Reminders of the person you lost are like a punch to the gut and take you back to the moment when you lost your loved one.
And the last thing you want to do with someone dealing with a loss, is argue with them. Or say silly stuff like you need to move on.. Then they get extremely defensive
Basically, the only way to help someone, is just be there. Be a good listener. Which is why Kenny thinks of Lee as his best pal.
Also, the scene where Kenny kills Ben/Saves Christa, that was Kenny on a suicide mission. People who are suicidal, usually won't tell you. Let's not forget, Telltale deleted Kenny's death scene.
Even though I didn't talk about Lilly, she came into mind while I was writing. Lilly, Kenny, and the stranger are just broken people. It's amazing Kenny has been alive for this long, partially due to plot armor :P, The stranger had some sadistic plot to kidnap Clementine, and Lilly, I'm thinking she lived because that's what her dad would've wanted her to do. And like I said, the worse thing you can do to a person in grief is argue with them, blame them... because that can escalate quickly and you might end up with a bullet piercing your brain
So, I know this is corny, but I just wanted to tell people about how good of a job Telltale is doing portraying these characters.
Comments
True but most of them dont go through all the stages, just a few examples
kenny just stays in aggression
Sarah stayed in denial
Lilly stayed in depression
Stranger stayed in denial (wife head)
With that being said, I'm thinking Luke is not human because he does not shed a single tear for any of the cabin members.
Kenny and Lily jumped back and forth. Sarah, she didn't have much time. I'm thinking she died maybe like 2 to 3 hours after her father's death?
I dont know I think she would have been there a while she says her dad is going to turn up alive at the camp after you save her
Lee had Clem to replace the void of his family's death. If she were to die, he might have had a breakdown similar to the Kenny we've seen after his girlfriend's death - becoming cold and possessive if he was to find someone new to protect.
Luke still had his group to protect, but succumbed to Jane in a state of emotional weakness. I can forgive him easier than I can forgive her.
And Clem? She's lost a lot of families by this point: her group with Lee, her own family, Lee himself, the family she could have had with Omid, depressed Christa, and now the group she met at the cabin. I think she's reaching the acceptance stage.
Clementine is immune of grief.
If you really think about it, Clementine didn't even last a month with the cabin group. With Omid, I think she cried. We weren't showed when Christa had to put him down. but I think she cried and felt culpable.
She feels sad of their deaths, but doesn't cry.
Lee discovering where his parents were hiding out was a pretty dark moment. The music it had though..
he can't cry. He was born without tear ducts.
Maybe he's the kind of person who bottles up everything inside?
All those things like the phases of grief are individual (btw, that's generally used for own's own death) - the serve as a schema for psychotherapy in that they are theories to try and see which ones the patient does and does not respond to, but they are in no way set in stone.
For me, Kenny seems to be replacing his family with people he's met, whether Clementine, Sarita, or the baby. We didn't get a chance to delve enough into Kenny and Sarita's relationship to know to what extent it was replacement and to what extent it was moving forward (given his subsequent behavior I would suggest the former) - even in the case of the baby you can argue the extent to which he sees it a replacement for Duck and the extent to which it seems to him hope for the future.
My real point is that psychotherapy is a whole group of theories, many of which are bounced off the individual patient to see which ones apply and which don't. They're to get the patient to think about their thought processes and beliefs. But to take an unknown and try to psychoanalyse them is dangerous- both medically and socially (to the extent one attributes social/situational problems to inner psyche).
Kenny's fixation on the baby comes off as creepily regressive precisely because we've seen his reaction to Sarita.
Obviously, reminds him of Duck.