Essay on Sam and Dean’s childhood
Heyyy here’s my essay on Sam and Dean’s childhood and how it affects the show. I wrote it for English class so it’s a little tedious. Edited for tumblr.
Sam never saw his childhood the way Dean did. In “Just My Imagination”(11x08), it’s shown that Sam had an imaginary friend because he was so alone all the time. In that episode we see the lines,
SAM. I was kind of a lonely kid, Dean.
DEAN. You weren’t lonely, you had me!
This shows that while Dean had thought he had taken care of Sam, Sam never really saw it that way. This largely comes from the fact that though Dean physically took care of Sam, Sam was still emotionally neglected. In this episode we also see that both John and Dean are away on a hunt, so he was being physically neglected at times as well. Sam was Dean’s responsibility from a very young age, something John enforced heavily. Dean’s whole life was centered around his family and taking care of Sam, but Sam saw their family, particularly their father, as what it was: neglectful and abusive. Dean was too young to have the emotional tools to truly take care of another child, especially considering he was emotionally neglected himself. Though Sam liked Dean significantly more than their father, Sam’s neglect still caused him to resent Dean. When he grows up he understands more how his brother was also just a kid.
In “Dark Side of the Moon”(05x16) Dean gets mad at Sam because all of Sam’s memories are when Sam was away from John, Dean, and hunting. We see one of Dean’s memories with their mother, Mary, from when he was four. In the memory Mary and John had gotten in a fight, and Dean tells Mary that John loves her, and he loves her. When Sam sees this he says, “I just didn’t realize how long you’d been cleaning up Dad’s messes.” One of Dean’s most treasured memories is consoling his mother, and Sam sees it and instantly takes it as Dean’s first instance of apologizing for his dad’s behavior. It’s obvious why they view this memory so differently when you consider that Dean has been explaining away his father’s behavior his whole life, but Sam never had to. Sam grew up with a less rose-colored-glasses view of his family, that Dean never had the luxury of. Whether it was between Mary and John, Sam and John, John and himself, Dean had to be the peacekeeper. This was only exacerbated when Mary died, John telling Dean he had to protect Sam no matter what, living on the road with little contact outside of his father, and the isolation that comes from being on the run and having to keep something like monsters a secret. Dean had to adapt to be like his father, this is often shown by characters calling him “daddy’s blunt little instrument.” These two episodes showcase how differently they view their childhoods; Dean with nostalgia(even in situations he maybe shouldn’t), and Sam with hurt and cynicism.
What’s interesting is that when John dies, they flip opinions on him. For the first time in his whole life, Dean can safely assess how he feels about his father. And he’s pissed. Sam on the other hand, ever the optimist, begins to regret fighting with their dad so much.
Dean and Sam’s unhealthy relationship is also largely influenced by their childhood. Because of their upbringing, Dean is overly attached to his brother. And with John constantly telling Dean that his one job was to protect Sam, Dean quickly came to the conclusion that Sam’s life was more important than his own. While Dean is overly attached to Sam, Sam is never quite as clingy. This disconnect greatly affects the show and causes many fights. When Dean gets back from purgatory in season 8, he’s upset that Sam never looked for him. In season 9, Sam is about to die. Dean makes a deal with Gadreel/Ezekial to possess Sam and heal him. This inevitably goes sideways. In the episode “The Purge”(09x13) Sam shouts at Dean that Dean should’ve just let him die and we see,
DEAN. Alright, you want to be honest, if the situation was reversed, and I was dying, you’d do the same thing.
SAM. No Dean, I wouldn’t. Same circumstances, I wouldn’t. I’m heading to bed.
Not only does Sam directly tell Dean that he’s done with constantly bringing each other back from the dead, he’s dismissive and he leaves.
This is a perfect example of their attachment styles, and how they differ. Dean has a fearful-avoidant attachment style, resulting in his massive fear of abandonment. Dean is terrified of getting close to people, especially non-hunters, as he fears it will end in death or pain, but Dean wants nothing more than to be loved. When monsters are trying to upset Dean, the first thing they do is use Sam (and others) to say Dean is a burden. This is also shown by how Dean processes emotions, by refusing to talk about it, until he has an angry outburst. After Castiel’s season 12 death, Dean says nothing about Cas’s death, but punches a door until his knuckles bleed when alone. This contrasts—and conflicts— with Sam’s avoidant attachment style. Sam withholds a lot of information from Dean, like in “After School Special”(04x13), it’s shown that in high school Sam was bullied and got into a fight, something he never told Dean or his dad. Sam has very few emotionally close relationships and he’s independent to a fault. Sam is more aware of this though, and more determined to have a normal life, so he tries many times to stop this behavior by getting in relationships, but his partners all die, betray him, or he leaves them, so by the end of the show he’s largely given up on normalcy. This is one of the reasons their relationship gets more unstable and codependent as the show goes on. Sam also has a tendency to bury his own feelings (especially when Cas dies) and deflects by trying to make Dean talk about his, which largely just ends in fights. Dean’s attachment style was shaped by not connecting to anyone outside his family. Sam’s was mostly shaped by not being cared for as a child.
And, of course, they were both shaped by John’s abuse. It would be pretty hard to dispute that John emotionally abused and neglected the both of them. And there’s many implications that he physically abused Dean (I will also point out that from my memory it’s never really implied that Sam was physically abused, so take that as you will. I could be missing something though). To name a few:
DEAN. Well, you don’t remember, do you? You ran away on my watch. I looked everywhere for you. I thought you were dead. And when Dad came home… (05x16)
DEAN. He'd be furious. That I wasted a bullet. He wouldn’t be proud of me, he’d tear me a new one. You’re not my dad. (01x22)
Anyways I could go on but I think I’m done for now.
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My Fics ✨
Finished Fics:
Who We Hate, Who We Love - John Winchester bashing, literally. Mary beats the shit out of John, ft. ✨Dean’s Trauma✨ (3k)
Falling (in more ways than one) - Adam Milligan's experience as a vessel and how he and the Archangel Michael fell in love (4k)
Perfect - “Not that it meant anything. Cas just casually kisses all her friends. Except this is the first time she’s ever seen her do it. But girls do stuff like this all the time, right? It doesn’t mean anything.” Dean isn’t sure if she’s supposed to feel this way. Based on the song ‘Little Miss Perfect’ (2k)
WIPS:
Peace - Fix it. Dean saves Cas from the Empty and they defeat Chuck. ft. Saileen and Midam (*15k)
Destiel/Midam/Samifer - Kinktober 2021 - Smut. That’s it. (*14k)
Letters from the Devil - Lucifer has a few misconceptions she wants to clear. And a few new truths to tell. (*415)
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*word count so far. tho, i probably won’t update that number every time it goes up.
Ao3 account: Jade_Winchester
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Dean Winchester likes to eat big foods because he used to never know when his next meal was gonna be. With John gone a lot as a kid, being left with very little money and having to prioritise Sam and make sure he had enough food, he was always left eating little bits of leftovers or whatever he could find left in the cupboards.
Now, While even though he still makes sure sams eating as well, he gets to actually spoil himself. He’s able to buy himself as much pie and burgers as he wants without having to worry about if he’ll be able to eat tomorrow
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Huh I forgot this was the episode when Henry Winchester made his iconic appearance
Also, Dean, what do you mean John was always there for you? NO HE WASN'T ?!?!?
HE LEFT YOU ALONE FOR WEEKS AT A TIME AS CHILDREN!!! YOU ARE LITERALLY SAM'S ONLY PARENT!!!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE WAS ALWAYS THERE
ALSO, ARE WE FORGETTING SEASON ONE WHEN HE LEFT YOU BOTH TO YOUR OWN DEVICES AND WOULD NEVER ANSWER YOUR CALLS OR SAM'S CALLS WHEN YOU WERE DYING OR ANYTHING AT ALL UNLESS IT HAD TO DO WITH HIS DEMON REVENGE CRUSADE ?!?
Like ?????
I'm not sorry, but I'm in the I-hate-John-Winchester club, I ain't having none of that crap
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