I did have it the worst, though. No. Yeah. No, are you fucking— The only daughter of an absolute maniac. I was the baby. Are you fucking kidding? She— No, she was fucking obsessed with you. Oh. Me? Yes. She was obsessed with you.
THE BEAR, 5.04 "Ribs"
It's interesting how all of their perspectives are so different.
Natalie doesn't understand what Carmy means when he says, "I was the baby." Whew. Donna kept Carmy close as the baby. He had a front-row view of her borderline behavior. I'm sure they all did, but there's something about being the baby of the family and being treated like the "little prince" or "little princess." There's a distinct loneliness in being the youngest sibling when you have a parent who's emotionally unhealthy.
Carmy seemed to take on the role of constantly providing reassurance and comfort. He was almost like a teddy bear. When your parent keeps you close the way Donna kept him close, it's a different kind of pressure. It's a different kind of loneliness. You're there solely to provide comfort, but that comfort is never returned. The comfort, attention, affection, safety, and emotional and physical protection that a parent is supposed to give their child are the very things Carmy never really received.
The roles of the firstborn and the middle child are, of course, different, and they all experienced trauma in their own way. But I completely understood what Carmy meant. He may have been the "little prince," but not in the way Natalie imagined.
It's fascinating that, while they don't lack empathy for one another, their experiences of growing up as Donna's children are all so different, even though they were raised in the same household.
