Shawn Hunter Character Study
Facts:
Shawn hunterĀ went through extreme neglect and abuse throughout his childhood/teenhood.
His Birth mother abandoned him when he was an infant.
Ā His father cheated repeatedly giving him multiple halves bothers who he has a varyingĀ degree of relationships with.
His mother comes and goes in and out of shawnās life constantly. She is overall neglectful and emotionally vacant.
His father is an abusive alcoholic. He abandoned Shawn over and over after promising multiple times he would change, he would be, he would care. I definitely believe there was worse emotional abuse off screen than we saw and possible physical abuse.Ā
his parents are domestically abusive towards each other setting up a bad example of how families are supposed to interact, and how to have a proper romantic relationship.
His family didnāt have showers, food, heating, money for clothes or money for school.
He feels the need to help their friend when she was an abusive situation and his first thought wasnātĀ āpoliceā it was how to muddle through, showing that he most definitely went through similar situations people who have been through abuse understand the dangers of getting authorities involved in abuse.
Analysis:Ā
Shawn uses sarcasm and puts up walls to keep people out of his emotional state. He canāt keep a romantic relationship and is only capable of keeping a platonic friendship with cory and over time Topanga. He loves fiercely and wants these things but he can never bring himself to put down his walls to get it.
The treatment by his family and his socioeconomic status cause feelings of worthlessness,Ā being lost and never good enough for anything. He repeatedly does things in reaction to these feelings. Being baited to beat the bike, running away, never trying in school and is the roots of most of his fights with cory.
He has a warped sense of self not knowing who he is separate from what people say he is.Ā
He is extremely self-destructive. Cory even points out that he is going to do something to hurt himself when he gets the letter. Shawn has a tendency to run, or drink, or break things off when he is hurt.Ā
He hates himself more than he hates his abusive father which is common when people are constantly gaslighted into seeing things as their fault instead of abusers.
He tries to make peace with his father but I can tell by the fact he still didnāt see himself as good enough to be a part of the Matthews life shows he still had work to do at the end of BMW.
He shows a propensity to over attach to people Cory & Feeny) as the only stable things in his life. The one person he can truly ground himself in. Everyone else lets him down. (including Mr. Turner).
He puts a lot of stake in the thing he considers his one real atribute his looks. He sees himself in a negative light and holds on to the one thing he believes he does better than anyone else.
He is terrified of becoming his father.
These to me point to C-PTSD & Depression.
ADHD:
I believe there might be something like ADHD with him too. He has trouble focusing on anything and gives up trying in school as he canāt complete the work. We do know he can be good at school type things writing and running theĀ ābusinessā at feenyās house. He just canāt focus in a school setting which is common with someone with ADHD
RSD is an unknown symptom of ADHD but it is suggested in the fact he spirals when he is rejected and often brakes things off before he can be sent into a spiral.
@neurodivheadcanons check this out!
