"Everybody loves me!" -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 10:50:27 04/25/08 Fri
Author: Kiernan
Subject: "Everybody loves me!"

A couple of weeks ago, we discussed narcicissm in children and how they simply imitate the loving affection of their parents for them towards themselves. My youngest sister, now age 9, had (and has) a very pronounced case of this. As the youngest of four, she received constant love and affection from the moment she was born. By the time she was around 4, my parents found themselves flabergasted by the kind of narcissistic statements she would make, wondering what they had done to encourage such self-absorption. When we would tell her that we loved her, instead of reciprocating that love towards us, she would respond, "Everybody loves me!" Once, at the Doctor's office, the nurse told her that she was cute, to which she responded, "My whole family thinks I'm cute!" She didn't even imitate our language; she very openly acknowledged her imitation of us. After all, everyone is her experience had told her that they loved her - therefore, everyone must. She would then make videos, like she did about a year ago, in which she looked into the camera and said, "I love me!" She simply appropriated what 'everyone' in her experience had told her - that she should imitate our overwhelming love for her in love for herself. I found it hilarious that she used a camera for this; after all, parents take pictures of their children to remember their precious little ones by. Therefore, she simply imitated that action, taking a picture of herself as an expression of her love for herself.

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Replies:

Re: "Everybody loves me!" -- Cara, 19:59:34 05/04/08 Sun