FERAL CHILDREN
Feral Children are abandon children that are raised outside of society and survive with little or no human contact.
Peter
Peter was discovered in 1724 by a farmer, Jargen Meyer. The boy appeared to be about 12 years old and could not speak. He was able to get him to the hospital by showing two apples in his hands.
While in the hospital he was given the name Peter. Initial observations showed he had no signs of “civility”. He often waited on all fours for a chance to escape. Instead of sleeping in the bed provided, he opted to sleep on a straw pallet on the floor. Further observation showed that he would capture birds, tear them apart, and ate them in pieces. He didn’t like to wear cloths, but eventually tolerated them.
King George and Queen Caroline then took him in. Many tried to get Peter to talk, but the best he could do was ki sho, which meant King George, and qui ca, which meant Queen Caroline. He enjoyed music and even hummed his favorite songs. He was taught how to do some easy domestic work, under supervision, but never once did he laugh.
King George and Queen Caroline eventually turned the boy over to Dr. Arbuthnot. After studying Peter for 2 months he concluded that Peter did not have the mental capacity to learn. The King and Queen then had him placed with a farmer, Peter died in 1785.
“The Wild Boy of Aveyron” Victor
Victor was found on January 9, 1800 in a village of Saint-Serin in the South of France. He became the first feral child to be studied by practitioners of the newly emerging human sciences.
Eyewitness Constant-Saint-Estave’s account three weeks after his capture states:
“I found him sitting by a warm fire, which he seemed to enjoy, but showing signs of uneasiness from time to time, probably because of the great crowd of people around him… When I talked to him, it did not take long to discover he was a mute. Soon after that, when I noticed that he made no response to various questions I put him, in both a loud and soft voice, I decided that he must be deaf….When we reached my house, I decided he must be hungry…To find out what he liked, I had my servant offer him on a big earthernware platter raw and cooked meat, rye, and wheat bread, apples, pears, grapes, nuts, chestnuts, acorns, potatoes, parsnips, and an orange. He picked up the potatoes confidently and tossed them into the firs to cook them. One at a time he seized the other items, smelled them, and rejected them. With his right hand he picked the potatoes right out of the live coals and ate them roasting hot. There was no way to persuade him to let them cool off a little….When he got thirsty, he glanced around the room. Noticing the pitcher, he placed my hand in his without any other sign and led me to the pitcher…Some wine was brought, but he scorned it and showed impatience at my delay in giving him water to drink…” (cited in Shattuck 1980, 6-7) adapted from Sociology: a Critical Introduction 1996, 111.
Victor was not toilet trained and would go anywhere when he felt the need. When he was first in the hospital when dressed, Victor tore the cloths off. He would not sleep in the bed and he would try to escape whenever he could.
Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre noted that the boy was about 12 or 13 years old. He also noted that his body was covered in scars and stated that the boy had no malformation of the tongue or mouth or vocal cords.
He also observed that Victor relied on his senses in a different order than others. Victor’s sense of smell came first, then taste, and then touch. After studying him, Bonnaterre concluded that the boy was an imbecile.
Victor’s case was also taken on by Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard. He worked with deaf children. Itard did not believe Victor was an imbecile and he was going to try and socialize the boy. Itard wrote, “Humans are only what they have been made to be. Any human being has to learn his or her habits, needs, and ideas, and does so by imitating others under the influence of society.”
Itard taught Victor to learn how to dress himself, use the bathroom properly, and even showed him some letters. Victor even learned how to say some words. Other several years he displayed evidence of both intellectual and emotional growth. Victor eventually could set the table, garden, and saw wood. Itard eventually tired of his work and left Victor in the car of Mme Guerin. Victor died at the age of 40 in 1828.
More Recent Studies
Anna and Isabella
Kingsley Davis studied two extreme cases of isolation 1947. Anna was born in 1932, a child of a farm girl with a disapproving father. Anna was put up for adoption, but after 5 ½ months she was taken back to her family. They put her in the attic and paid very little attention to her. She was removed from the house when she turned six. At this time she could not walk, talk, or do anything that showed intelligence. She was extremely malnourished. While under her mother’s care she was pretty much only fed cow’s milk.
They discovered Isabella about 9 months after Anna. Again, this child was born to an illegitimate mother that was forced to keep her. Isabella had no chance to learn to speak or to communicate because the time spent with her mother was in the dark, plus her mother was deaf. Isabella was afraid of strangers and made croaking sounds. Since she spent her time in the dark and she had an improper diet, she had rickets. Her legs were also extremely bowed.
Genie
Genie was discovered in 1970. She
had been locked in an isolated room in her parent’s house for approximately 18
months. When they found her she was about 13 years old. She was discovered
only after her 50 year old mother applied for social assistance. When
authorities saw Genie they called the police right away. They described her as:
“a small withered, stooped girl who could barely walk and who held her hands up
as though resting them on an invisible rail.” (Sociology: a critical
introduction, 1996, 117.)
Characteristics:
Although Genie’s parents were charged with willful abuse, neither went to jail. Her 70 year old father committed suicide, and the charges were dropped against the mother because she was suffering under her husband’s abuse too.
Genie arrived at the hospital extremely malnourished. She could not stand up straight, walk, jump, or run. She was also extremely silent and constantly masturbated.
While at the hospital she did begin to change:
After 7 months-
· She
walked unsteadily
·
Became somewhat toilet
trained.
·
Learned some new words
·
Spoke some single words
After another month-
After 12 months-
Unlike other children, Genie new very little grammar and did not learn to ask questions. Researchers argued that the reason for this was because Genie missed a critical stage in language development.