Kennedy, A. L. "A Perfect Possession".

Summary

- an intimate confession of parents attempting to supress what they consider evil in their child by the means of their love to the boy and to God 

Analysis

The Title

- the complete ("perfect") possession of a child by his parents

- "perfect" as a quality the parents seek to achieve in their boy

The Child

- a boy of about six, apparently physically and mentally suffering

- strikes the reader as a very normal child possessing qualities natural for a boy of that age

The Parents

- rigid church-goers, believers in the Original Sin (see their conception of a child as a sin) and in the depravity of human race (thence also the depravity of their child)