As an author, I don't engineer scenes based on principles of psychology. I write them as they unfold in my head with characters who are fleshed out in my imagination with backstories and baggage that never make it to the page. It is very rewarding for me to see the things I write hold up under scrutiny and analysis of human nature in general. Like any reader, I can also go back to these scenes and take them apart instance by instance, and feel very gratified when my character motivations bear out.

I did, however, write part about Grandpap protecting Eric from witnessing the brutal murder of an animal as a very deliberate plot device. As the story unfolds, we see ugliness in the Blevins household that makes it necessary to establish a sympathetic element in Grandpap or the reader will never understand why Eric is so loyal to him for so long. I am very, very grateful to you, Michel, for bringing this into the forefront of discussion.