Was Barb an intelligent woman? -

[ChurchOfGodBear]

I've been sitting on this topic for a few days, since the FB tirades take priority, but now that we're in a lull, I'd like to ask this question: Prior to Chris's declined into adulthood, do you think Barb was a woman of above-average, or even normal mental capacity? I have my reasons for asking.

We know very little about Barb, compared to how much we know about Bob or Chris. We do know she has a history of making bad decisions. We knew she liked to party. We knew she found Bob one night and eventually decided to marry him, for love, tugboat, or both. None of this is behavior that indicates a crazy hoarder lady, per se.

Several years in, Barb takes her young son to the doc and is told he has TISM, and she's afraid he'll be a houseplant his whole life. Here's where I ask about her intelligence: in that situation, ANYONE with ANY brains will be thinking of what the endgame is. Barb HAD to know she would outlive Bob. Combine the naturally longer female lifespan with her having fewer years on him, and the chances of her dying first were remarkably low, and she had to know this. There's also no reason to think Chris would die before her... not only is HighFunctioningTardism not a terminal condition, but outliving your child is something no parent even wants to consider. So with this in mind... WHY didn't Barb EVER try to find a long-term solution for Chris? If he really was going to be as feeble as she feared, then she'd essentially be abandoning an infant in the woods on her untimely demise. The fact that Chris actually grew up to be able to walk and talk doesn't change the fact that he's ill-equipped to deal with the world, and Barb should have known it from the day the Aspergian papers were handed to her. Even if "institutions" were as medieval as Barb imagined, it would still be a better long-term answer than leaving an Adult Autistic Child to fend for themselves.

To wit: How fucking dumb WAS Barb to never even consider what would happen to Chris? I feel like we have to conclude she's too stupid to have been trusted with a child in the first place, or if she's at all intelligent, she's the most selfish bitch in the world. I'm trying to find a third option and it's not happening. Help?

 

[CatParty]

I put her at about dumb as a stump. But from a different era. Like she isn't that right because her path in life wasn't set out to make her the brightest. Aside from possible personality disorders, this can explain her combative attitude. The other telling thing is that she expects people to believe her without question. Case and point: Cole's biological father.

 

[Grand Number of Pounds]

It's not lack of intelligence that Barb doesn't consider what will happen to Chris once she's gone. It's that Barb is profoundly selfish. CWC is just her snuggle bunny and servant.

 

[Picklepower]

From what I read on the Cwcki she sounded like a dumb alcoholic.

 

[SodomyRocket]

While we are on the subject can anyone think of any thing positive about barb because I can't.

 

[WhiteKnight]

I believe Barb was naive on the subject of autism. I don't question that Barb was intelligent. She managed to work until retirement which is obvious that she was not always lethargic and so...unpleasant. I think the real question was what was Barbs upbringing? I think Barb had some very severe issues in her life which were lingering after she had children. I think her personal dysfunction was paramount into the tragedy of Christian Weston Chandler, and not so much due to stupidity.

 

[QI 541]

A decade ago, Barb must have thought Chris could be a normal functioning member of society. After Chris failed that expectation, she probably decided that Chris could simply survive on his tugboat and inheritance as long as he stays out of trouble. Now, she's probably too busy dealing with her holey buttocks to figure something out for Chris.

Barb may be a psychotic bitch, but she still cares for Chris to some extent.

 

[Kosher Dill]

To wit: How fucking dumb WAS Barb to never even consider what would happen to Chris?

Personally, my theory is that Bob and Barb kept themselves in denial until PVCC. Of course Chris will be fine, he beat autism and graduated high school with honor roll! (which actually meant something back in their day)

Until reality smacked them in the face too hard to ignore, I think they convinced themselves Chris had learned enough to be stable and hold down some sort of unremarkable blue-collar job. By the time everything fell apart, he was a grown man (legally speaking) and they couldn't just send him to the funny farm.

 

[WhiteKnight]

A decade ago, Barb must have thought Chris could be a normal functioning member of society. After Chris failed that expectation, she probably decided that Chris could simply survive on his tugboat and inheritance as long as he stays out of trouble. Now, she's probably too busy dealing with her holey buttocks to figure something out for Chris.

Barb may be a psychotic bitch, but she still cares for Chris to some extent.

There has been evidence that Chris is capable of being a adult. He has gained employment (albeit very briefly) and acquired a CADD degree (albeit a very long winded journey to said degree), and his various moments of internet fame may have swayed Barb into the mindset that Christian would fulfill any expectations of responsibility, yet he never quite got it together. One thing that has not been displayed as fact is Barbs disappointment in Chris. It is assumed that she merely gives him "buttpats" and never applied any sort of guidance or accountability. There is always the possibility that she is the shell of a woman that we see now because of 30 years of shattered expectations and motherly sympathy.

 

[DangDirtyTrolls]

If she was she appears to have done the intellectual equivalent of let herself go.

 

[Grand Number of Pounds]

Raymond has a point. More than likely, Bob told Barb that he'd take care of Chris and that he'd set Chris up with a tugboat to make sure he'd survive. Unfortunately, he never taught Chris how to be disciplined with his money.

I'd say Barb is about as intelligent as Chris, which isn't saying much. Bob's two children from his first marriage managed to do something with their lives, so he raised two kids well, why he failed with Chris I don't know. Chris obviously shares more characteristics with Barb than with Bob.

I agree with white knight that Barb was probably traumatized in some way and that she never got help and she became a deranged hoarder after she retired. Maybe her job kept her occupied from her personal issues, but after she retired she didn't have a release anymore and she became increasingly unhinged. I disagree with white knight that Barb is intelligent because she hasn't done anything to prove it.

 

[BALLZ-BROKEN]

Barb was a secretary for many years, according to Chris. She had to be cordial, a good typist, and able to "multitask", to use the parlance of soul sucking HR people. She might as made it as far as middle management, as far as we know. So, I'm guessing she was at least average to slightly higher intelligence.

But, there's a difference between "intelligent" and having "common sense" and "not being an evil manipulating bitch".

 

[Lady Houligan]

Per Forrest Gump, "Stupid is as stupid does." And since I have yet to see Barb do anything remarkable in terms of intelligence but plenty in the terms of stupid? I'd lean towards no.

 

[Da Pickle Monsta]

I'm going to say that Barb was at least intelligent enough to keep a job, but not much more than that.

 

[JULAY]

Barb was a secretary for many years, according to Chris. She had to be cordial, a good typist, and able to "multitask", to use the parlance of soul sucking HR people. She might as made it as far as middle management, as far as we know. So, I'm guessing she was at least average to slightly higher intelligence.

But, there's a difference between "intelligent" and having "common sense" and "not being an evil manipulating bitch".

Hey now, HR people don't suck souls. We suck the very essence of existence out of people, leaving them as dessicated husks. But not souls.

Also, secretaries don't go to middle management. EVER. Period. And I sincerely doubt that she was ever even a secretary for a middle management type. I'd guess that she was the secretary you get in your first managerial role that you remember as an incompetent, unpleasant bitch as you progress through your career.

 

[Kosher Dill]

As far as a direct answer to the question goes, I think she started out as a stone-cold-average country bumpkin with a few psychological issues, before she started her long mental decline.

 

[Johnny Bravo]

In the pictures we have of her she seems to spend most of her time on the couch amidst her horde, presumably watching television, and she lacks that wry glint in her eyes that we see in Bob's pictures. I think Bob was definitely the brains of their marriage. I think if Barb was intelligent, if she was above average, she would not be content spending her retirement rotting away in an easy chair. Unlike Bob, she doesn't appear to have any hobbies. She's not doing anything to maintain an active mind, which probably indicates she doesn't have one.

 

[JULAY]

As far as a direct answer to the question goes, I think she started out as a stone-cold-average country bumpkin with a few psychological issues, before she started her long mental decline.

When Bob and Chris said they didn't want spaghetti for dinner, that long decline began.

 

[Sakamoto]

I don't think Barb was ever a smart person. She has a history of making bad choices. She had some menial office job that probably didn't require much brain power. Her only real skill seems to be buying junk to add to her hoard. I can't think of anything good she's accomplished with her life. A lot of Chris' problems can be traced back to her babying him. She's been an awful parent and should have just bought a poodle instead of having a kid. Bob was just too old to be a good parent and just seemed to go along with whatever Barb wanted rather than create any stress, but all of his kids from his previous marriage turned out to be productive members of society, while Barb's previous child, Cole, only confirms what a bad parent she was.

Barb has always been stupid, and always will be.

 

[Coldgrip]

The only "intelligence" she's displayed was an ability to manipulate the people around her. So while she may not be smart in an academic sense, or common sense for that matter, she's clever enough to guilt, cajole, threaten and use love as a means to get what she wants. Which makes me wonder; if this is how she treated her family, how did she treat her friends (assuming she had any)?