Pat Conroy

Growing up in what today is considered a dysfunctional family, Pat Conroy took advantage of this opportunity to write some of the most intriguing stories of his past that capture the attention of his readers. In the movie "Prince of Tides" that was based on his life, Pat Conroy attempts to draw the viewer into his own world, and give them the chance to experience the pain that he has experienced while growing up. Brought up in a family that consisted of his mother, father, older brother, and a twin sister, he was introduced to a lot of hate and violence at an early age. His father would physically abuse their mother. When this would go on the three kids would attempt to escape this harsh reality by running to a nearby lake and jump in, trying to stay underwater for as long as possible. This technique however could not let them escape this reality forever. As a child Pat was a peaceful kid. He tended to relate more to his mother, and in return received warm words of compassion from her. She would tell him that he was her favorite child, and that she loved him more than she loved the rest of her kids. She also told him that he would be the only one that would amount up to anything in their whole family because he was the smartest one out of all of them. This seemed to have an unpleasant effect on him. He seemed to feel hurt by hearing his own mother say such things to him. He later found out that his mother told his brother and his sister exactly the same things about them too. Because of incidents like that, Pat later expresses the hate that he has for his mother and his unwillingness to see her. At the age of twelve, Pat, his mother and his sister were all brutally raped by three men that escaped from a nearby prison. This incident had such an effect on his twin poetic sister that she later on in life made several attempts to tak