Here is where Eli stored the memories of his parents and unhappy childhood

Eli quite possibly repressed many memories from his boyhood, which he felt to be unhappy

Perhaps the thing Eli did not know he wanted was a motherly love- he could not have it because his was dead.

A sibling rivalry took place as neither of the parents paid attention to the children

By puffing himself up and thriving on his success, Eli kept his pain out of his conscious mind

Eli did not see the pain of his children or wives, which he abandons, but saw only the pain he felt he himself was caused.

Eli never seems to admit that he and Lou do not get along well.

Eli avoids his children and grandchildren, as well as Lou and Arlene

Eli takes his anger out on the couple at Arlene's dinner

Eli projects that it is Lou who has a problem

The fact that Eli has been married 6 times and also engaged in affairs and prositution suggets that he has low self-esteem and an intimacy issue

Perhaps Eli does not become intimate with his wives because he fears their abandoning him when they come to know him

Eli had a very dysfunctional bond with his mother--he did not have one at all.

Eli ultimately drives himself into demensia

As Eli fears and dreads death, he perhaps feels as though he will be abandoned

A fear of intimacy is shown in Eli's multiple wives- never staying with one long enough to get close

Perhaps Eli felt that the only way to escape his death and cease to dread it was to cause it

A great sex drive in seen in Eli's wives- particularly the final and youngest one

Eli's ego was very large; he came off as though he was very confident though inside this was probably not the case

Metaphors were used in Eli's novels for things that had happened in his lfie

displacement

This tool is one commonly used by Eli as he writes about his brother and each of his wives in his books