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Through facing the truth about his parents, Wylan faces the truth about himself. Though Van Eck has been consistently vicious to his son, Wylan still makes excuses for him at the beginning of the novel, even seeming to shrug off his father’s attempt to have him killed. Kindhearted Wylan finds it hard to accept that his father truly intended for him to die. Instead of seeing his unfit father for the cruel monster he is, Wylan internalizes his criticism and violence and believes he is unworthy, powerless, and unfit to run his father’s estate. This conviction largely centers on Van Eck’s constant criticism of Wylan’s illiteracy, ignoring the many other talents his son has for music, art, explosives, and friendship. Wylan’s perception of himself, born out of shame, is reoriented, however, when he discovers that his mother is not dead, as his father had told him. When faced with his father’s cruelty toward his mother, which consists of taking her freedom and stealing her resources, Wylan learns righteous anger and begins to believe in his own power and strength. He expertly lies to his father, takes a staged beating, and defeats his father’s public accusations of his illiteracy. Dedicated to freeing his mother, and freed from his father’s scrutiny, Wylan becomes acquainted with the beauty and power of who he truly is.
