Who actually RAISED Randall?

[randallsnape7]

Who in the world actually raised Randall? His mother? His father? His Grandparents? His Aunt and Uncle? Foster parents? An orphanage? (PLEASE, not that... okay? That is WAAAAY too much like 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince', which shows Tom Marvolo Riddle growing up in Wool's Orphanage with Mrs. Cole. So, I'll say in advance, I am NOT buying that theory, regardless of what you might say! No... just no, please.)

Still... what are your thoughts? A theory for each? Randall OBVIOUSLY had a mother and father, but what do you think they did?

Despite that YouTube video "When She Loved Me", I personally think Randall was raised by ONLY his mother... I think his father probably died when he was no younger than a baby or a toddler - not long enough to make a lasting impression (unless you're Leia Skywalker! LOL). But, I truly think that Randall lived alone with his mother, and she was a widow. I think they lived out in the country, or a rural area like you've said. Mother personalities? The only kind of acting personality I can picture - and always have pictured - for Randall's mother, is Laurie Metcalf.... not like Andy's Mom, but more like when she plays Cora in "Mr. Monk Bumps His Head" (Episode 11, Season 4). That episode also happens to be one of my favorites from Season 4, next to the previous one, "Mr. Monk Goes to A Fashion Show" (Episode 10, Season 4). It's so quaint and simple as far as 'MONK' stories go, but I just really like it. In case you haven't seen that episode, Cora, aside from her totally taking advantage of Adrian Monk's temporary amnesia while stranded in Wyoming to make him "her HUSBAND, Jerry the Roofer", is simple-minded, tough, and quite the 'redneck' (I'm sorry if that term offends you like the term 'hillbilly', but frankly, I don't know what else to call it, but it's the quickest and most time-efficient for me at the moment. No offense intended.). Anyway, I think that simple, tough, "redneck" edge is the kind of mother Randall would have had, especially if she found herself fighting off lizard-discrimination on a regular basis on her and her son's behalf.

Maybe Mrs. Boggs spent her whole life working as a farmer, and never got to go to college. I'm sorry if you disagree along this whole train of thought, but even before I ever discovered Boggs' Board, I always thought Randall's mother must have been a lot like Cora. Quite honestly, if we were to see Mrs. Boggs in a flashback in 'Monsters 3', I think Laurie Metcalf would be the perfect voice actor for her.

[pitbulllady]

We don't know, honestly, but Randall has always manifested characteristics of someone who did not have anything close to a normal family life. Even the Psychologist's profile of him describes him as being from a "dysfunctional family". Whether that family was biological, or adopted, or an orphanage, we just do not know. I can say, having taught school for nearly 30 years, and having had many, many foster kids in my classrooms, that Randall DOES in fact exhibit many characteristics of long-term foster kids, kids who have been shuffled from one home to another, who develop the beginnings of that APD because no sooner than they start to make new friends and warm up to a new family, they are packed up and sent away to live with a new "family", new "siblings", new "parents", new school, etc. His obvious desperation to make friends and find a place to fit in indicates that he's been denied these two very basic social aspects for a long time, for whatever reasons. Even Dan Scanlon described Randall behavior as "almost trying TOO hard" to make friends.

I don't think that Randall had a father figure in his life, not for most of it, anyway. I don't know if his real father was deceased, or if he'd left(as Sulley's did), or if he was there, but took little notice of his son, or if Randall had ever known who his father was. Based on MU, I do believe that he was raised mostly by a female caregiver, though we do not know if that was his actual mother, or a grandparent, aunt, foster parent, or what. I also tend to think that she was older than most parents would be, and that in fact the entire culture/region in which Randall spent most of his childhood was probably a very rural setting, one that would be perceived as "backwards" or "hick" by city people. Randall's speech, along with his Spartan belongings, most of which are old themselves, indicates that he did not come from a financially well-to-do background at all. I can certainly agree with your statement that whoever raised him probably WAS a farmer, a simple rural person, and that Randall grew up in that rural, agricultural setting. He uses archaic words like "pal" or "chum", which he'd probably heard old folks still using, he has no clue what is considered trendy or "hip", his view of "cool kids" is anyone who is NOT like him, those who have money, trendy things, and come from an educated background themselves. Randall is probably the first in his family to even pursue an education past high school at all. As someone who grew up on a farm, out in the country, surrounded by old people, I can absolutely relate to Randall 100%. I spent most of my life feeling like a fish out of water, and fortunately, college DID provide some opportunity I had never had before to find a niche and fit in, sort of. Randall never did find that niche, or rather, that niche turned out to be false, and he found out that he was being used. I also believe that Randall is secretly ashamed of his background, because he's been told by the "cool kids" that he's a hick, a nobody, a "redneck" most likely, and he's come to the conclusion that his rural roots are holding him down, that they're the reason why no one likes him, and if he wants to ever be liked, he's got to shake that image and try not to act like some country bumpkin, that he's got to try to act more like the kids from the big city, i.e., the COOL kids, if he is ever going to be successful. Again, I can relate so much to this, because I was literally TOLD by guidance counselors, etc., that I had to hide my own background and upbringing and totally change my way of looking at the world if I was going to amount to anything. There is a LOT of pressure on kids from rural backgrounds, in the South and Midwest(and Randall has a STRONG Midwestern accent, so much so that a lot of people who saw MU misunderstood his words, especially when he and Mike first meet)especially, to change to conform to the "norms" of big cities like New York or Chicago or Los Angeles. Randall's not the only student at MU feeling that sort of pressure, either, to deny his background and to try to conform to the big city "norms": if you've traveled enough and been exposed to a variety of regional dialects, as I have, you can pick up that swampy South Louisiana accent in Johnny Worthington's speech more than once! My brother, who has never been outside of the Carolinas and Georgia, even heard it during that "charity" scene where Johnny says, "dat's not cool", to Mike, and commented that Johnny's sweater needed a caveat-"Warning! Can Go From Preppy to Swamp People in .08 Seconds"! I'd just about guarantee that his old man made him take speaking lessons to lose his natural accent when the moved up north, but even still Johnny forgets how to pronounce a "th" at the beginning of words now and then. I think it's really sad that our overall work culture has to make people feel ashamed of where they came from, their own local cultures, if that clashes with what the powers that be consider to be successful.

pitbulllady

[randallsnape7]

Hey, thanks for your response. One quick thing: I know you're a Monk fan, but you didn't confirm in your reply whether you had seen "Mr. Monk Bumps His Head" or not... the point I was sort of making in my theories on Randall's mother is that Cora is a very interesting character to watch. She is rather funny, but she's really, really lost in her own little world... far more than any avoidant personality disorder. A TOTAL fish out of water situation for Adrian, let alone being in a state of amnesia. If Cora knew ALL the places Monk had been and all the crimes he'd solved, she'd feel as if she'd been dumped on the planet Neptune. You know? There's even a scene where Monk is doing an investigation and Cora flippantly goes "Yackity-yack-yack, what is he TALKING about?!".

Whereas most mothers would be spending their child's preteen and adolescent years preparing them for what's out there in the world, Randall's mother probably knew NOTHING that was considered popular or trendy for city people, and as a result, was unable to teach or prepare Randall for things like socializing with kids his age, how to avoid getting in with the wrong crowd, and what to do if being used by a crook. Randall probably spent a HUGE portion of his life just helping his Mom out with farming and household duties.

Spartan belongings? Could be a 'thing' Randall and his Mom might have had for Ancient Greece. Maybe In Mrs. Boggs' mind, Ancient Greek philosophers represented smart, academic, educated people... everything Mrs. Boggs doesn't have. She, like me when I was really young, probably automatically assumed that everyone in Greece still wore togas and laurels instead of Modern Greek clothing. I also have grown up with a longstanding personal fondness for Ancient Greece, myself. I have to admit that I can really relate to Randall Boggs, and I see where he's coming from. There are a LOT of things out there in the world I didn't learn until MUCH later in life. I'm far more eccentric than I would ever care to admit, and I'm a bit of a geek, mostly. I'm probably as keenly perceptive and emotional as Adrian Monk, and as talkative and nerdy as Monk's neighbor, Kevin Dorfman.

Anyway, let me know if you know who Cora is. If you do, I'll say again, I think she's very close to how I would imagine Mrs. Boggs.

[pitbulllady]

Mar 26, 2014 0:19:36 GMT -5 randallsnape7 said:

Hey, thanks for your response. One quick thing: I know you're a Monk fan, but you didn't confirm in your reply whether you had seen "Mr. Monk Bumps His Head" or not... the point I was sort of making in my theories on Randall's mother is that Cora is a very interesting character to watch. She is rather funny, but she's really, really lost in her own little world... far more than any avoidant personality disorder. A TOTAL fish out of water situation for Adrian, let alone being in a state of amnesia. If Cora knew ALL the places Monk had been and all the crimes he'd solved, she'd feel as if she'd been dumped on the planet Neptune. You know? There's even a scene where Monk is doing an investigation and Cora flippantly goes "Yackity-yack-yack, what is he TALKING about?!".

Whereas most mothers would be spending their child's preteen and adolescent years preparing them for what's out there in the world, Randall's mother probably knew NOTHING that was considered popular or trendy for city people, and as a result, was unable to teach or prepare Randall for things like socializing with kids his age, how to avoid getting in with the wrong crowd, and what to do if being used by a crook. Randall probably spent a HUGE portion of his life just helping his Mom out with farming and household duties.

Spartan belongings? Could be a 'thing' Randall and his Mom might have had for Ancient Greece. Maybe In Mrs. Boggs' mind, Ancient Greek philosophers represented smart, academic, educated people... everything Mrs. Boggs doesn't have. She, like me when I was really young, probably automatically assumed that everyone in Greece still wore togas and laurels instead of Modern Greek clothing. I also have grown up with a longstanding personal fondness for Ancient Greece, myself. I have to admit that I can really relate to Randall Boggs, and I see where he's coming from. There are a LOT of things out there in the world I didn't learn until MUCH later in life. I'm far more eccentric than I would ever care to admit, and I'm a bit of a geek, mostly. I'm probably as keenly perceptive and emotional as Adrian Monk, and as talkative and nerdy as Monk's neighbor, Kevin Dorfman.

Anyway, let me know if you know who Cora is. If you do, I'll say again, I think she's very close to how I would imagine Mrs. Boggs.

Yes, I have seen that episode, but it's been a very long time since I saw it. If I'm not mistaken, Laurie Metcalf played Cora, a very eccentric(putting it mildly) old cowgirl who claimed to be Mr. Monk's wife, when he couldn't remember who HE was.

And no, the word "Spartan" does not literally mean that it refers to ancient Greece. It is a figure of speech, denoting something that is sparse, because the Spartans did not believe in keeping a lot of "stuff" and only owned things which were necessary for them to exist. Compared to Mike, Randall has few personal belongings in MU. He has his bed spread and luggage, a throw run, that "Winds of Change" poster, a 1960's style portable tv and stereo amplifier, that pointy object(an award of some sort, maybe?) on top of his desk, two bookends shaped like horns and a lot of old books. His side of the room is very neat and orderly, almost TOO much so for a college student. College students tend to have a lot of stuff, things that say "ME", like Mike's collection of Scarer posters.

pitbulllady

[randallsnape7]

What a coincidence! If I were living in a college dorm, I would have my stuff organized JUST as neatly as Randall's. Good for him!

And yes, I actually mentioned Laurie Metcalf as Cora. Like I said above, I think she'd be an ideal voice actress for Randall's mother in a flashback scene in 'Monsters 3'. Incidentally, if I'm not mistaken, I thought I read on Wikipedia once that Laurie Metcalf actually won an Emmy Award for playing Cora in "Mr. Monk Bumps His Head". ()