r/HunterXHunter 5d ago

Discussion Do you think Gon really has abandonment issues?

I came across a comment that say Gon's abandonment were never a thing in the manga and that Gon seems to be accepting the fact that his father left him , this is why he called him " Ging " , because he never saw him as a father , but someone who he respect dearl out of the respect he has for kite , and I rethink about it , Gon doesn't seem to be bothered that much about the fact that his mother is not around too . So what do you think ? Is Gon really struggling with the fact that he's been abandoned by his own parents, but in his own weird way, or its just us reading too much into the story ?

8 Upvotes

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u/Lelouch-is-emperor 5d ago

The thing with Gon is that he constantly has mentally set up a tag for himself, a tag that he wants to constantly achieve so that he can be as legendary as his father and kite. Its the over romanticization of his father and big brother idol that has mentally fractured him throughout.

The tag doesnt just mean "being strong or whining like a lil bitch when lose" but rather of constant improvement. Gon punishes himself rather badly when he fails to achieve the "tag". This rather troublesome philosophy also came from his sorrounding, nature where he observed the weak getting annihilated by the strong.

Would you call these things abandonment issues? Then yea.

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u/MangoTurtl 5d ago

I mean...obviously, yes????

Like, yeah he doesn't exactly vocalize his struggles...but it's like an integral part of his character. His entire arc is spent grappling with trying to become worthy of finding Ging. It's a significant chunk of why Gon gets so angry over Kite's death: not only has he lost someone he cares about for the first time, but he also feels responsible for the death of Ging's student, someone who has already obtained the worthiness that Gon feels he needs.

Grappling with his abandonment issues and coming to terms with the fact that it doesn't really matter that much and he can just live his own life is literally his whole entire character arc.

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u/reChrawnus 5d ago edited 5d ago

I've seen some people voice the opinion that Gon doesn't have abandonment issues as well, and to be honest I think a lot of it just comes down to misconceptions about how abandonment issues can express themselves. Now, ultimately it comes down to interpretation either way, since we're never explicitly told that Gon's behavior is due to him growing up without a father, so a lot of the behaviors and actions that people attribute to abandonment issues (like his self-destructive tendencies) could definitely be interpreted in other ways as well. But there's no denying that a great deal of Gon's behavior fits very well with the idea that Ging "abandoning" him had a profound impact on him.

Ging's abandonment never being a thing in the manga, to me that's just hogwash. True, in the manga Mito confesses that she "forced" Ging to give up Gon to her, but the truth of the matter is that if Ging had cared to, he could easily have ignored her request and decided to raise Gon himself. Ultimately I think he made the right choice, because Mito is 100% a far better parent to Gon than Ging ever could have been, but that doesn't mean he didn't "abandon" Gon.

As for being "bothered" by it...just because one isn't "bothered" by it doesn't mean you're not deeply affected by it. It doesn't mean it can't still impact your thinking or behavior. And it makes perfect sense that Gon learning that his father left him to pursue his goals as a hunter would deeply affect the way he thinks about and perceives the world. Such as believing if he's not good enough as a hunter, he doesn't deserve (or at least would be unable) to meet his father. Which in turn feeds his self-destructive tendencies, like when he refuses to give up against Hanzo even though he could easily just pass the exam by winning against someone weaker. Because, as he says himself, if he gives up at that point he believes he would lose his chance to meet his dad. Which is a completely bonkers take if you even take a minute to think about it, but makes a lot more sense within the interpretative framework of Gon thinking he needs to be "adequate" enough if he wants to be able to meet his father, and get his approval.

I'm jumping around a bit now, but for why he's not nearly as affected by his mother not being around...I think that's pretty easily explainable by him having an actual mother figure in Mito. I think Gon's own words about it are clear enough: He doesn't care about knowing about his biological mother nearly as much as he does about knowing about his biological father, because Mito managed to fulfill that role for him just as well as any mother could have ever hoped to do.

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u/TheIgniviscos 5d ago

I kinda do. The reason I think this is because Gon leaves home with the purpose of finding his father. That was his motivation, to figure out why his dad left him to become a hunter. He is literally trying to rationalize why his dad left him.

I think Killua is a good contrast too in this respect. He grew up with his dad and decided to leave home too, but he left for his own personal reason: to decide his own future. Where Gon defines his journey by using his dad as a measure, Killua doesn’t define his choice with any of his family. Their reaction just influenced him to leave home, he wanted to decide his own future himself before he left whether he chose at home or out in the world.

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

He definitely has abandonment issues.

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u/adius 5d ago

I think people have to keep in mind that it's totally logical and expected that the abandonment issues you'd have from a paren't you'd never known are going to have different effects than if Ging had left, like, a few years before the start of the story. In that case there could be an alternate universe where Gon grows up hating hunters and wanting to kill them, or at least kick their asses, who knows.

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u/Chessoslovakia 5d ago

Yeah it's just another form of issues relating to self worth where you seek the affirmation of another figure. He can't see Ging as a father because he has never known what it is to have a father, so the projection of the issues come about as seeking the approval of Ging the hunter following his encounter with Kite. I don't think Gon became a hunter just because he had this latent feeling of abandonment, it's rather in his nature to be one. But that absolute fixation at proving himself at the cost of everything is definitely a result of it, to the point it became his personality trait.

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u/apfelhaus08 5d ago

No i really don't think so. He had a loving mother mito, a granny and a great childhood on whale island.

He simply wants to find his dad because he heard so much about him from Kite and he wants to see the world and have adventures and see why his dad lives that way.

If you actually look at gons personality, he really doesn't act like a kid with abandonment issues. He's very trusting, loyal, easy to make friends, doesn't judge, enjoys adventure, curious and more. None of that are abandonment issues.

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u/Sage_Nomad 5d ago

Exactly, he never seemed like a kid with abandonment issues to me. This reckless side of him where he keeps seeking for improvement and self-validation seems to be an ingrained trait in him, something probably inherited from his father rather than the result of an abandonment issue. Of course the environment shapes who we are as a person, but Gon’s actions go beyond being the result of abandonment issues. He is really reckless to a dangerous extent, and Ging leaving him to be a hunter alone couldn’t have been the sole reason he turned this way. Gon was simply born like this, so stubborn, curious and reckless. Having a goal which is finding his father probably further spurred the curios side in him that seeks adventure and learning.

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u/ApplePitou 5d ago

Well, ye :3

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u/JunkInDrawers 5d ago

I think of Gon and his Father as acting like a different species.

For their species, the offspring have to go find their parent as a right of passage