Painted Bird: how the boy changes

This boy has gone through a number of different villages, each one with one with different customs and each one with a different influence on him. He is only a boy. The novel covers his life from six years old to twelve years old. This is a very influential age. He has little knowledge or understanding of societies and has little way of learning more. All he has to go by are what he sees, hears, and participates in these secluded villages.

He begins as a boy who only wants to be loved and comforted, but is pushed away. He is constantly told that he is not accepted because of the way he looks. he is beaten. He sees continuous violence that he does not approve of or like. He is taught some sort of superstitious religion, then is told of God and changes his belief. All this time his thoughts and opinions are scrambled. He is told he is no good, then does not understand why he is. He thinks that his misfortune is due to his unfaithfulness toward God then he thinks it is because he looks like the cruel men on horses. It is all very confusing to him. He reaches for an opinion of himself that satisfies him and a life that is made well by this opinion. What I am trying to say is that he needs to be a certain way in order to have the life that he wants.

Well, everything becomes clear to him when the Soviet soldiers care for him and teach him all sorts of things. He is given more answers than anyone has given him , and they make sense and his life is good. This attention and infrmation given to him influence him and he forgets everything form before. But when he goes to the orphanage, he is a bad egg. He is filled with confidence and vengeful violence. This is not the same boy who looked at violent acts with distaste.

I am not sure if the author is saying that this is how war influences people or if this is how anybody can inflence a child.

This is the website. It talks about TV influencing children but the boy did see things that influenced him, like the train carrying the Jews and he thought how he now had lives in his hands. So it is like he was watching TV.
http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/children_and_tv_violence