This desire to keep the freak closed off from the world, to keep his family safe from its abnormal ways pushed Vernon to often do things that he never thought he would, starve a child if it kept his family safety then of course he must, lock the child away, if it was necessary then he had too and when the boy showed signs of the unnaturalness in public, putting his family's reputation at risk, Vernon had beat the child though it filled him with no pleasure he knew he must keep his family safe and so he did what was necessary.