Birth and infancy

Bettelheim believes that cold and neglectful parenting was a factor in Joey's mechanization. He supports his hypothesis by describing an interview he had with Joey’s mother. He was “struck by her total indifference as she talked about Joey”. Joey was kept on a rigid four-hour feeding schedule and was never held unless it was necessary. Both Joey’s parents did not feel anything towards Joey. This indifference and psychological separation from Joey disabled him from having any emotions or personal affections as he never experienced it.

When Joey was a year and a half; his grandparents noticed a change occurred in Joey. He became ominously frail and distant. It was as if Joey built a wall between himself and the entire world and there was no way anyone could reach him. As he grew older and began to speak; he spoke only to himself. Joey was not always alone, eventually he found a friend. The machine. He grew an interest in machinery; he was able to disentangle an old electric fan and put it back together with extreme skill. It was as if machinery was the only thing Joey could relate to and it was the only thing he could understand. Joey wanted to become the machine. The disconnection he had with his family and the world lead to Joey's attempt at suicide. 

Three months later, Joey was admitted into the Orthogenic School under Bettelheim's care.

Childhood

Joey’s early childhood experience is what made him a machine. Lack of affection, caring and human touch created a mechanical boy. Bettelheim observed that Joey was making great effort to remain non-existent as a human being. During his first weeks under Bettelheim’s care, in the dining hall, Joey could only eat, once he has pulled out an invisible wire from his “energy source” and connect it to the table, “insulated” himself with paper napkins and “plugged” himself in. Joey believed that his “current” controlled his digestive system. Sometimes Joey would turn himself off, sit motionless and become mute. However, there are moments when Joey would move around so loudly until he “exploded”, he would grab any breakable item from his apparatus and as soon as it is shattered he would return to being mute again. Bettelheim explains that Joey “explodes” in order to close off any form of contact that is not from machinery. He refused to interact with anyone and for months his only reply to anyone was “Bam.”