Factors from a person's past can influence how they will succeed or fail in the future. For example, John Wayne Gacy had a horrible childhood and from those experiences became one of the deadliest serial killers. The terrible early years of life he experienced affected the outcome of his later years. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayEarly life trauma can have harmful effects on the human brain. John Wayne Gacy grew up watching his alcoholic father beat his mother and siblings, while being beaten himself. This obviously caused Gacy to become a different person than he would have been without watching and experiencing this abuse. The psychological effects on a child witnessing domestic violence related to Gacy are poor judgment, lying, and aggression). This childhood trauma helped shape the decisions Gacy would make in the future. Gacy grew up in a blue collar family and had a pretty horrible life. Gacy was not only an outsider at home, but he was also an outsider at school. He could barely play with other children due to a heart problem. Gacy later discovered that he was attracted to males, which caused more confusion and pain. Eventually, he grew out of some of these circumstances and was well-liked in his community during his adulthood. He often dressed up as a clown for children's parties, which made him even more endearing to his community. Even though the people around him loved him, he clearly still had problems. A quick guess as to why Gacy became a killer was because of his past. Another reason could be because he was obviously trapped in his sexuality. He married, divorced, remarried and had some children. While he was secretive about his sexuality, one might assume that he tried to hide it through marriage and children. This is most likely the main reason why he targeted his sexual assaults on young people. John Wayne Gacy, also known as "the killer clown", killed around thirty young and adult men. He used his construction job to lure boys by promising them jobs, but ultimately captured, sexually assaulted and killed the young hopeful. In some of his murders he dressed up in a clown costume to sexually abuse and strangle his victims. Police would eventually discover that Gacy hid most of the bodies in a crawl space and some under his house. He was evidently caught by suspicious police who obtained a search warrant for his house and found the boys' bodies. Gacy was soon tried, found guilty, and in 1994 was executed by lethal injection. Please note: this is just a sample. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay A person's life can be altered by the experiences they had as a child. The psychological damage a child suffers guarantees that the pain will follow them directly into adulthood. Therefore, this causes the adolescent to thrive or wither. The story of John Wayne Gacy proves that it is possible to break away from one's past, because his terrible childhood transformed him into the monster we all know today as "the killer clown".”.