Sons Of Anarchy: 10 Most Controversial Moments
5. Abel Turns To Harming Himself
One of the main overarching themes of Sons of Anarchy - aside from that weird emphasis on hands which is never fully realized nor explained - is family and the relationship between fathers and sons. Abel and Thomas serve as an underlying motivator for Jax throughout the series, propelling him in his quest to remove his club from the dangerous business of running drugs and guns and into something more respectable like...pornography and prostitution. And ice cream.
Despite Jax's and Tara's best efforts to shield the boys from the underbelly of their lifestyle, which truthfully weren't very effective at all, Abel is well aware of the environment he's in. The troubled young boy begins to manifest this stress through self-harm, first appearing as a scratch on his face that he blamed on his baby brother.
Later on in the episode we see Abel in the bathroom at school, as he removes his fork from his lunchbox. The next time he's shown he has bloody scrapes on his arm, which he blames on Gemma. This is a disturbing series of events for a child as young as Abel and really goes to expose how the gritty, violent lifestyle of the Sons can affect...the sons.