Function Order: Fi-Se-Ni-Te

Eric measures everything according to his feelings about it, and has a lot of contempt for his family’s actions, behaviors, and how they will not trust him to handle more than a little bit of their family business. He resents his father for not giving him more work to do, but also is moody, emotional, and unpredictable. He picks up Eva at a bar, has an affair with her, and then feels guilt about his actions (he forced her after she had second thoughts) so he tries to make it up to her by providing financially for her, and continuing to see her on an ongoing basis, even stealing money from their clients to support her. He justifies his actions as ‘moral’ because they were on her behalf, and is shocked at his parents’ lack of feeling when they learn about her suicide. Much like his sister, he doesn’t want to brush this aside or move on from it, but wants to take responsibility for his role in what happened. He drinks to excess and evaluates things on a surface level—assuming he can do as he pleases without thinking about the potential repercussions, saying he will accept prison time if it’s required, not thinking about Eva’s deeper needs and focusing on her immediate ones, and taking pleasure in her company. He wants to go away and fight in a war, and expresses his wish that the war would kill off his parents, because he cannot stand them. As the inspector talks, his lower Ni starts making him suspect his own involvement in the sequence of events, so he demands to see the girl’s portrait about whom they are talking. His hunch is right, he did know her after all. He can be blunt and mean in his statements, accusing his father of not trusting him and saying that he probably has taken a mistress as well in front of his mother.

Enneagram: 9w1 sp/sx

Eric is unhappy with his life, but rather than asserting himself more forcefully, he has become saturated in temporary distractions and bad habits – drinking and womanizing to forget his miseries. He is passive and apathetic, avoidant of conflict and it takes him a lot before he admits to his own anger about the situation or how his father treats him. He feels resentment about how he is under-used in the family and not trusted, but also isn’t above lying and stealing to provide for the girl he cares about. He’s willing to accept prison time without a fight, too, but the more the inspector talks to him, the more his 1 wing sense of responsibility and justice starts to take over. He becomes repentant, desirous of doing the right thing, and wants to find and help Eva when he thinks she might still be alive.