Portrait the image of cruel mother in Heaney's poem, "Bye, Child"?

The portrait painted of the mother in Heaney's, Bye Child, is that of an evil, abusive, controlling woman. She abandons her child by keeping him locked in a pen like an animal, feeding him scraps through the door. He is described as "knelled and faithful" like a pet dog, but he is given none of the affection one would feel for a beloved pet. The boy is pale and sickly, and he cannot speak.... she never even afforded him words.