Claire was in a dark period in her life, and not getting along with her mother when she and her mother, Carole, were involved in a catastrophic car accident. Claire, at the wheel, was unharmed, but Carole was left brain dead. Carole's sister, Lindsey, clearly blames Claire for the accident, and makes sure that Claire feels guilty about it.
Claire's estranged father, Christian, encourages Claire to take her mother off of life-support, but Claire refuses. She still has hope that her mother will awaken, and issues to resolve with her.
When Claire finds out she's pregnant she's quite unhappy. Boyfriend Thomas says he'd like to keep the baby, and talks her into trying out their relationship. Claire said her mom would disown her and Thomas said she basically has already. But the relationship failed and Thomas split up with her.
Claire is afraid her baby will reject her. During her labor, she fearfully told Kate: "It's not going to want me... It knows I don't want it - that I was going to give it away. Babies know that stuff. " Fortunately, Kate convinces her to push past her fear and Baby Littleton is born safe and sound on the jungle floor.
Claire is so afraid someone will harm her still nameless baby, (dubbed Turnip Head by Charlie) that she refuses to sleep, for fear of letting the little dude out of her sight. Charlie convinces Claire to entrust him with the care of the rather enormous newborn.
Claire's lack of a name choice reflects the psychological and emotional detachment, the forced ambivalence resultant from the formerly impending adoption. She struggled with conflicting feelings of desire, guilt, fear and hope, all the while distancing herself from feelings of motherly love, up until the moment of birth. The detachment was reinforced by the uncertainty of survival on the island, the looming dangers of giving birth on the island, her abduction and the knowledge that somebody wanted to take her baby away. It is only now that the baby is in her arms that she can start to feel bonded enough to make this most personal and eternal decision for her child - the choosing of his name.
Claire continues to have issues with raising Aaron. The night Shannon shacks up with Sayid, she thinks she sees Walt and screams. Charlie has gone to investigate and Claire wakes Aaron up and goes to find out as well, what is going on. Charlie takes control:
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CHARLIE [entering]: Hey, what's going on?
SAYID: Nothing. It's just a dream; everything's fine.
[Shannon walks off, upset that Sayid doesn't believe her. Claire enters carrying the baby. Sayid follows Shannon.]
SAYID: Shannon...
CLAIRE: What's wrong?
CHARLIE: Shannon had a nightmare. [Looking at the baby] Why's he up?
CLAIRE: I woke him.
CHARLIE: Woke him?
CLAIRE: I heard screams -- I got worried. Why, would rather I had left him over there alone?
CHARLIE: You heard screams so woke up the baby and ran toward them?
CLAIRE: Okay, it sounded like she needed help.
CHARLIE: Well, he's going to need feeding now. He's going to be up all night and fussy all day.
CLAIRE: Sorry.
CHARLIE: Alright, well, no harm done -- give him here then. I got him.
[Claire reluctantly hands Aaron over to Charlie. Charlie kisses and soothes the baby while Claire looks on, none too happy.]
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Then later, she is trying to soothe Aaron, Locke comes over to help, and Charlie again shows his displeasure. Claire voices her worry over not knowing what to do with Aaron and everyone else does:
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[Claire rocking a crying Aaron in the cradle as Locke passes by.]
CLAIRE [to Aaron]: I know I woke you and I'm very, very sorry; but please, staying awake for 8 hours straight -- isn't that just cruel and unusual punishment?
LOCKE: How's that cradle treating you?
CLAIRE: The cradles great. It's the baby that's the problem.
LOCKE: What's wrong?
CLAIRE: He just won't sleep.
LOCKE [wanting to pick the baby up]: May I?
CLAIRE: Sure.
[Scene jumps to Locke wrapping the baby in a blanket.]
LOCKE: Babies like the feeling of being constricted. It's not until we're older that we develop a desire to be free. [Finishing up with the blanket] There.
[Claire takes the baby.]
CLAIRE: You know, I think everybody knows more about my baby than me.
LOCKE: Everybody?
CLAIRE: Charlie read me the riot act last night for waking him. And as mad as it made me -- turns out he was right. You know, it's like we're playing mum and dad to this baby. Yet, I don't remember marrying him. [Locke laughs] No, seriously. I mean, we're practically strangers, him and me. For all I know, Charlie could be some religious freak.
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This falls in line with what Richard Malkin warned her about -- not to let anyone else but her raise the baby. Could Charlie be what he was warning her about?
Possible Daddy Issues: Claire
Claire and her boyfriend Thomas argued about whose fault it was that the relationship was not working. Claire was upset that Thomas was the one that talked her into going through with the pregnancy in the first place saying "I knew this was going to happen."
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THOMAS: "I told you so..terrific. Now, I get all your daddy abandonment crap, huh?
CLAIRE: "Hey, you bastard, don't you dare try and justify what you're doing."
Excerpt from Raised By Another, written by Lynne E. Litt
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At a meeting with the prospective adoptive parents Claire asked if they would sing "Catch a Falling Star" to the baby, because her dad used to sing it to her.
And indeed, Claire was abandoned by her father, Christian. Christian returns to Claire's life after the car accident, and explains that he couldn't be a part of her life in part because her aunt Lindsey hated him, and because he had another family. Christian encouraged Claire to take her mother off of life support, but Claire reacted in disgust, telling Christian that she never wanted to learn his name.
Adoption Issues: Baby Aaron & Claire
Claire has second thoughts about keeping the baby and seeks to put it up for adoption. When she visits a phsycic, (Richard Malkin) he has premonitions about the baby, and tells Claire that she must be the one to raise this baby.
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MALKIN: "This child parented by anyone else, anyone other than you...danger surrounds this baby..." "Your nature, your spirit, your goodness, must be an influence in the development of this child." "There is no happy life. Not for this child, not without you."
Excerpt from Raised By Another, written by Lynne E. Litt
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Too afraid to raise the child on her own, even after what the psycic told her, she continued the adoption process. But when she went to meet the adoptive parents and sign the papers, she started having second thoughts. She walked away from the adoption meeting after three pens failed to work when she tried to sign the papers. She took that as sign that it wasn't meant to be.
She then contacted the psychic again, who had told her previously that he had an idea. When she went to see him, he handed her the plane tickets, and told her he'd set up an adoption with a nice couple in LA.
In her discussion with Charlie, she realized that the psychic had set her up - there was no adoptive couple, and he knew the plane would crash. It was his way of trying to ensure that the baby was raised by Claire.
In Maternity Leave, Claire is drugged but she still seems willing to give Ethan the baby when it's born. Little did she know, Ethan and the Others were going to "take" the baby and leave her for dead.
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