The world of Asher Lev, despite the fact that he is only six years old at this time, is truly a confusing one. He is being forced into many situations that would be tough to handle for adults and yet he is still being expected to handle them, despite his age, by his incompetent parents. And while perhaps Asher is a prodigy when it comes to making sketches, he is definitely not a prodigy when it comes to dealing with his problems (although this is in no way a knock on Asher because he can not be expected to have such composure at his young age).
The beginnings of Asher's emotional problems occur with the almost lack of parenting that he is receiving from his mother and father. His father, Aryeh, is constantly out traveling to various parts of the country doing "work for the Rebbe" while his mother is working hard to keep up with her college studies (and she is still distracted by the death of her brother). With the great involvement that they have in their work, it has left them very little time for Asher, a boy who is in desperate need of their help. Also, on top of being engulfed by their work, not only are Asher's parents ignoring him, but his mother is also throwing fits of rage at him every time that he does something that is unsatisfactory. For instance, when he comes home from school an hour late, she says "What do you want from me? What are you doing to me, Asher? I don't understand. What did I do to you? Tell me, what did I do to you?". Asher is a young boy doing the little mischievous things that all little boys do and yet his mother makes it sound as if he has committed a crime. What she is really upset about is the fact that her husband is never home and her brother has died without an explanation. However, there is no way for Asher to know this and so he believes that he alone is the cause of all of his mother's anger. What all of this neglect and abuse is doing is sending a boy, who is already confused about the world, into a state where he also thinks that he is a bad son. Without his parents and without friends he does not have anyone to communicate his emotions to (and he has a lot of them). Thus, it is likely that he will revert back to drawing as a way of expressing his emotions.