I wonder if it's possible in today's world to show a man who's known to be vile and evil and depraved as someone who's truly sympathetic? I'm talking about a monster on the level of John Wayne Gacy or Ted Bundy, who raped and murdered innocent people, over and over and over. And I don't mean trying to understand why they did what they did -- I don't think that's possible or even, really, necessary -- but to know what they've done and to see that's not all to them.
I'm thinking of someone like Andrew Jackson, who as president set up the mass murder of Native Americans on a level that would make Mao, Hitler and Pol Pot green with envy. Or missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries who forced native populations around the world to submit to their version of God or die, horribly. Same for the Inquisition in Spain. Could a man participating in the forced conversion of Jews to Christianity under torture be seen as someone who goes home and pets his dog and loves his wife and kids, just like the guy who runs the local gas station?
I did something a bit like that with Curt in How To Rape A Straight Guy...but he was busy justifying himself because I think, deep down, he had an idea what he was doing was wrong and destructive. That's probably why the last chapter gets people so worked up; I can't tell you how many readers have let me know they were shocked at how they felt sorry for Curt...or sympathic for him, at the end.
I also did it a little with Alan, in Bobby Carapisi, but I think I also showed he was lying about a lot of his actions or, at least, exaggerating his part in them, to make himself feel like he had some kind of effect on the world...when in truth, he had none. All he had was a sort of bluster that fooled no one...and at the end Eric has no choice but to feel sorry for him. Pity him. Even after the little shit nearly ruined his life.
Thing is, I don't care to know why someone like Hitler did what he did. He's not really an anomaly, considering that at the same time Stalin was killing millions of his own people and Mao was rising up to commit just as great of atrocities, as did the Japanese in China and Korea and Turks in Armenia. And a thousand years before that was the hideousness of the Crusades and Vlad the Impaler.
So I wonder if I could write a book where the lead character is just like you or me...but has this quirk of abject cruelty in him that flares up, now and then, for no more reason than he or she might have eaten strawberry jam on their toast instead of orange marmalade? And have you still feel for them, at the end?
And now I'm wondering why the hell I'm wondering that.
I'm thinking of someone like Andrew Jackson, who as president set up the mass murder of Native Americans on a level that would make Mao, Hitler and Pol Pot green with envy. Or missionaries in the 17th and 18th centuries who forced native populations around the world to submit to their version of God or die, horribly. Same for the Inquisition in Spain. Could a man participating in the forced conversion of Jews to Christianity under torture be seen as someone who goes home and pets his dog and loves his wife and kids, just like the guy who runs the local gas station?
I did something a bit like that with Curt in How To Rape A Straight Guy...but he was busy justifying himself because I think, deep down, he had an idea what he was doing was wrong and destructive. That's probably why the last chapter gets people so worked up; I can't tell you how many readers have let me know they were shocked at how they felt sorry for Curt...or sympathic for him, at the end.
I also did it a little with Alan, in Bobby Carapisi, but I think I also showed he was lying about a lot of his actions or, at least, exaggerating his part in them, to make himself feel like he had some kind of effect on the world...when in truth, he had none. All he had was a sort of bluster that fooled no one...and at the end Eric has no choice but to feel sorry for him. Pity him. Even after the little shit nearly ruined his life.
Thing is, I don't care to know why someone like Hitler did what he did. He's not really an anomaly, considering that at the same time Stalin was killing millions of his own people and Mao was rising up to commit just as great of atrocities, as did the Japanese in China and Korea and Turks in Armenia. And a thousand years before that was the hideousness of the Crusades and Vlad the Impaler.
So I wonder if I could write a book where the lead character is just like you or me...but has this quirk of abject cruelty in him that flares up, now and then, for no more reason than he or she might have eaten strawberry jam on their toast instead of orange marmalade? And have you still feel for them, at the end?
And now I'm wondering why the hell I'm wondering that.
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