Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Breckenridge Lansing
The guy was awful, clearly, and there's no excuse for his behavior. But Wilder says he was just reflecting his own father's behavior toward his wife and son. And he knew at some level that he was incompetent and unloved, so he protected himself by using cruelty. And at the end, after his illness, he seemed poised for some kind of redemption. Did you feel any sympathy toward him at all?
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2 comments:
Maybe a teeny-tiny fraction of sympathy, but nothing worth noting. I honestly felt that his movement toward change was based on vanity. He was getting to an age where he was thinking about his "legacy" in the world, and he realized that most people probably thought very poorly of him. His concern for his image — not a genuine realization of and remorse for the harm he had inflicted on others — seemed to be what was driving him. And he expected Eustacia to be his emotional servant (and punching bag) in that quest as well. And, sadly, she pretty well obliged him.
Some people have a crappy upbringing with awful parents and go on to be really good people. They learn from the experience they went through. And other people have a crappy upbringing with awful parents and go on to be crappy and awful themselves. They don't learn a thing, except to blame others for how they are.
I don't know what makes a person turn out one way instead of the other. Is it an innate capacity for empathy that makes the difference?
I was thinking about that, too. What makes some people repeat the bad behaviors of their parents while others learn from their parents' mistakes and break the cycle?
I agree about the teeny fraction of sympathy. You're right, his change of heart (or whatever you want to call it) at the end was all about himself. I really couldn't understand Eustacia's patience and kindness to him throughout that illness. He was truly insufferable.
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