I get this occasionally from reviewers.
"Oh, Rosalie is this real [something], she deserved to be raped."
"Oh, Bella is so annoying, I hope Rosalie just up and kills her."
"Oh, Royce was a real [something else], he got what he deserved."
Um. May I respectfully disagree?
Let's just take Royce as an example, for, after all: he's pure evil, so there's nothing more to say.
Right?
As to Royce deserving what he got, or deserving more than what he got, well ...
I would never wish to have my daughters raped nor murdered, although some reviewers do wish this on my surrogate daughters Rosalie and Bella, but ...
Did he deserve what he got? Sure, and then some.
But, if we got what we deserved ... instead of mercy or kindness or clemency ... which we don't deserve ...?
And who was truly punished? Who was truly twisted by the meting out of justice upon Royce? Is a vindictive action a cleansing one or a damning one? Are revenge and jealousy and hatred admirable traits?
If a friend of yours had a child and she was hurt deeply by someone, would you feel that, when she tortured the boy for eight hours and then murdered him, that now it's all good? Justice served, Oklahoma!-style? (That musical had to be one of the most twisted things I have ever seen ... "Jud falls on his knife," indeed! Maybe he received more than a little help as he fell, perhaps?)
And the girl? With blood on her hands? She's happy now?
I don't know. I do hope there isn't a big-old score card, because I'd be in serious trouble.
It's easy ... too easy ... to say these things should be visited on other people, but before you wish ill on another, look in the mirror first, and then, second, check the score card ... not the tally by Royce's name, but the one by your own name.
Still casting that stone?
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3 comments:
Hello geophf, this will be my first time discussing your blog.
Well, I have to say that while you present a compelling argument, I have a counter argument.
I have no shame in saying that the murder of Royce King was Rose's finest moment. For one brief period of time, she shone with purpose and action, no longer a grumbling woe-is-me but a doer and an agent of power.
I have zero empathy for Royce King. None at all. The son of a bitch went and raped his bride to be with his friends. What was his excuse? Was she dressing prococatively and he couldn't control himself.
He was an idoiot and an emotional retard for doing what he did. I have no sympathy for stupid people. Karma is cruel and sadistic and to a small extent, so am I.
I don't know what I would do if I was raped, but If I saw somebody castrate Royce King and burn him alive before his parents, knowing full well what he'd done. I wouldn't show the least bit of sympathy for him.
He deserved it, this turn this other cheeck shit be damned. He stole Rose's hope and if Rose were my daughter or sister, I'd put Royce through ten times the hell he did Rosalie.
I can never forgive people for things that they've done to somebody else. So I sat back and I happily enjoyed Rose kiling that loathsome sack of shit.
Sorry if my argument is flawed but I'm just being honest with you. It's a very thought provoking blog and worth thinking over.
Ta
Master of the Boot
Hey, Master, thank you for your comment.
Of course you know I'm going to disagree with what you said, and how you said it, right?
Okay, then, so here we go.
Your comment does have precedence, to be sure. When Dinah was raped by Shechem, the sons of Israel destroyed the entire city of Hamor (Shechem's tribe): killing every man, enslaving every woman and child, and taking all the animals and crops [Gen 34]
"Eye for an eye" was not even a concept: the Code of Hammurabi was yet to be introduced a few centuries later, 3,800 years ago from today.
But it has been introduced, and it has been improved on in the centuries since its introduction, and society has matured from "what our tribe can take from yours" to the betterment of all humankind, even if we don't do so well on occasion.
But on most occasions, we do. That's why I can raise my family without fear of reprisal because some cousin of mine in Colorado said something to Keyser Söze. That's why you can go to school without the fear of some crazed student or teacher or doctor running amok with automatic weapons killing you and your friends.
In theory.
In practice, there are these things now, and it's because people now are reverting to primitivism. "Eye for an eye? Pfeh! How 'bout I murder innocents because I didn't get a raise and I don't like my boss?"
How 'bout that?
How 'bout Rosalie visits revenge on Royce and his friends because of what they did to her?
Firstly, because it offends Justice, but secondly, as I hint, it stops Royce, yes (there are other ways to do this, by the way [c.f.: Midnight Sun, around pg 216, when Carlisle and Edward take care of Lonnie]), but Royce is now gone, he can't be hurt any more, but ... Rosalie?
Eighty years later she's still suffering the wounds of what Royce did, yes, but she's suffering more from the pure twisted hateful revenge she visited on him.
Let it go? Forgive him? Forget him after the authorities handle the case? Move on with her life? That's hard. Too hard! Right?
But the alternative that Rosalie chose: quick and easy and delicious vindication?
For the rest of eternity, Rosalie has to pay the price of her choice.
I've had to save lives in the Coast Guard; I've had to go armed onto ships, weapons loaded and free.
I haven't had to kill someone yet.
I hope, seeing what it's done to Rosalie, that I will never have to do that.
...
FWIW.
Well geophf, I applaud you for your well thought out rebuttle to my argument.
True geophf, eye for an eye is no way to live unless you plan to murder every single person you meet. And there are people out there who wouldn't think twice about murdering men, women or children.
But the thing is geophf, while I myself wouldn't participate in revenge, I still have no sympathy for Royce. The man was a sack of s**t on two legs. I don't feel the least bit sorry for his death. I want to live peacefully but I'm still a savage at heart.
And as for Rose, it's up to her to deal with her own issues. It's not Royce's fault that eighty years later she's still bitter. Get over it! There are people who have been raped and they move on eventually, they live lives with optimism and hope. I know this. Nothing is impossible, not even for a vampire.
I also hope that I never have to kill somebody in my life.
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