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April 1, 2010

Aphorisms, Adages, and Amazement

No person is born evil. They are shaped by the events around them, the environments they are raised in. Villains are not born sadists; their minds are twisted and tormented by innumerable painful events.

The destiny of children is also independent from their parents. In The Scarlet Pimpernel (sink me!), Sir Percy works to save fallen noblemen and their children. Although in many cases their parents repressed the working class, the children haven't done the same sins and don't deserve to die. This is a painfully obvious point, but it is one that I will back up using literature because apparently that's what the cool kids are doing these days. In A Tale of Two Cities Charles Darney is a fine upstanding man despite his asshole rapist of a dad.

Madame Defarge, the characteristic evil mastermind, clicking her needles as she knits the death of a generation, is just the opposite, a woman born ordinary but warped into an evil mastermind. She was a force against good, but she was forged into that shape by the trials of revolutionary France. Then there are some quotes about wind and fire and other fun stuff, and this was a boring essay.

Ah, well. Cest' la vie, or whatever the hell that is.

1 comments:

Ginny said...

C'est la vie—la vie en rose.

Well, I actually blended two "la vie" quotes.

What about Voldy then? I think Rowling insists that he was kind of twisted from the very beginning, although it may be his upbringing in the orphanage.