SMBC Comics Forum

Frostbite wrote:He doesn't really bilk them for money per se. He makes them feel like a hero, and so they decide they have some obligation to help support him.

I honestly didn't really hate him.

Ummm... But he wrote them "hard luck" stories like stuff about needing surgery and had a yearly string of birthdays and other stuff to prompt them into sending him money. I suppose they didn't have to, but he was still manipulating money out of them.

As it is written 'the ends justifies the means'. O.o

The thing is you more pity him than hate him. The reader recgonises the fact that he is responsible for his own problems, but also how he can't get away from them and how he managed to get himself there in the first place

carbonstealer wrote:As it is written 'the ends justifies the means'. O.o

The thing is you more pity him than hate him. The reader recgonises the fact that he is responsible for his own problems, but also how he can't get away from them and how he managed to get himself there in the first place

I think this has made me realize why I didn't like him, ultimately. And it isn't pity that I feel for him, really. The guy has problems, makes problems, and instead of even making an attempt to crawl out of his hole, he knowingly decides to dig himself deeper. And the way in which he does it makes me just want to turn away entirely, beyond pitying him. But I guess every addict needs to hit bottom.

Lethal Interjection wrote:But I guess every addict needs to hit bottom.

Yep! Man, this water is delicious.

It is the same with any disorder though, they keep making it worse for themselves until they reach the point in which they have to change or they just can't go on anymore. That sort of mentality is brutally ugly, but mostly because it is also brutally truthful

carbonstealer wrote:It is the same with any disorder though, they keep making it worse for themselves until they reach the point in which they have to change or they just can't go on anymore. That sort of mentality is brutally ugly, but mostly because it is also brutally truthful

Sure. I was very nearly going to write that, as hitting bottom is a sad necessity when it comes to heavy addicts. Maybe even all, it is just that the deeper the addiction, the further down the bottom is.
I don't know if it is just the fact that he intentionally kept digging deeper and deeper (trying to become the anti-Christ) that just threw me.
And to be honest, the brutal truth of that mentality is made somewhat difficult to swallow when juxtaposed against the fantastical method of the story.

Doesn't that juxtaposition just make the truth ring even more true? The fantasy land in Bridge to Terabithia served as a way to make the real world seem even more horrible by comparison. Pride and Prejudice uses the extremely common ridiculousness in people to emphasise the sensible. Never use juxtaposition as a way to undermine unless its used as an irony to intentionally express something other than is seemingly mentioned.

Its 10:45 at night and I have an essay analysing two texts due before 9am thats worth 50% of my mark, and I still haven't written it. Why am I spending time doing the same thing in a way that won't get my essay done?

Lethal Interjection wrote: The guy has problems, makes problems, and instead of even making an attempt to crawl out of his hole, he knowingly decides to dig himself deeper.

carbonstealer wrote:It is the same with any disorder though, they keep making it worse for themselves until they reach the point in which they have to change or they just can't go on anymore. That sort of mentality is brutally ugly, but mostly because it is also brutally truthful

I thought it was an apt answer to your question.

carbonstealer wrote:Doesn't that juxtaposition just make the truth ring even more true? The fantasy land in Bridge to Terabithia served as a way to make the real world seem even more horrible by comparison. Pride and Prejudice uses the extremely common ridiculousness in people to emphasise the sensible. Never use juxtaposition as a way to undermine unless its used as an irony to intentionally express something other than is seemingly mentioned.

That's fair, I just didn't buy in at all.
I've bought in with characters I don't like before. Into the Wild is a good example where I really didn't like the main character, but I like what his self-aggrandizing personality ultimately brought forth.
Choke didn't have near that for me.

It is fair enough to say that. Really I felt the same about him until the very end of the book and he just sat there and accepted Paige's crazy so utterly

I thought it was an apt answer to your question.

Sahan, you make an excellent observation

Lethal Interjection wrote: Into the Wild is a good example where I really didn't like the main character, but I like what his self-aggrandizing personality ultimately brought forth.

Yeah, man. I only saw the movie (apparently the book is a bit different in attitude) but personally, as a privilaged, teenage, suburban-raised college student with parent issues and a major thing for Thoreau, I think I am in the right to say that guy needed to get a grip.

davoid wrote:

Lethal Interjection wrote: Into the Wild is a good example where I really didn't like the main character, but I like what his self-aggrandizing personality ultimately brought forth.

Yeah, man. I only saw the movie (apparently the book is a bit different in attitude) but personally, as a privilaged, teenage, suburban-raised college student with parent issues and a major thing for Thoreau, I think I am in the right to say that guy needed to get a grip.

My problem was SO preachy, but completely unwilling to be taught anything by anyone else. A revelation that comes to him too late, but it was still painful for me to watch, even though I loved the movie.

I finished Rant. I actually closed the book out of disgust more than a few times, but had to go back for more. The end was where it got really interesting for me with all the social commentary and time travel business. A good read.