Henry Lockwood
9/21/16
College Writing
Friendwood
Question: Dex begins to befriend Willa. Is his friendship genuine? Why does he befriend Willa? Does he blame himself for what happens to
her?
Dex’s relationship with Willa does seem to be a genuine
relationship; however, the relationship seems to have formed due to a malicious
event to Willa. Dex appears to have used Willa not being in school to gain the
ability to talk with her. Dex befriends Willa because after talking with Dani,
he sees that Willa has no support and nobody to talk to, and he is hoping Willa
will open up to him. Dex somewhat feels guilty about Willa’s rape. Dex
sometimes gives pills to Cully and his friends, and there is a possibility that
his pills were the ones used to sedate Willa. As we can see in the relationship
between Dex and his mother, Dex has a very protective personality for those he
loves. When Bishop, Trace, and Cully mocked Willa by calling her “trouble…
crazy and a liar” (Steinke 215) Dex stood up for her and proceeded to fight the
boys, knowing of a possible suspension. Dex has strong feelings for Willa both
as a friend and romantic interest, and he will continue to support Willa and be there
for her.
How does Hal
use blame to protect Cully and himself?
What is Hal trying to protect himself from?
Hal is stuck in the past, which prevents him from moving
on through his life. He is always reminded about his alcoholic past and poor
choices he made in his family life. Cully has been having a slump in football
and Hal doesn’t want his son to give up. Cully is an important player on the
team, so when he doesn’t do well, the team doesn’t do well. After a devastating
loss, Hal tells his son, “you’ve got to get your defense to bulk up, not be so
afraid to hit” (Steinke 205). Hal blames the other players on the team to protect
his son from taking it out of himself. One of the implications of blame is to
discharge pain and discomfort. Hal is blaming the other players so Cully doesn’t
need to feel the guilt and pain of the loss. Hal also blames Willa for the
rape, rather than accepting it was his son, to protect his feelings and
memories about Cully. Hal told himself “there will always be girls like that”
(Steinke 149). Hal does not want to see his son as a rapist so he blames Willa
for tempting his son into having sex with her; though this appears to not be
the case.
Choose an institution
(marriage, government, academic, church, family, mass media) to discuss why
“they” are speaking and why “they” are blaming.
A major institution that plays a role in Friendswood
is family. Family is always supposed to support you and your actions, and
to care for you when you are in a time of need. However, Willa seems to not be
getting the true support she needs. Instead of comforting Willa, her parents
seem to be focusing mainly on how to cover up the incident to protect their family.
Willa’s parents are angry with her, as seen when they come home from church.
This may be because people are starting to talk about it and Willa’s parents
are upset over the fact. Willa states, “[her parents] seemed to be angry with
her – it was in the pinch of her mother’s smile, in her father’s averted eyes”
(Steinke 220). Her family is blaming her for the situation they are now in and
are taking it out on Willa through anger. Since it is a small, highly religious
town, rumors can spread, putting shame on Willa’s family. Willa’s parents are
also blaming other people to protect their parenthood. Parents have a duty to
protect their children, so when something tragic happens, parents tend to blame
themselves. By blaming others, they relieve themselves of the pain that is
being caused to them. The town is also very religious, which can cause
bitterness towards Willa from the members of society. In the Christian
religion, it is sinful for a woman to lose her virginity before marriage. Willa
is now no longer a virgin which may cause her to be shunned by the community.
Willa’s parents are “speaking” by not speaking about the situation. They are
hoping it all gets resolved and they are able to move on.
Work Cited
Steinke, Rene, Friendswood. New York: Riverhead, 2014.
Print.
I opened your blog with the rather ordinary image of a silhouette of the average person staring to her perception of infinity. At that moment, I was immersed into the mindset of the average Friendswood citizen, feeling their impact in their emotional isolation. Your opinions paralleled such an image of oppression throughout your three arguments. You clearly understand the subtext of the characters' motivations, seeing how your words are compellingly different from the words in our journals as we walk out of the Florham Room. I especially found your thoughts on family to be of depressing reality. The average reader would never close the book feeling sympathetic for characters who set an emotional isolation from their child after she was sexually assaulted, but illustrating the impact of shame almost made me forget how I could not have seen both sides. Your effort to classify the web of citizens as an ordered family was a captivating one. I was appalled to be unsurprised about the fact that the goal for each citizen to "feel really comfortable" would never be identifiable for a small town in the heartland.
ReplyDeleteIf I had one suggestion for your next discussion, I would recommend to start more sentences with pronouns. It feels repetitive to start three sentences in a row with the name of a character. Also, how do you feel about Hal's opinion on page 229 that Cully "needed the holy spirit in him?" Do you feel that Cully will realize his guilt, or that he will simply be praying to a wall? How would Hal view his rehabilitation of his own sins if his son reads the Gospel and simply views them as stories?