Although we're already finished with the book, a part that stuck with me was the story of Bobbie and Christmas. While I was thinking about it a while back, a question came into mind.
If Bobbie hadn't rejected Christmas in chapter 9 and ran away with him, would Christmas have been happy and peaceful? Is it possible that if he had ran away with Bobbie that he wouldn't have a hatred for women, and then meet Ms. Burden just to end up killing her? Ultimately, would there have been a happy ending for him and Bobbie?
I doubt that he would've found peace with Bobbie at his side.
ReplyDeleteOn page 262 when it talks of Christmas's whiskey business, it states:
"He could almost believe that it was not to make money that he sold the whiskey but because he was doomed to conceal always something from the women who surrounded him."
Christmas is unable to create lasting relationships with any real substance. We can see this by the way he treats women. He never really develops affection for them , he just used them for physical relations.
How can a man like him find true happiness with a women when his intentions are not pure? It takes more than physical relations to maintain a healthy relationship.
I feel that if Bobbie were to stay with Christmas, her fate would've been the same as Ms. Burden's.
I agree with Jessica. Christmas had never had a healthy relationship with a woman and I don't think that Bobbie was an exception.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with what Sierra and Jessica are saying because when Christmas first had a chance to be with that one black girl he started to beat her and Bobbie was also a prostitute and a relationship formed from a couple like that would definitely have ended badly.
ReplyDeleteIf you remember Christmas's inability to have a peaceful relationship started way before Bobbie as far back as when he was in the orphanage. Mrs. McEachern was also a very caring of christmas yet he was unable to accept her love. Therefore i believe that the relationship with Bobbie would have crashed and burned like all the others.
ReplyDeleteBobbie was the first person he ever trusted, though. Yes he isn't able to have a good relationship with others, but couldn't that be because he never knew how it was to be loved?
ReplyDeleteBobbie was the only person he ever opened up to and she rejected him, ultimately causing him to regret his decision of doing so (which further strengthens his instability with trust and relationships). I believe that he would've stayed true to Bobbie because he was vulnerable with her as seen in the part that he tells her about his ethnicity, and because of that, she was an exception to his hate and cold-heartedness.
However, that doesn't mean that it caused him to have a sort of traumatic event because of Bobbie that made him renounce women and no longer trusts anyone with his personal information which explains his antisocial life style.
I see what your saying and now i do wonder how Christmas would have turned out if Bobbie didnt reject him.
DeleteNo matter what, Christmas was always aggressive toward women and one prostitute isn't going to change that. Even if she 'accepted' him for who he was, she didn't change for him, nor she plan on doing so. She wasn't faithful to him... and in all reality, I question whether or not Christmas really loved her. It never really says so... and based on this passage... "Why, I committed murder for her. I even stole for her.." I'd say that what he felt wasn't necessarily 'love' but more of an obsession. Like with Ms. Burden, he and Bobbie, never established a relationship with real substance. All he and Bobbie did was have physical relations. Nothing more, nothing less. That's all he had with her... that's all he'd miss... so then, how are his actions with Bobbie going to help him find inner acceptance? Because that is the source of all Christmas's problems. He can't accept himself for what he really is and realize that his actions are wrong. He's stuck in an endless cycle because he can't face his own problems. Sex isn't going to fix that, and that's all Bobbie was willing to offer.
ReplyDeleteSo no, Bobbie would not be the answer to all his problems.
I completely agree with Jessica. I don't believe Christmas ever loved Bobbie, he was just obsessed with her because she was the first person he'd ever had sex with. Because of this, he felt he needed to be clingy with her, which is a natural feeling for him to have, since he did lose his virginity to her. He never loved her though; he just felt the need to stay with her. So I don't think she would have been able to ever bring him true happiness.
DeleteWhy would a man take a woman to a dance if she was nothing but a prostitute to him? Why did he feel hurt when he knew that she was sleeping with someone else? Why is it that she was the only one he wanted? Why would he kill and steal for a prostitute?
ReplyDeleteIf he really only cared about sex he would've never done any of the things he did with Bobbie but instead can find another prostitute. Sure it never said "love", but that doesn't mean it wasn't. It never said he killed his father but we say his father is dead. Christmas never said "love", but maybe that's because he didn't know what it was then and never would because of it.
Sergio, you stand apart from your peers, because you believe that even people like Christmas can change. Hold on to that optimism. It's why some prisons offer rehabilitation. Sadly, most don't, though.
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