Friday, October 30, 2015
Chapter 8
In Chapter 8, we found out that the waitress is a prostitute. Her and Joe Christmas have an unusual relationship, one I did not understand in the beginning. Did he actually think that they were dating? Or did he knew from the beginning that she was a prostitute? Also, I think she is one of the prevalent reasons why Christmas hates all women in his life. He thinks that women are the reason to all problems. The waitress's betrayal has supported Christmas's negative view of women. Do you guys think that Christmas will fall in love again though out the story? Or has his first love ruined it for all the rest?
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He didn't know that she was a prostitute. He found that out later and that's why he started to beat her. However I think that because of the failure of his first relationship that negative view on women will prevent him from having another emotional investment with someone else.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. His first "relationship" impacted his view of women. He already thought they were unclean and destructive, but by being betrayed by someone he might love for the very first time takes it to another level. Maybe he did kill Mrs. Burden. His violent outbursts has made me question his innocence.
DeleteI feel that after being betrayed and so badly hurt by Bobbie, Christmas won't be able to emotionally involve himself with women, but will still continue physical relations. Could it be that maybe Christmas did kill Ms. Burden because he was beginning to develop feelings and wouldn't allow that to happen again? :o
ReplyDeleteI feel the exact same way. His violent behavior and hatred towards women makes the reader question whether he killed Mrs. Burden or not.
Deleteooooooooooooo I never thought of him developing feelings for Mrs. Burden but that does make a lot of sense.
DeleteChristmas didn't know she was a prostitute, when he found out he was hurt badly and maybe you guys are right, maybe she is the reason why Christmas thinks of women the way he does. But also it has to do with the way he was raised and how he grew up with Mr. and Mrs. McEachern and he saw how Mr. McEachern treated Mrs. McEachern.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Suzy. Pertaining to his relationship with Ms. Burden, I think Bobbie actually did ruin love for him. He thought that Bobbie would marry him, so that must have meant he had feelings for her. When he got rejected and beaten by her and the people that owned the restaurant, I think it altered the way he looked at relationships and love. With Ms. Burden, I feel like it was purely sexual to a point. Once he saw that Burden may be taking a next step towards something more, he backs away.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Christmas does want love, but what guy wouldn't freak out when talking about marriage in a sexual relationship? I think he loved Ms. Burden but not in a romantic way. He loved Ms.Burden for being caring and thoughtful, but once he thought she was controlling him, he backed away. They both might have a fear of being controlled by others.
DeleteI don't think Bobbie ruined love for him, I believe Mr. McEachern did that. Because McEachern kept Christmas so sheltered and that taught Christmas to have a negative connotation with women,, Christmas was set up to fail no matter who his "first love" was. Furthermore, the aforementioned also caused Christmas to cling to the first chance at "love" he got, and blinded him from the reality of things. All Bobbie's betrayal did, was allow Christmas to move on and be with other women. For even if Bobbie was a nice girl with high moral standards and a strong love for Christmas, Christmas still would have beat her, controlled her, and taken out all of his pent up anger out on her. To the point where an emotional rift would develop between them, and their relationship would have become reminiscent of Mr and Mrs McEachern's. With that said, you could make the case that if Christmas was raised lovingly he never would have got involved with Bobbie, and would have recognized her terrible nature. After all, he only went after her because he saw her as undesirable to others, and an easy target.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you to an extent, but I believe there is that one girl who can change a person. If Christmas knows he is going to destroy every relationship he had, then why wouldn't he change?
DeleteBecause he doesn't want to, he's been raised believing he's hated and that any love he receives makes him weak. Therefore, he sabotages any relationship he has by giving into to his rageful desires. Like he tried to do with Ms Burden. That's also why he was so perplexed by Ms Burden, because he was expecting her to hate him.
DeleteIf he knows he's going to sabotage every relationship, then why even get in one? That's what I don't understand.
ReplyDelete