That conversation with my neighbor about villains changed how I see books

I was bitching to my neighbor about how I hated a book because the bad guy felt too evil and unrealistic, and he just shrugged and said "maybe you just haven't met someone that broken yet." It hit different because he's a retired cop who worked 22 years in Detroit, so he's probably seen some stuff I can't even imagine. Has anyone else had someone totally outside your circle make you rethink a character or plot point you were dead set on?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor.hayden2d ago

Wait, do you ever find yourself getting mad at a book villain and then later realizing you were the one being naive? I mean, it's easy to sit here in our normal lives and say "nobody is that cruel" but like, some people really are just that broken. Your neighbor sounds like he's seen some dark stuff for real. That kind of perspective makes you wonder how many of your opinions are just based on not knowing the worst of humanity yet.

rubysingh1d ago

Sounds like you're saying we're all book villains in someone's story, @taylor.hayden. That's the part nobody talks about. We're all sitting here judging bad guys when we can't even see our own blind spots. The really scary thing is realizing the line between good and bad isn't a line at all, it's just how much suffering you've been through and how you handled it. Most people are only one bad day away from becoming the monster they hate.

michael_jenkins391d ago

Wait, hold on. "Most people are only one bad day away from becoming the monster they hate"? That's a heavy thing to just drop like that. I mean, I think about that guy who snapped in the parking lot at work last month over a returned shovel. He seemed fine, then just blew up over nothing, yelling about the refund policy. It makes you wonder what his morning was like before he walked in. But I don't know if one bad day is enough to turn someone into a full-on villain. That takes a whole lot of bad days in a row, doesn't it?