How does Hal use blame to protect Cully and
himself? What is Hal trying to protect
himself from?
Hal has habitually
externalized all blame throughout the course of the novel. In order to maintain the perfect image he has
for his family and his son, Hal discharges such pain and discomfort of Cully’s
setbacks on outside forces. Hal uses
such blame to protect the image that he has so carefully crafted in his head
over the years. Cully is the star
football player, strong and handsome and resilient. He bonds with his father, and they have the
stereotypical American dream connection.
Having to accept the wrongs would shatter what holds them together. For instance, Hal is quick to rid his son’s
sexual assault as a small mistake. He
makes the mistake seem like a trivial human error that was bound to happen to
one who couldn’t control lust because “there always were and always would be
girls like that” (Stienke 149). Hal
finds every reason available to try to believe that his son was still wholesome
and good. Accepting anything less would
mark his failure as a parent. By
constantly placing blame on a force outside of himself, Hal is trying to
protect himself from reality. The
present offers little for Hal, so it is no surprise that he is preoccupied with
the better times in the past. Hal
distorts the truth in his mind because he needs to safeguard the one thing in
his life that goes right, and that is his son.
Cully becomes a beacon of hope and life for Hal. Cully becomes the manifestation of all the
happiness and joys that Hal has ever found in the world. Hal goes on to believe that “his son still
had all of that glory, the bright, athletic blue, unfaded” (Steinke 148). Cully breathes life into a dream that has
long passed for Hal. Hal feels boxed in
and subconsciously blames everyone because to do otherwise would mean to accept
the truth. It would mean to accept that
his son is no longer the burning light that brought him hope. It would mean that his life is barren of
hope, and that even his one joy has dissipated by the evils of the world.
Dex begins to befriend Willa. Is his friendship genuine? Why does he befriend Willa? Does he blame himself for what happens to
her?
The friendship that Dex is trying to
cement does have authenticity behind it, but his active efforts to physically
reach out to Willa were no doubt prompted by the rape rumors. It was evident since the beginning of the
novel that Dex always invested a large interest in Willa. Even when his friend Weeks went off about Willa
being weird with all her cat-like make-up and introverted hobbies, Dex defended
her saying, “She seems nice enough to me” (Steinke 42). He refused to let outside opinions influence
what he thought of Willa, Dex liked being her partner in English, and he had a
crush on her. Before the conflict began
to make the whole situation messy, Dex did have genuine care and concern for
Willa; however, such care would not have been expressed had the rape not occurred. Because Dex had such care for Willa, he has
placed upon himself a deep blame for what happened. Dex was at the scene of the event and was a
mere floor away from the violence inflicted on Willa, and he did nothing to
stop it. He left the Lawbournes house, leaving
Willa prey to the lust and violence with no protection. Dex absorbs the guilt and blame for the event
and tries to give solace to his tortured conscience by befriending Willa. The blame that Dex takes on is enhanced by
his mother’s avid stance on the issue.
His mother ardently scolds the collapse of integrity when she preaches, “There
were all these boys there just sitting drinking downstairs or swimming. Why didn’t they do anything to stop it? It just kills me that boys here would do
that, boys I’ve had in my own house (Steinke 181). It has already been established in the
beginning of the novel that Dex has a strong connection with his mother, so it
can therefore be implied that he holds his mother’s opinions with the highest
respects. When his mother vocalizes her
outrage at such incompetent boys who allow such violence to take place, Dex
further internalizes the blame. He falls
shorts of his mother’s expectations and feels the grimy dirt of a guilt that
lingers in his heart. Somehow
befriending Willa compensates for his failure to help her, so he does his best
to help her now.
Choose an institution (marriage, government, academic,
church, family, mass media) to discuss why “they” are speaking and why “they”
are blaming.
The institution of the Church, though
taking a low-key stance up to now in the novel, has subtly inflicted an intense
blame onto Willa. When Willa goes to
meet with Pastor Sparks, he surprisingly did not offer any words of warmth or
comfort. Everything he said seemed cold
and demoralizing that made Willa feel unfit in the hands of God. Pastor Sparks went on to ask her, “Because
you know you had free will to go to that house, didn’t you?” (Steinke
187). This was the pastor’s elusive way
of making Willa see that her course of actions are to blame for the mess, as if
it was her free will that caused Cully to violate and rape her. Pastor Sparks makes the Church seem to be a
very cold, unforgiving place that fails to provide the nurturing needed for
someone who has been afflicted by the cruelest of sins. The question seems to hang in the air as to
why the Church would speak on this topic. It seems that the Church sees the situation
differently than how Willa interprets it.
The Church fails to see the vulnerable girl who was drugged, sexually
violated by multiple boys, and left alone to forget everything. Rather, the Church sees a sexually loose
woman who indulges in promiscuity and lures other men into temptation and
forces them to act on their lust. In
terms of the Church, Willa becomes a whore, and according to Scripture, the
Church and “the beast will hate the whore; they will devour her flesh and burn
her up with fire” (Steinke 220). Willa
becomes a walking symbol of lust that leads others into sin, so the Church must
speak and proclaim the evils of promiscuous behavior. Additionally, the Church wants to keep its
hands clean of sin, so what better way to do that than to place the blame on
Willa? It gives the Church a bad reputation
that one of its regular parishioners fell victim to the Devil. To try to cover the whole thing up and
displace themselves far away from the nasty fallout, the Church finds it easier
to blame Willa and look the other way.
Getting involved would create an intricate web of negative attention
that would leave the Church in a gridlock.
It’s simpler to remove themselves from the conflict rather than cross
the blurry line that questions the Church belief system.
Works Cited
Steinke, Rene. Friendswood. New
York: Riverhead Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA, 2014. Print.
