Thursday, July 17, 2008
Will & Ken
Hi... Okay... here is my take on Will. I think that Will was a good guy that believed and looked for the good in people. He was not judgemental. He seemed to accept them as they were. I could not help but think of him in terms of us because of his job and the population of people that he dealt with on a daily basis. I mean didn't you feel like some of the "clients" he talked about were our students? But I digress!!! On the other hand this non-judgemental perception that he had of people allowed for him to be vulnerable. He in some ways was a "wimp" I mean... maybe what I am calling "wimp" was the fact that he did not like confrontation. So... he avoided it almost at any cost. He idolized his brother Ken. I think he knew what Ken was... but Ken was his big brother... Maybe he had a limit created in his own mind about what he thought Ken would be capable of. Ken was just a "bad seed" He was not a good person... he was self-centered.... self preservation was his mantra!!! He seemed to use whomever could do the most good for him at the time. I know the type.... I mean... he kept Will's daughter for all of those years to avoid getting captured for the murder of her mother Julie.... what kind of person knowingly does that??? I understood his not wanting to be captured, but... 12 years Will never knew he had a daughter.... I know some of that is Julie's fault... we will get to her!!! :)
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4 comments:
Will was a wimp! He allowed things to happen to him rather that confront them. It was not until towards the end that he "manned" up! You don't have to be a wimp to find out more information and look at the situation as it is rather than hide from the truth. Will was naive too! He still wanted his brother to run away in the end even after hearing he had killed Julie. He also believed that his brother had slept with Julie, rather than that night thinking maybe something is wrong. He walked away accepting that his brother and the only girl he loved was sleeping together. Wimp, Wimp, Wimp!!
I don't really see Will as the good guy or as not being judgemental. I think he lived his life with his head stuck in the sand. He did not see Ken for who he was, he did not see Squares as who he was, nor did he see Nora as who she was!! Even though Squares turned his life around, he was still naive about the details of his life. I think he would have found out more about Nora, if he had not put his head in the sand and confronted her about her past rather than being afraid to lose her like he did Julie. He kind of made me sick! I wanted him to man up!
I just lost everything I wrote about Ken. I will have to remeber what I wrote, but I have to go and make breakfast. I will post another comment later.
Ok Ken...He was evil all the way to the end of the book. He was a bad seed, but his father helped make him that way. He did not care about anyone but himself. I would compare his situation to the "The Memory Keeper's Daughter". Because his father paid for John to take the wrap for stabbing that kid in the fourth grade, Ken did not learn about consequences. He had no remorse. Now that one event I think changed his whole life. He got worst. His mother could not help him because she did not know about the deal. Ken was a product of his father's lie and he still tried to save him in the end. As a consequence, he was rotten to the core. He hurt everyone who came in contact with him. He had no conscience. He kept his brother's daughter for twelve years as a disguise. He really did not care about her. I don't think he cared about anyone but himself. If Will had let him, he would have killed Katy. That is one occassion, where Will stepped up, but he fell again when he told him to run!
Hey Hey... Lavonda... wow your reaction is almost visceral!!!! I agree he was a wimp, but what I meant by him not being judgemental had to do with his profession. I mean working at Covenant House, he had to accept those kids/people the way that they came...so in that respect, he was not judgemental... I don't think he could have done that job if he was. Also... I think that the reason he idolized Ken was because... remember in the book that Ken was supposed to be this rising tennis star and he hurt his arm defending Will ( I think that is how the story goes) so, I believe that Will felt guilty for ending his brother's chance to "make good". Consequently, he made "allowances" for Ken. I see people do this all of the time( right in my own family) Now that is what is so digusting to me... because you make excuses for people's bad decisions because you feel guilty!!! Can't stand it!!! Yes I agree, his father helped to create the "bad seed" Ken. He did not make him take responsibility for much. He was probably glad that Ken got away except that it was so devastating to ken's mother. I don't think I view Will as a good guy or bad... he like everyone was flawed! He preferred to hide/blind himself from the truth and reality.
Woah! I see very charged opinions about our dear Will and Ken. Here is my take on it…Will was naïve! He had been sheltered by his brother. I think smaller siblings sometimes get stuck in the shadows of their older siblings and don’t know how to exactly emerge from them. Take my sister for example…my mom makes comments about how she can’t stay home by herself b/c she’s a little girl…and I get upset at my mom, when I was her age I was taking care of myself and my sister during the summers while my mom worked. So I thought that Will had just been the baby of the house, overshadowed by Ken who instead of helping him fight his own battles, he went in and fought them for him. I did relate to Will and his non-confrontational character. Can you guys believe I have never gotten in to a confrontation/fight with anyone before? Well have been occasional verbal disagreements between family and friends…but I honestly think it’s my personality! It’s not worth it, to me, to get all chaotic a/b a situation…I have enough control issues of my own to try and deal with something else! I often times thought that Will was like that, he had a lot to deal with and in his eyes his brother could do no harm! I’ve done that too, try to turn your head and pretend that something is no happening out of disbelief. Anyway, I am glad he finally realized the kind of person Ken really was; these types of bumps and bruises life hands you help toughen up a persons character(And I’m afraid I have a few of those to go…)
Ken… Well he really did surprise me. I was like Will, trying to look at the good in him, the whole time! I felt so betrayed when the stories didn’t add up. I didn’t want to belief that he was the person he truly was. I was disappointed to see how selfish he was; especially when we find out that the child is Will’s all along- that really hurt! I guess I put myself in that situation, what if that would have happened to me? I think I would have disowned my sister!
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