Heaven or Hell
From two of my readings I
can compare two violently evil characters that evolve from situations that seem normal. Wade, from the astounding novel Storm Riders, and Fast Horse from Fools Crow. Both
of these novels are written about Native American characters, and in both of these cases
horribly rotten ones. I believe what turns
them is the devil and the combinations of bad experiences that make them seek comfort in
their poor choices. A bad situation can’t
just cause you to turn evil; the evil already has to be flowing in your blood and through
your veins. A completely different
aspect of this is apparent in Their Eyes Were
Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, whose main character Janie, was brought into the
world by an unjust rape but turned herself into a strong and powerful woman. Even with all the unjust things that happened in
her life. The difference is her heart and
soul was good inside and out.
Wade’s
life began as a constant struggle for him because he was born a Fetal Alcohol baby, but is
it not a reason or excuse for his violent temper that sometimes resulted in the painful
attempted murders of humans and animals. Many
times people hide behind their handicaps or backgrounds, as Wade does to justify their
actions. He talks about the otters or Orcas
to either cause confusion or justify why he is a threat to others. When he stabbed his baby sitters dog with a
butcher knife, he uses this lame excuse of otters. Apparently
in his village people use otters to describe the bad people that come after children. He
said that he heard something in the cellar “that’s when I saw the monster-like a
big otter. They fought-all this barking and
growling and whistling. The big otter came
right at me, trying to get up the steps. When
it clawed at me, I tried to defend myself” ( Lesley 258.) He has a reason for every poor decision to try and
look like a normal child that has an imagination. Wade
is not a normal child; in fact he is possessed by the devil to cause chaos and destruction
to those around him. He constantly hurts
those that try to love him and doesn’t seem to notice.
In
the other fascinating novel based on the Native Americans culture, Fools Crow, there was another young man that caused
trouble for those around him. Fast Horse, a
strong and good looking young man chose the path of his dark side when his bad dreams of
the cold maker overpowered every inch of goodness that was left in his soul. It was just a vision that amounted to his
embarrassment, but he simply used it for an excuse to do what his evil soul wanted to do,
murder innocent victims. A family was
received his rage when he was caught trying to steal their horses and the farmer shot him
to scare him off. “At first she had
screamed and screamed when she saw Fast Horse standing over her husband, emptying his
rifle into the limp body” (Welch 216) but Fast Horse was unsatisfied with his almost
painless death. “He had wanted the
Napikwan to die more, piece by piece. He had
been cheated by his own rage” (Welch 217.) What
he pleasured was the pain of others, even though he valued his life and didn’t want
to die to wanted others to die.
The two murders of these
stories are both of Native American descent. They
thrive off the pain of others and are quick to point the finger at others or other things
that caused them to rebel. No one or nothing
besides the devil in your soul can cause you to rebel and become aggressive towards
others. Unfortunately both of these young men
had some bad and painful experiences growing up, but they choose to react and become part
of the evil force. It is not
situations that make people bad, it’s themselves.
I believe the devil puts a few chosen individuals that are possessed, or his
servers, to remind people he is still powerful and a never-ending existence. Wade and Fools Crow served him by inflicting pain
and death among their own people and animals.
Janie
a character of Their Eyes Were Watching God is
another unfortunate character that suffered many heart wrenching bad experiences as she
was growing up. To begin with her life began
by her mother being raped and it was always present that she wasn’t wanted and had to
be raised by her grand mother. However, with
everything that happened to her and the marriage she was pushed into, she was still a good
person at heart. She would never dream of
hurting an animal and in fact her second husband even bought a worthless mule for her
because the men were teasing him. “They oughta be shamed uh theyselves! Teasin’
dat poor brute lak they is!”(Hurston 56.) So her husband Joe Starks bought him so
that he could live the rest of his life peacefully. These
three characters are fighting two forces, good and evil.
Goodness comes from within a person. Janie
was seen for the beautiful and kindhearted person she was to all the towns’ people. She really felt for the other folks of her town,
in fact “She almost apologized to the tenants the first time she collected the rents. Felt like a usurper” (Hurston 92.) She had compassion and friendly feelings to the
other people she lived around and she treated animals with great respect, as if they were
human.
At
times throughout my life I hear of situations or have seen things that I can’t
believe a human would commit. As of yesterday
a 15-year opened fire in a school in California and killed 2 and wounded 15. Many ask what brought him to be this stressed and
act out this way. Nothing made him want to
kill, it is obviously just a part of him. He allowed the devil to overcome his weakness
and turn and do what the evil force loves the most, inflicting pain and suffering. Everyone knows the difference between what is
right and wrong. Doing something that is
wrong is when it can negatively affect others or hurt them.
It is no secret to people today that there is a God and that he is the
ultimate good force. Not all religious people
believe this, but the majority of the populations here where I live do. Goodness is having respect for life, showing that
you enjoy life and want to make it the safiest and happiest place for all living species. Those like Fast Horse and Wade that cause problems
for others are the antagonists of society. As
much as everyone hates having to deal with problems I believe they are created to keep the
world growing and changing. If everything
stayed the same day in and day out there would be nothing to learn from and nothing to
gain. Life is like a game until you get to
the end see where your life choices take you. For those that believe in the God will live
an eternity in heaven; the unfortunate will burn in hell.
I can tell you that I plan on being the best person that I can be so someday
I will have the ultimate happiness in heaven, as for Wade and Fast Horse I am sure that I
won’t be visiting with them.
Works Cited
Hurston, Zora. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: HarperPerennial, 1998.
Lesley, Craig. Storm Riders. New York: Picador, 2000.
Welch, James. Fools Crow.
New York: Penguin, 1987.
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