Valley of Fear ch. 4-7
Sarah Gellman
8/30
Up until the moment that McMurdo revealed his true identity to McGinty and the other Scowrers selected to be part of his "mission" to catch Birdy Edwards, I was constantly trying to decide whether I should be rooting for or against McMurdo. While I was completely aware of the fact that McMurdo was involved in an extremely dangerous, merciless gang and was taking part in so many murders and other terrible actions (or at least I thought he was...), the fact that the narration followed him as the main character left me with some type of soft spot for the seemingly heartless man. I think the main aspect of his character that left me wanting to root for him so badly despite his horrible actions was his treatment of Ettie. He consistently treated her with nothing but respect and love, even equating her to a queen, other than a momentarily lapse of judgment in which he began to strangle her, which I now realize only occurred since he though he had been caught by a member of the Scowrers.
Even though I at times was angry at myself for rooting for such a seemingly evil character, now that I know McMurdo's true identity, I am happy that I repeatedly decided to give him another chance to prove himself to be a genuinely good person somewhere very deep down, which he definitely did. This entire situation involving my constant questioning my own judgment comes as a result of Doyle's creative and intelligent decision to leave out such a crucial detail of the story until the end. While it was definitely frustrating throughout the story to often dislike the values of the protagonist (in this section of the book, at least) and root against him, the pure shock and exhilaration that I felt the moment I discovered McMurdo's true identity made the ceaseless doubt worth the pain.
8/30
Up until the moment that McMurdo revealed his true identity to McGinty and the other Scowrers selected to be part of his "mission" to catch Birdy Edwards, I was constantly trying to decide whether I should be rooting for or against McMurdo. While I was completely aware of the fact that McMurdo was involved in an extremely dangerous, merciless gang and was taking part in so many murders and other terrible actions (or at least I thought he was...), the fact that the narration followed him as the main character left me with some type of soft spot for the seemingly heartless man. I think the main aspect of his character that left me wanting to root for him so badly despite his horrible actions was his treatment of Ettie. He consistently treated her with nothing but respect and love, even equating her to a queen, other than a momentarily lapse of judgment in which he began to strangle her, which I now realize only occurred since he though he had been caught by a member of the Scowrers.
Even though I at times was angry at myself for rooting for such a seemingly evil character, now that I know McMurdo's true identity, I am happy that I repeatedly decided to give him another chance to prove himself to be a genuinely good person somewhere very deep down, which he definitely did. This entire situation involving my constant questioning my own judgment comes as a result of Doyle's creative and intelligent decision to leave out such a crucial detail of the story until the end. While it was definitely frustrating throughout the story to often dislike the values of the protagonist (in this section of the book, at least) and root against him, the pure shock and exhilaration that I felt the moment I discovered McMurdo's true identity made the ceaseless doubt worth the pain.
I felt the same way. McMurdo definitely seemed very in-line with the beliefs of McGinty and the other members of the Scrowers, and it was easy for me to deem him as a morally unjust character before I got to the ending of the novel. His character to me was a huge juxtaposition between his actions towards Ettie, and the murderous being he became during his time with the Scrowers.
ReplyDeleteI understand where you're coming from with not liking McMurdo. I think Doyle intentionally wrote him in that way so that the shock of the reveal would be even greater. It also brings up the question of morality, which we discussed in class. If he hadn't acted so horribly, there wouldn't be much reason to question whether the ends justified the means, and trapping the gang of murderers was worth letting innocent people die.
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