Sunday, December 26, 2010
Todd is Insane
Why do you guys think that Todd started killing after he stopped his visits with Dussander? Do you think if Todd was still talking with Dussander, he wouldn't have killed those people? Or do you think that Todd's visits just sent him towards what he did, in other words, if he had continued to talk with Dussander, he would have killed those people anyway? The big question here is: Did Todd's visits with Dussander make Todd start killing people, or did they prevent him from doing it?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Todd's visits to Dussander both caused him to and prevented him from killing the winos. Todd feels the obligation to kill and partake in violent activity because of what he was exposed to with Dussander. After he heard about the atrocities of the Nazis during the Holocaust, he became corrupted by evil and violence and kept craving more from Dussander. One way Todd dealt with this hunger was by killing winos. However, he only killed during periods of time when he wasn't interacting with Dussander much. I think this is because hearing the stories not only fueled Todd's hunger but sated it as well.
ReplyDeleteI DISAGREE WITH ALEX. Just kidding, I agree with him. I think the stories became something of an addiction to Todd. He had to hear them or else he had a sort of withdrawal, a symptom of which is killing. Todd's obsessed with killing and death and he needs it as a part of his life. Dussander's stories were real. The Holocaust was one of the the largest mass-exterminations of people the world has ever seen and Dussander was part of it. Todd wants to hear these stories because of his fascination with killing, and the fact that Dussander killed so many people helped him to keep his urges under control. However, it just became too much and so Todd began to kill.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, Dussander's stories are like drugs to Todd. Todd's addicted to them, and when he can't listen to these stories he has to go out and kill. If he hadn't heard Dussander's stories, I don't think he would have gone so far as to kill someone, at least not at his young age, but since he heard them I think it sped up the process. I don't think Dussander's stories will ever permanently prevent Todd from killing, but while Todd's listening to his stories Todd will, for a while at least, be at ease.
I agree with Nick, and Alex. Todd became obsessed with these stories of murder. When he wasn't listening to them, he felt a need to preform them. He couldn't go without killing or thoughts of it. He became so involved in Dussander's stories that it became a reality and necessity with him. If he had continued to talk with Dussander, then I don't think that he would have killed those people. He would have had enough with the stories, and wouldn't be compelled with killing.
ReplyDeleteOverall, Todd's visits with Dussander started him out for a need of violence and murder. If he hadn't started seeing Dussander, then he wouldn't have had violence on his mind. But once he got into the stories, the lack of seeing Dussander made him need to fill the spaces by killing people. So Todd's visits both started making him kill people, but prevented it while he was seeing him, like Alex said in the beginning.
Sorry to make it boring, but I also have to agree with everyone. Maybe Steady will come in and shoot us down. I think it was a mix of the both. Dussander's stories incited Todd to think about killing. Before he met Dussander, he was still a little nuts, but he definitely wasn't thinking about killing anyone. Then eventually, he started thinking about killing Dussander, and eventually it all spirals out of control.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time however, I think that Todd's talks with Dussander provided an outlet for his feelings. By talking about this stuff with Dussander, it satisfied his "need" without leading him to actually do something. Also, I think a part of that was that Dussander simply kept Todd busy, between the schoolwork and all his stories. Todd just didn't have time to go out and kill anybody. In addition, remember that while Todd was hanging out with Dussander, both of them were really paranoid that the truth about their visits would come out. Todd was probably also worried that if something did go wrong, it might draw attention to his relationship with Dussander.
So overall, while Todd's visits made him even more insane, a variety of factors also delayed him from doing what he did. So yeah, neither Todd or Dussander are cool.
O'Doyle RULES!
ReplyDeleteSorry to say this, but I'm going to have to agree with everyone else here also (way to go Dan, posting a question with an apparently simple answer). I feel that Todd became a killer by talking to Dussander so much. We can assume this because before Todd began story time with Dussander he was slightly evil and manipulative, but not even close to the point of murder. As he gets older, and the stories continue, he becomes corrupt, and this evil within makes Todd easy to be manipulated himself. The evil stories that Dussander tells Todd, mixed with Todd's evils that he commits to Dussander form together and make Todd the evil person he becomes in this section of murder in his life.
ReplyDeleteOn a different side, perhaps if Todd had had just one person he could have told this secret to (excluding Dussander) he would have been saved and been able to find help and not kill people, yet when a person keeps something to themself for too long (as Todd did) it's very easy for the mind to complicate things, blow everything out of the proportion, and act irrationally.
Killing someone was not very surprising, and I was surprised when Todd did not kill Dussander earlier, however, when Todd continued to kill more and more winos and even hunt for them on his 'expeditions', Todd's insanity is apparent. His private relationship with Dussander brewed together into evil, and as soon as his only tie to reality (Todd and Dussander's meetings/relationship) is cut off, Todd is left with only himself to talk, and things such as suicide, killing his parents, and actually killing winos becomes a commonplace in his brain.