Friendswood Homework

September 25, 2016

Classes 11-14 Reading Logs

        1. Usually after being rape, the victim feels alone and lost in the world, sometimes even judged and put down by their peers since they are unaware of the struggles the victim went through and continue to go through. Luckily, Willa, the poor and innocent girl that was a virgin before being raped isn't completely alone since she still has true friends, such as rebellious Dani and now Dex, a guy that was at the same party where the rape occurred. One can infer that Dex is not like the other guys that were at the party since he genuinely cares about Willa and doesn't blame her for the rape. For example, when Bishop, one of Cully's friends, says "'That girl's [Willa] trouble, no way around it,'" Dex defends Willa by quoting, "'I can't believe you guys'" (Steinke 214). This comment coming out of Dex's voice shows that he understands the boys are blaming their unethical actions on Willa in order to discharge their responsibility and protect their "All-American Boys" reputations. He is shocked that they are actually convincing themselves that they did nothing wrong and that it was Willa who caused the rape. Makes sense since it is always the rape victim's fault for their sexual assault, is it not? In response to the rape, Dex starts to feel bad for Willa when he sees how the incident negatively affects her life, such as forcing her to stay at home and learn as opposed to a conventional school environment, and he then realizes that "'She doesn't deserve that [this],'" (209). He also probably begins to miss seeing Willa since he did like her and they were partners in English. He takes the initiative to make Willa feel like part of the school again by creating friendship with her and partnering up with her on the new English project. Even though she's still not in school, it is the least he can do since he feels guilty for her rape. Dex feels guilty for not stopping Cully from raping her originally, and he is also afraid that some type of authority will find out that he was at the party. If he was at the party and is genuinely a good person, people will begin to wonder "Why didn't he stop it?" Despite doing nothing wrong, Dex knows it was not enough on his part for helping Willa, and he doesn't want to deal with this type of pressure from authority.  

       2. Hal has always loved his son Cully, even after the rape incident. However, he tends to obsess over his son, living vicariously through his success as a football player and all-around "good boy" reputation, in order to forget his past of wrongdoings. When Hal receives a phone call from the principal informing him that Cully has once again got himself in trouble, the news "surprised him how hard it was to say, how much he got chocked up" (Steinke 227-228). The reasoning behind his reaction is because he knew that his son's football career was over for the season, the career he never had when he was a young football player. There was nothing he could do but just deal with it and let his son learn the consequences of his mischievous actions. Unfortunately, Hal believes there is more he can do in order to save his son, by blaming religion. After his failed attempt of convincing Coach Salem to let his son continue playing, he believes that the reason Cully is acting up lately is because "He needed the holy spirit in him. He needed righteousness...faith" (229). Once Cully finds himself within religion, for sure he will start acting appropriately and life will continue to go his way. Even after the rape, Hal has been training his son to find God and start practicing religion. Hal is obviously in denial because religion is not the scapegoat for his son's barbaric and purely evil behavior. His son needs better parenting, as in he needs parents that won't be afraid to punish him when he does rape a girl or gets in a fight in school. He needs to be taught the hard way by his parents that what he does is wrong and must stop. Instead, Cully has a sweet mom that doesn't act and a dad that has an ego bigger than his intelligence and is so consumed in his son that he refuses any harm or pain to touch him. The only reason Hal is blaming religion is because he uses Cully to vent his feeling of humiliation of his dark past of love affairs and alcoholism. If Hal acknowledges that his son is always in trouble because of his poor parenting, then it shatters his reputation that he is trying to rebuild from his past in order to trick people into thinking he means good. All in all, Hal is protecting his son so he can also protect himself, just like the selfish character he is. 

       3. At the Lawbournes' house party, it is clear that Willa was victimized by Cully while his friends partied hard in the house, but Dex was also there. He feels guilty now for not doing anything to stop the rape, resulting in his reasoning to try to make up for it now by befriending Willa. Despite him not taking part in the rape or drugging Willa, he is still ashamed of his failure to act and for even being at the house, also for forging a note from his mother togo to the house. Most importantly, Dex is concerned of what institutions such as his school, football team, and even his parents will think of him when they discover that he was in the house, even though he did nothing wrong nor good. This is significant since it shows Dex's character as a kind boy that respects authority. Also, he has a conscience since he cares for what above institutions think of him and he feels guilty for not helping Willa. Along with his character and conscience, Dex feels humiliation when his mother finds out that it is possible that he was also at the party. His mother may not know that he was there, but the fact that she knows there is a possibility, makes him feel even more guilty since "she trusted him too much, and that was a wrench in his heart" (Steinke 181). Dex's mother's reaction to the news of what happened at the Lawbournes' was one of shame and shock, since she knew the young boys personally. It was shocking to her that the "'boys here would do that, boys I've had in my own house,'" (181). She doesn't ask Dex if he was there because she is probably afraid of the truth and doesn't want to believe that her son was part of a crowd that took a girl's freedom away. After all, Dex was her "little boy" that looked after her and his sister, picked up her medication and more. In colloquial terms, Dex was the father-figure of the household. Therefore, she blames the other boys that were at the party, in order to protect her son and to ignore the possibility. Her action of blaming the other boys is also a tactic of reverse psychology, because since she knows Dex respects and cares for her, he will start to feel even more guilty for his mother not blaming him, which is a form of silent criticism, letting Dex know that she is disappointed in him. This reveals Dex's mom's character as one of love, admiration and a good parent for her family since she is protecting Dex while "punishing" him. But this action also shows that she is not oblivious to her surroundings and is in fact pretty sneaky. Hal should learn a thing or two from Dex's mom about how to blame.