Literary Bullies- We Need To Talk About Kevin

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bullying, friendship, intolerance, Lionel Shriver, siblings, social settings, We Need to Talk About Kevin

Of all the stories where I have introduced and talked about the bullies of the story, “We Need to Talk About Kevin” is unique as far as the criteria goes. In this story, Kevin, the protagonist and school shooter is not bullied. In fact, several times in it, his mother states that the kids at school gave him a wide berth. Like they were afraid of Kevin rather the other way around. So, you might be asking yourself why am I including this book in my series of literary school bullies. The answer is simple. Kevin wasn’t bullied, he was the bully and Lionel gives plenty of hints throughout her novel to arrive at this conclusion.

Let’s start with the most obvious case, Kevin’s younger sister Celia. While Kevin shows no open hostility towards her, he doesn’t hit her or anything like that, he does bully her in more subtle ways. The first instance is Celia’s pet hamster which disappears in spite of the little sister’s care. It is never known for sure that Kevin made the pet disappear but not long after, there is a clog in the bathroom sink and the evidences suggests that the clog is hamster sized. Worse still, while supposedly taking care of his younger sister, she has an accident involving drain cleaner which causes her to lose an eye. Again, it is never proven that Kevin caused the accident, there is ample evidence to suggest that he had.

Next, we go to Kevin’s only friend, Lenny. It is quite clear from the story that Lenny is basically Kevin’s lap dog. In fact, Kevin even once refers to him as his hamster although I can think of a much stronger and more appropriate word. Together, the pair get a teacher removed from classroom duties when they make a false allegation against her. The only reason the teacher didn’t get fired is because (and much to Kevin’s annoyance) Lenny goes way over the top with his embellishment of what happened. The most interesting part of this friendship is that Kevin is able to manipulate his father into thinking that Lenny is the bad influence and not the other way around. That point is proven when one evening Kevin is brought home by the police because he and Lenny were caught dropping large stones off a bridge. Kevin convinces his father that it was all Lenny’s idea and that he took the rap to save his friend. So we can see that maybe Kevin doesn’t openly bully Lenny but is easily able to control his which is a form of bullying.

Two further examples come to mind in establishing Kevin as a bully. One instance is in kindergarten when Kevin gets a girl with eczema to scratch her infected skin until she bled. The other is at the eighth grade dance when one girl takes to the floor and dances solo. Kevin goes up to her and while it is never known what is said, the poor girl goes off in tears of embarrassment. There are other hints throughout the story to give weight to the argument that Kevin was a bully. The fact that he was never asked back for a play date and the fact that all of the parents from Kevin’s playgroup left and formed a group on their own.

Since Kevin wasn’t a victim but instead the bully, the question remains as to why he locked nine students, a teacher and a cafeteria worker in the school gymnasium and mow them down with a crossbow, killing seven students and the teacher. Surely, only someone bullied would carry out a massacre like that. I put forth the conclusion that Kevin, being a bully, carried out the shooting simply because he believed he could. His behaviour goes beyond that of a simple bully and it has been argued by many who have read the book that he was a sociopath. I can’t disagree with that argument but all the speculation in the world won’t answer what was going through Kevin’s mind. Only he (through Lionel Shriver of course) can answer that question.

Next post: Rupture

To buy He Was Weird, go to: http://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1431463953&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird

 

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Literary Bullies: Part 3- Endgame

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American football, Americans, bullying, Endgame, guns, LGBT, Nancy Garden, school shootings, schools, stereotypes, t

While refreshing my memory on the novel “Endgame,” I sadly discovered that the author, Nancy Garden, passed away from a heart attack nearly a year ago, June 23, 2014, aged 76. “Endgame” is the only novel of hers which I have read but she has many more. Nancy and I did exchange emails over the past few years and she very graciously took the time to read and comment on the previous posts I have made about this book on Peaceful Rampage. I took it as a great compliment when she fed back that my comments about the mother in this book were well thought out, especially as she was such a minor character. Her other comments were just as positive. Furthermore, I discovered that her best known novel, “Annie on My Mind” was the first to portray gay teenagers in a positive light. While it attracted much controversy and was temporarily banned in Kansas in 1993, the novel won several awards.

R.I.P. Nancy Garden

On account of the above, I feel under great pressure to make sure I do a good job on this one. In Endgame, there was one main bully who went by Zorro. He had an entourage of hangers on who assisted with the bullying of Grey in the story but it was evident from the very beginning that he was the driving force behind it all. It was he who, after giving Grey a black eye, demanded that he check with him for the appropriate alibi for the cause of the injury. His bullying of Grey is pretty horrific and makes me somewhat grateful that I didn’t suffer some of the things he did like forcing Grey to drink paint, destroying his drum kit and running over his dog. On the latter, Zorro tried to force Grey to change his story about him running over the dog so Grey’s father’s lawsuit wouldn’t stick. When Grey resisted, Zorro and pals tried to get Grey to perform a sex act on his friend. This was the limit for Grey and why he snapped and took an automatic pistol to school, shooting Zorro through the head and then several other people, killing three more of them.

Why was Zorro such a bully? Reading the story, Nancy gives the impression that Zorro believes that he can bully simply because he can. A star football player, Zorro thinks that he should be treated as royalty with the unimpeded privilege to throw his weight around to tease, haze, abuse and bully undesirables from what he sees as the lower castes. It doesn’t help that the high school, like so many in America, treat him and his fellow jocks as molly coddled Gods and anything they do is beyond reproach. While Nancy doesn’t come out and say this in the book, those reasons alone are why Zorro gets away with destroying Grey’s drum kit and thinks he can get away with running over his dog. In short, I think Zorro was a total asshole and cheered inwardly when Grey put a round into his skull. No one, no matter how athletic, rich or popular they are, should have the right to hurt others.

The practical side of my brain is hearing some of you say, no one deserves to die like that and you’re right. Ending any bully’s life would not end the bullying but Endgame points a damning finger at what happens when bullies go unchecked on account of their status.

Next post: We Need To Talk About Kevin

To buy He Was Weird, go to: http://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1430848573&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird