I appreciate your observations on these stories—that in the very skill of convincing us wrong might be right, the authors show us our own contrary hearts. And yeah, I agree—it only works if you also see the fallout. I’m still scraping some of the other kind off my skin!
This almost makes me feel a little icky as a reader now. 😆 For me, the icky part is more often related to moments when a "good" character deals out "justice" in his own way. There's a book in which one of my favorite characters--a generally good, upstanding, honorable guy--murders a character who is a slimy traitor, and when I read the scene there was that part of me that celebrated, even though I knew it wasn't right or good. But the author did a good job of making me want that guy dead.
This is a great post, Michele. I'd say "I have the T-shirt," but I think the more accurate thing to say would be is, I have the book!" Still, I think this is one of the reasons we read in the first place, and one of the reasons good authors write in the first place. They want to show us the consequences of various types of behaviors - both moral and immoral. These authors don't necessarily have to be "Christian," but those who understand right from wrong, good from evil, can write extremely compelling novels where righteousness prevails over evil. Sometimes we do root for the anti-hero, or for those who commit what some of us (me) would call sin. If the author builds the case for such behaviors (in World War II, good people killed evil people, for example), I close the book and am satisfied. You are right that this may not always be "good," though. Maybe that's another reason why we read books - so we "experience" these things only vicariously, and not in reality!
I appreciate your observations on these stories—that in the very skill of convincing us wrong might be right, the authors show us our own contrary hearts. And yeah, I agree—it only works if you also see the fallout. I’m still scraping some of the other kind off my skin!
This almost makes me feel a little icky as a reader now. 😆 For me, the icky part is more often related to moments when a "good" character deals out "justice" in his own way. There's a book in which one of my favorite characters--a generally good, upstanding, honorable guy--murders a character who is a slimy traitor, and when I read the scene there was that part of me that celebrated, even though I knew it wasn't right or good. But the author did a good job of making me want that guy dead.
This is a great post, Michele. I'd say "I have the T-shirt," but I think the more accurate thing to say would be is, I have the book!" Still, I think this is one of the reasons we read in the first place, and one of the reasons good authors write in the first place. They want to show us the consequences of various types of behaviors - both moral and immoral. These authors don't necessarily have to be "Christian," but those who understand right from wrong, good from evil, can write extremely compelling novels where righteousness prevails over evil. Sometimes we do root for the anti-hero, or for those who commit what some of us (me) would call sin. If the author builds the case for such behaviors (in World War II, good people killed evil people, for example), I close the book and am satisfied. You are right that this may not always be "good," though. Maybe that's another reason why we read books - so we "experience" these things only vicariously, and not in reality!