[Dogs] What are the demons for?
lumpley:
Perfect.
Now if you wanted to make the town worse, turn it inward and more vicious, instead of letting it just split up and scatter that way, what would you do? Ultimately you want someone to cross a line, to do something rash, wrong, and irrevocable - but still understandable and even, in its way, sympathetic - so keep that in mind, but let's take little steps.
The book says that right now the demons want (a) the sin to become habitual, (b) the sin to escalate, and/or (c) someone else to sin in answer to the existing sin.
What if it comes into Jackson's head that, hell, he pays for sex with Sheila, why can't he pay for sex with Bethany too?
Roberts is willing and able to beat August, obviously. What would it take to make him willing and able to beat Obedience?
August doesn't have it in him to turn on his father, only to run away, even when his father beats him. What would it take to give August the will to vengeance? (If Roberts beat Bethany, would that do it?)
Marilla isn't happy with Phineas. How bad would it have to get before she'd leave him?
Phineas wouldn't, now and as written, respond to an advance from Ana, that's obvious. What would it take for her to seduce him? What would she have to do, or hold over him? What if she pretended to be Marilla in the dark?
Any thoughts?
-Vincent
Simon C:
Cool, I see what you're doing with this.
Roberts beating Bethany, and August killing him for that seems the most plausible of those scenarios. In play, Roberts was the kind of guy who's extra vigilant of everyone else, because he's prone to straying himself. Someone who's extra pious to make up for not being born to the faith. I can definitely see him beating Bethany. August is a young man in love, and convinced that if he doesn't marry Bethany, that makes him a sinner for sleeping with her. He'd absolutely be capable of killing, especially in the heat of the moment.
Phineas' pride is in his faith, and in the town. He thinks it's stronger than it is. I'm not sure he'd ever be seduced, unless it was by trickery, as you suggest. I'm not sure what Ana's motive would be for that though.
I can see Obedience killing Sheila, too, to bring Jackson back to her. I can see Marilla condoning that killing also.
I'm not sure how to get Corrupt Worship and Sorcery in there though. Maybe Roberts decides it's right for him to maintain the spiritual purity of his family by force? So he beats August to keep him away from Bethany, and beats Obedience to stop her from going to Jackson, who he sees as a corrupted sinner. Who's with him on this? His wife? That's possible. Maybe August and Obedience accept that he has the right to do that?
lumpley:
Oh that's interesting. Know who might really like that belief? Marilla.
You can think of false doctrine as an excuse with a promotion. It lets somebody off the hook for their failure, or justifies bad behavior, or shifts the blame to somebody else. "A father should keep his family pure, even by force" is a great example.
So my vote for a cult would be Roberts, Obedience and Marilla. Roberts and Obedience are bad cop / good cop on August, whom they're holding against his will. (I have an image of her bringing him water, stroking his hair, telling him to stop fighting and let his wickedness go, deep down scared to death that their father is going to turn on her.) Marilla is trying to bring Phineas around, she thinks that Phineas can beat Jackson back into line. What do you think?
-Vincent
Simon C:
Yeah, I can see that working. I like that take on Obedience as well.
lumpley:
Cool. So we've got Marilla coming out to Roberts' behind Phineas' back, or against his will, to worship with Roberts' family. We've got August tied to a post in the root cellar, beaten to crap. We've got Marilla pressuring Phineas to do the same to Jackson. We've got Bethany ... what? Recovering from her beating in Phineas' house, still hoping to rescue August, marry him and convert? Jackson's still running after Sheila and Marilla still hates having Ana in her home.
To make this as bad as it can possibly be, who has to die?
What's important about the demons isn't their supernaturality, but their malice. (I expect you've noticed this.) They exist to get you to think about how things can go worse, not to think about how they can go oogy-boogy.
So who do you think? August looks pretty likely, doesn't he? Jackson doesn't mean to kill him, but how much punishment can the kid take?
If Roberts beats August to death, the Dogs arrive to him torn and cracking - he murdered his son, but now his son's pure and in heaven, but he murdered him, but for his son's good, but he murdered him. He wants the Dogs to tell him that he did the right thing and that everything's okay, and he's going to erupt if they tell him anything else. (Can they redeem him? They still could, just maybe. Will they?)
Obedience ... If it were me, here's where Obedience would find the coldness in her heart. There's no future siding with her dead brother, so she does the math and becomes her father's absolute ally and defender. If August had to die to be made pure, so be it. She wants the Dogs to beat Jackson pure in turn so that he'll come back to her and marry her. How much fun will it be if the Dogs come and Jackson's the sorcerer, but obviously in torment, and sweet little Obedience is just his follower, but this horror has burned her conscience out of her? Answer: probably a lot of fun.
Marilla's not touched by the tragedy in the same way. She thinks that if Phineas only takes Jackson well in hand, Jackson will repent sooner. If pressed, she may allow as how Roberts went to far, but she still thinks his philosophy was sound. She wants what Obedience wants.
August isn't the only possible murder victim, though. Bethany has tremendous promise - what if Roberts decides that the object of his son's lust has to die before his son's lust will? What if he murders her just before Phineas converts her, or just after he does? Good stuff.
So! Seem good? Do you have other thoughts about who has to die? Do you see it going a different way with anybody, Roberts or Obedience or anybody?
-Vincent
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