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For some reason I was thinking of the TV animated production of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and old Grinchy's lie "There's a light on this tree that won't light on one side." I realized, finally, that the story slips something past us--the Grinch actually does something kind, the way he gets Cindy Lou back to bed. You can say he has no choice, but is that really true?
What other iconic stories slip things past us?
Not sure I follow. He doesn't seem to hate the Whovillians - only their devotion to Christmas. Or am I misreading the original intent?
Not sure I follow. He doesn't seem to hate the Whovillians - only their devotion to Christmas. Or am I misreading the original intent?
in the same way Scrooge is not evil but perhaps misguided by his certain obsession. Christianity is about redeemable "bad" people who can be turned to good that unfortunately discounts and rarely recognizes that there are people who are irredeemably evil -- even leaving open the possibility that Christ could have been turned by Satan in Gethsemane -- particularly in the context of mental disease in which evil over good is not chosen. One does not pray or plead a bipolar paranoid schizophrenic to goodness, nor is there any permanent turn to goodness of the drug addict who can start up again far more easily than he can quit. However, Christianity is closer to the truth for drug addicts than secular therapists who only weakly mention the harm and destruction caused to others by addiction and indeed other non-biologic obsessions. How does a secular therapist (psychologist) help OCD? It is rather a sort of aversion therapy and not an appeal to empathy and pointing out suffering of others caused by one's actions (evil).
Yet we never see any part of the Grinch but his obsession until that point. Is it that point that tells us that the Grinch doesn't -actually- hate the Whos?
Rather, I question the assertion "...the Grinch actually does something kind..." which implies he normally does not.
The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
Nothing I can see in the original text suggests the Grinch hates anything else or has any reason to be unkind to Cindy Lou. For all we know, he's quite a friendly guy around Easter and maybe coaches softball on the weekend.
*I acknowledge that in the animated version, he mistreats his dog but the original text makes no mention of a whip. Let us say (in order to treat the OP) that the Grinch did whip his dog in the original text. We still have insufficient evidence to determine he is incapable of kindness to the extent that any kindness should surprise us. (And by kindness, I mean not maximizing each opportunity to be mean).
For some reason I was thinking of the TV animated production of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and old Grinchy's lie "There's a light on this tree that won't light on one side." I realized, finally, that the story slips something past us--the Grinch actually does something kind, the way he gets Cindy Lou back to bed. You can say he has no choice, but is that really true?
What other iconic stories slip things past us?
Is he doing something kind or just trying to get Cindy Lou out of his hair so that he could steal her gifts? Manipulation can be disguised as a kind act. However, this manipulation worked both ways, because by being kind to manipulate Cindy Lou back to bed, the Grinch felt the first pangs of the spirit of Christmas to which he ultimately succumbs.
Maybe ...
But does it also somehow prime the reader?
Kdot wrote:Not sure I follow. He doesn't seem to hate the Whovillians - only their devotion to Christmas. Or am I misreading the original intent?
in the same way Scrooge is not evil but perhaps misguided by his certain obsession. Christianity is about redeemable "bad" people who can be turned to good that unfortunately discounts and rarely recognizes that there are people who are irredeemably evil -- even leaving open the possibility that Christ could have been turned by Satan in Gethsemane -- particularly in the context of mental disease in which evil over good is not chosen. One does not pray or plead a bipolar paranoid schizophrenic to goodness, nor is there any permanent turn to goodness of the drug addict who can start up again far more easily than he can quit. However, Christianity is closer to the truth for drug addicts than secular therapists who only weakly mention the harm and destruction caused to others by addiction and indeed other non-biologic obsessions. How does a secular therapist (psychologist) help OCD? It is rather a sort of aversion therapy and not an appeal to empathy and pointing out suffering of others caused by one's actions (evil).
In Christianity, there is the belief all people are irredemably evil. This is the doctrine of original sin. No matter what we do, we will sin. Even if you don't actually murder someone, you might wish someone dead, which, spiritually, is the same thing for Jesus. But everyone can be redeemed through supernatural intervention occasioned by accepting Jesus Chirst as Lord and Savior. No exceptions, and some research indicates that addicts are helped by a strong religious faith. The 12 steps of AA, and related programs, all have leaning on a supernatural power, or one greater than oneself, to overcome the addiction. It's doubtful that Jesus could have turned in Gethseme, as when the soldiers came, he stood against the torture of Herod and Pilate. You perhaps are thinking of his Temptation in the desert, where Satan offered him all the kingdoms of the Earth, and he refused.
I haven't read the story, but the classical movies about Scrooge have him in the existential situation Reinhold Neibuhr talks about when he analyzes original sin as an encounter with mortality and finitude. The Ego is the source of sin, as it pits us against, well, everything, but it is necessary to take care of oneself. The anxiety of finitude and mortality leads to sinful behavior (alienation from God and Man). Scrooge suffered this, and needed to have the spiritual centeredness that resulted from a supernatural enounter.
As to the Grinch? He didn't hate the Who's, just Christmas, and wanted to take it away from everyone. But then, he too gets redeemed.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
Maybe ...
But does it also somehow prime the reader?
Yes. Because without a little foreshadowing that the Grinch is capable of changing we won't believe it when it happens.
In Christianity, there is the belief all people are irredemably evil. This is the doctrine of original sin.
I disagree, and we have to leave it there. "Sin" does not equal "evil." Sin is more a description of behaviors. If there is no redemption (in much disputed fashion, or other), there is no Christianity.
To the topic: Christian-culture in literature is about "sinners," rarely about evil. Scrooge and Grinch are sinners in their acts respecting Christmas, but they are not evil. That is the confusion the OP suffers, perhaps of the same confusion he might have of a man who works industriously, pays all taxes required of him and obeys the law scrupulously and yet will go home and abusively scolds his his wife who may have not presented his dinner on time.
Of the fictional character Victor Frankenstein or the fictional character Mark Zuckerberg in Social Network who is the sinner and who is an archetype of evil? It's the one who found redemption who is the sinner and not the computer whiz.
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TheNextBigWriter Premium → Plot and character in familiar fiction.
