Decisions, decisions

[chris_gerrib]

This may be another "go get a cup of coffee" post, so please bear with me. There are several apparently unrelated things I've been interested in exploring.

1) Religious fundamentalism. I'm very much a middle-of-the-road person politically (which puts me well to the right of the typical Making Light commenter), and I've always been that way. People who think they have a direct line to God (in particular) or All The Answers (in general) scare the piss out of me. Because if one Has All The Answers, debate, discussion or moderation with those that don't (like me) is not tolerated. For an example of that kind of faith, see these folks. A corollary to this is a strong tendency by the adherents of the Faith to confuse the map for the terrain.

2) Walling yourself off from evil. I really liked M. Night Shyamalan's movie The Village. It was critically panned, largely because people were expecting a twist ending and Adrien Brody thought he was playing the heavy in a Batman flick*, but I liked the concept. Basically, the adult Villagers wall themselves off from evil society, only to discover that one of their own becomes evil.

3) The Elizabeth Smart case. Basically, a religious nut (see point #1) kidnaps a 14-year-old girl and holds her for nine months. What's weird is that the girl is allowed to walk the streets, go to parties, etc., and even tries to convince the police that she's not the girl they're looking for. I really do not want to blame the victim, but I suspect that the typical 14-year-old would have responded differently. The difference? Religion.

So, I incorporated all of these factors in my novel Escape from New Deseret. The query letter for this novel was discussed in yesterday's post. I'm wondering if it's too much stuff in one sock, and if not, how do I sell it?



*Which is to say, just a little over-acting.

Comments

Re: Elizabeth Smart

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

There have been other kidnapped kids who were apparently brainwashed into staying with their captors - a boy in Ohio comes to mind.

My point was that her response (and the boy's) was not what we would commonly expect. I have in fact heard of Stockholm Syndrome. I've also heard of POWs, jailed inmates, the Warsaw ghetto, and all sorts of other folks who resisted unto death. My interest, from a fictional perspective, is why some people do resist and others don't.

Re: Elizabeth Smart

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

I read a book recently that gave me a new outlook on that sort of thing. Trauma and Recovery, I forget the author. (Yes, I read it for research.) It seems to come down to how strong your sense of personal identity is, because captivity generally destroys that. (Rape does that, but it seems that captivity is actually far harder to take.) It's an interesting book, if you're thinking of researching in that direction. Quite readable as well. jim_hines also said he'd read it.

Re: Elizabeth Smart

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Well, Elizabeth Smart may not have been the most appropriate character model. In the book, the character is more like the 14-year-old forced by the Fundies to marry her 19-year-old cousin. (What Warren Jeffs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Jeffs) was convicted of.)

Re: Elizabeth Smart

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Ah, makes sense....