Thr3e(2001)
Author: Ted Dekker
Category: The Villain as Other
- Excerpt 1: “Why was the boy after Samantha?”
“Because he was a demented wacko who found pleasure in cutting up animals and terrorizing the neighborhood.” p. 153
- Real Psychology: Is there something horrifying and even sick about hurting animals and other people? Absolutely. But millions of people do it every day, slapping or hitting their pets and children, often in the grocery store or in the front yard, and nobody looks twice or calls them demented wackos.
It's not unusual for people to refer to behavior or people they don't understand as "crazy," because they're trying to create an Other: something so alien from themselves that they couldn't possibly harbor anything so ugly. As all that everyday abuse we ignore demonstrates, the ugliness is everywhere.
- Excerpt 2: “This upsets Slater and he decides to teach Kevin a lesson. That the gist of it?”
“Who’s to say how a demented mind works?...Really, it’s beyond me how someone could do this to another man…” p. 197
- Real Psychology:
This conversation is between the novel's two psychologists. Though in real life one therapist might say to another, "What on earth is the killer thinking?" the question would most likely spur a discussion of how and why the killer is acting the way he is. Much of the point to training in applied psychology (particularly clinical and forensic psychology) is learning how and why the mind of someone who behaves strangely works the way it does. Though someone's violent behavior will still be scary, understanding the context can bring the why into sharp focus.
One of the things most psychologists have to face is whether they believe the cause of the behavior (abuse, desperation, etc.) excuses it. To some extent, this has to do with your belief in free will. Behaviorists, for example, are more likely to believe that we're "pre-programmed" by the environment and had little choice, while humanists are more likely to emphasize the power of choice in changing one's life.
