Major Issues
Within the novel Helpless there are various themes seen throughout the course of the book. Love is a powerful emotion is one of the themes viewed in almost every character throughout this novel. Ron himself fell in love with Rachel and could not control himself from becoming closer with the nine year old. Ron was confident that once Rachel realized that Ron’s home was better than the conditions she was living in; Rachel would grow to love both him and Nancy. Ron says to Nancy: “Anyway, when we’ve gained her trust, even her love and I’m hoping we can gain her love, we’ll cut her hair, dye it, maybe straighten it… we’ll close the shop and the three of us will drive to Florida” (Gowdy 94). Ron was sure that Rachel would grow to love …show more content…
This point of view gave me an in-depth understanding of each character’s thoughts. Gowdy’s way of telling the kidnapping was interesting because normally, I would only have one point of view and develop a relationship with that one character. This form of writing gave me the opportunity to sympathize with each character and understand how each person was feeling in the same situation. The 3rd person omniscient point of view was a helpful way for me to not developing biases towards a situation or character as much as I typically do when written otherwise. During this novel there were various moments that my perspective was changed on a situation based on the thoughts of different characters. An example of this was when there was a discussion on the radio about Rachel not knowing her own father (115). In the beginning I thought that Ron was just crazy for thinking that Rachel was being neglected at home however, after the radio discussion about Celia, I began to think that the lack of a father in Rachel’s life could have been a changing factor in Rachel’s abduction. This way of telling the story also helped when analysing and understanding how different characters were developing within the novel. Having the opportunity to see how the thoughts of certain characters changed was very helpful in the development of the …show more content…
Pedophilia is the sexual desire in an adult for a child (Dictionary.com). According to Margo Kaplan, pedophilia is becoming more commonly seen as a mental illness. Kaplan reports that there are a lot more pedophiles that don’t sexually abuse children than there are pedophiles that do (75). It is also said that pedophilia is known to start within a person at a young age. Margo Kapan says, “It is not unusual for children to experience ‘crushes’- affection and attraction to other children. As most people age out of childhood, so do the people to whom they are attracted. This does not happen to people with pedophilia; they grow older but remain attracted to children. Individuals often first notice their pedophile interest in adolescence” (75). Among men pedophiles fantasies and dreams about young children are very common however most pedophiles don’t act on this (75). This applies to the novel Helpless in a large way. The main character, Ron suffers from pedophilia and struggles with his impulses. Ron began to see his pedophilic behaviors at the young age of eleven when he became attracted to an eight year old girl who had moved into his home with him and his father (191). Ron began to engage in sexual encounters with the eight year old girl (191). Ron also fantasized about Rachel is sexual ways that a man who is a father figure to a child should not have. “Ron wakes from a dream that Rachel is sitting on his
Within the novel Helpless there are various themes seen throughout the course of the book. Love is a powerful emotion is one of the themes viewed in almost every character throughout this novel. Ron himself fell in love with Rachel and could not control himself from becoming closer with the nine year old. Ron was confident that once Rachel realized that Ron’s home was better than the conditions she was living in; Rachel would grow to love both him and Nancy. Ron says to Nancy: “Anyway, when we’ve gained her trust, even her love and I’m hoping we can gain her love, we’ll cut her hair, dye it, maybe straighten it… we’ll close the shop and the three of us will drive to Florida” (Gowdy 94). Ron was sure that Rachel would grow to love …show more content…
This point of view gave me an in-depth understanding of each character’s thoughts. Gowdy’s way of telling the kidnapping was interesting because normally, I would only have one point of view and develop a relationship with that one character. This form of writing gave me the opportunity to sympathize with each character and understand how each person was feeling in the same situation. The 3rd person omniscient point of view was a helpful way for me to not developing biases towards a situation or character as much as I typically do when written otherwise. During this novel there were various moments that my perspective was changed on a situation based on the thoughts of different characters. An example of this was when there was a discussion on the radio about Rachel not knowing her own father (115). In the beginning I thought that Ron was just crazy for thinking that Rachel was being neglected at home however, after the radio discussion about Celia, I began to think that the lack of a father in Rachel’s life could have been a changing factor in Rachel’s abduction. This way of telling the story also helped when analysing and understanding how different characters were developing within the novel. Having the opportunity to see how the thoughts of certain characters changed was very helpful in the development of the …show more content…
Pedophilia is the sexual desire in an adult for a child (Dictionary.com). According to Margo Kaplan, pedophilia is becoming more commonly seen as a mental illness. Kaplan reports that there are a lot more pedophiles that don’t sexually abuse children than there are pedophiles that do (75). It is also said that pedophilia is known to start within a person at a young age. Margo Kapan says, “It is not unusual for children to experience ‘crushes’- affection and attraction to other children. As most people age out of childhood, so do the people to whom they are attracted. This does not happen to people with pedophilia; they grow older but remain attracted to children. Individuals often first notice their pedophile interest in adolescence” (75). Among men pedophiles fantasies and dreams about young children are very common however most pedophiles don’t act on this (75). This applies to the novel Helpless in a large way. The main character, Ron suffers from pedophilia and struggles with his impulses. Ron began to see his pedophilic behaviors at the young age of eleven when he became attracted to an eight year old girl who had moved into his home with him and his father (191). Ron began to engage in sexual encounters with the eight year old girl (191). Ron also fantasized about Rachel is sexual ways that a man who is a father figure to a child should not have. “Ron wakes from a dream that Rachel is sitting on his