Sacrifice In Gillian Flynn's Dark Places

In our lives, we will be thrown into situations where we are forced to make decisions that affect not only our futures, but the futures of those close to us. When making these choices we ask ourselves, will I regret choosing this? Is this person worth the sacrifice? Will I be able to live with myself after? Sometimes we make decisions without ever considering the consequences our actions have for other people. In Dark Places, the novel by Gillian Flynn, Libby Day was 7 when her two sisters and mother were murdered. Having survived, she testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, a group of people intrigued by the massacre contact her and encourage her to go down a path that may prove that Ben was …show more content…
How far would you be willing to go to protect someone you love? Would you sacrifice your life, your future, just so they could live theirs? Dark places made me realise that people will sacrifice everything for anyone who means enough to them. One example of someone making the descicion to sacrifice themselves in order to affect someone positively is the actions of Patty Day, Libby’s mother. She arranges for the ‘Angel of Death’ to kill her, so that her children can use the money from her life insurance to live better lives. For Patty, it was the best thing she could do for them. They were dirt poor, the farm wasn’t running, she could barely feed them or get them to school. She felt useless, like a let down to her children. Getting the angel of death to kill her was the one good thing she felt she could do for them, the one thing she could do right by them as a mother. This made me aware of the lengths people will go to help the ones they love. It made me question if I would go that far to ensure my sisters or parents could live a better life. Could I be that selfless? Patty Day’s selfless qualities also transpired in her son, Ben, who sacrificed his future for the girl he loved. In the novel, for the past 24 years, Ben has protected this girl, never breathed a word about her and what she did that night to anyone. He went to prison for her, he lost the chance of ever being able to lead a normal life, to be happy. He did all this, just because he cared about her. Regardless of what she had done he protected her. To me, this is the greatest form of sacrifice; he protects her even though he knows she has done horrible things. His love for her is strong enough that he disregards the terrible things she has done. This novel really made me realise the lengths people will go to to protect the ones they love. It helped me to respect the characters Patty and Ben, because I am not sure I