John Burnside’s novel The Devils Footprints leaves us asking ourselves the same question about a narrator who struggles to come to terms with his actions due to his sadistic tendencies. An intimate first person narrative to bring empathy and support to a story that may otherwise inspire disgust. The Devils Footprints explores strategies for aligning the reader with the anti-hero Michael Gardner by invoking relative morality in which his morals appear more ethical than those of “more explicitly villainous and unsympathetic characters to highlight the antihero’s more redeeming qualities” (Burnside, 143). In addition, “sympathy for the character’s victimization in childhood” provide a rationale and “plausible explanation” for Michael’s strange
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Malcolm has the skill to detect any action Michael may be planning on taking through reading his eyes and as a result strategically preventing his escape. For example, Michael expresses what occurs in Malcolm’s devious mind when he states, “He could see it in my eyes what I was going to do before I did it; he could see, at the very moment, that I was thinking of running, and his tongue flickered between his lips in soft appraisal, as if he too were working out the odds that were going through my head” (43). Malcolm’s shrewd, cunning strategic mind recognizes the skill required to make a fragile soul suffer. Michael is weak and innocent often falling prey to Malcolm’s subtle traps. His ability to read Michael’s facial expressions and natural body gestures aids him in guiding Michael to isolated locations. Such that his victim has no chance of escape, further enforcing his power over him. This reflection occurs right before Malcolm leads Michael to a small courtyard in the remote area of Toll Wynd and in an …show more content…
Michael running off with a fourteen year old is an action which greatly tests our allegiance. However, he has a non-malicious intent towards Hazel and simply uses her to get out of a marriage and marginal lifestyle which has been holding him back from achieving psychological freedom. Through Hazel, Michael is able to escape from the sorrows of life. Saving Hazel from her alcoholic father Tom Birnie is an opportunity Michael’s provided with to escape from his wife Amanda. Above all, the protagonist is fully aware of the reason why Hazel joins him; she possesses no feelings for him. Hence, he feels a sense of relief when he wakes up one morning at the hotel realizing Hazel and her gang of “fuckboys” have stripped him from his valuable items: car, wallet, watch. As a result, Michael has found an opportunity to start his life afresh. This is shown when he’s lying sick on the bathroom floor of the motel vomiting food and fighting a dark force fighting its way up his chest through his throat. Specifically, this scene is demonstrating Michael’s regeneration to a new life; he has both mentally and physically cleared his life from the past. He says, “It wasn’t comfort, and it wasn’t absolution; nothing like that. It was just being present, being stripped of all pretences. Being myself at last, empty-handed, with nothing to defend” (197 Through Michael’s thoughts the reader realizes that he views of himself as an ordinary man. He isn’t feeling
Malcolm has the skill to detect any action Michael may be planning on taking through reading his eyes and as a result strategically preventing his escape. For example, Michael expresses what occurs in Malcolm’s devious mind when he states, “He could see it in my eyes what I was going to do before I did it; he could see, at the very moment, that I was thinking of running, and his tongue flickered between his lips in soft appraisal, as if he too were working out the odds that were going through my head” (43). Malcolm’s shrewd, cunning strategic mind recognizes the skill required to make a fragile soul suffer. Michael is weak and innocent often falling prey to Malcolm’s subtle traps. His ability to read Michael’s facial expressions and natural body gestures aids him in guiding Michael to isolated locations. Such that his victim has no chance of escape, further enforcing his power over him. This reflection occurs right before Malcolm leads Michael to a small courtyard in the remote area of Toll Wynd and in an …show more content…
Michael running off with a fourteen year old is an action which greatly tests our allegiance. However, he has a non-malicious intent towards Hazel and simply uses her to get out of a marriage and marginal lifestyle which has been holding him back from achieving psychological freedom. Through Hazel, Michael is able to escape from the sorrows of life. Saving Hazel from her alcoholic father Tom Birnie is an opportunity Michael’s provided with to escape from his wife Amanda. Above all, the protagonist is fully aware of the reason why Hazel joins him; she possesses no feelings for him. Hence, he feels a sense of relief when he wakes up one morning at the hotel realizing Hazel and her gang of “fuckboys” have stripped him from his valuable items: car, wallet, watch. As a result, Michael has found an opportunity to start his life afresh. This is shown when he’s lying sick on the bathroom floor of the motel vomiting food and fighting a dark force fighting its way up his chest through his throat. Specifically, this scene is demonstrating Michael’s regeneration to a new life; he has both mentally and physically cleared his life from the past. He says, “It wasn’t comfort, and it wasn’t absolution; nothing like that. It was just being present, being stripped of all pretences. Being myself at last, empty-handed, with nothing to defend” (197 Through Michael’s thoughts the reader realizes that he views of himself as an ordinary man. He isn’t feeling