A fun article appeared this morning in The Guardian that describes some of literature's most famous characters who, in the end, get away with their despicable deeds. Upon seeing the headline, I instantly thought of Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men, but there are other famous names here too.
I also came up with a few more:
What about Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby? She runs down Myrtle and lets Gastby take the blame, which leads to him getting shot. Daisy is a horrible person, and she walks away from her mess at the end.
How about George Milton in Of Mice and Men? He shoots his buddy (out of love??) and heads toward the highway in the closing lines of the novella.
I also think of Carl Lee Hailey in John Grisham's A Time to Kill. Hailey openly kills racists, admits so in court without remorse, and is set free. Though we all sympathize with Hailey, killing bad guys is still killing according to the law, and in a remarkable endorsement of vigilante violence, apparently it's okay to exonerate admitted murderers.
The Misfit also comes to mind, from Flannery O'Connor's famous short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find." He's a serial killer that wipes out a family on the side of the road as (sort of) the living embodiment of God's judgment. On to the next victim.
Or what about the titular Moby Dick, himself? He crushes ships all around the world and destroys the Pequod and everyone on it, except Ishmael, in the final chapter of the novel. Though Ahab stabs him with a harpoon, the white whale swims away and lives on.
Who else can you think of from literature that doesn't face punishment?
I also came up with a few more:
What about Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby? She runs down Myrtle and lets Gastby take the blame, which leads to him getting shot. Daisy is a horrible person, and she walks away from her mess at the end.
How about George Milton in Of Mice and Men? He shoots his buddy (out of love??) and heads toward the highway in the closing lines of the novella.
I also think of Carl Lee Hailey in John Grisham's A Time to Kill. Hailey openly kills racists, admits so in court without remorse, and is set free. Though we all sympathize with Hailey, killing bad guys is still killing according to the law, and in a remarkable endorsement of vigilante violence, apparently it's okay to exonerate admitted murderers.
The Misfit also comes to mind, from Flannery O'Connor's famous short story, "A Good Man is Hard to Find." He's a serial killer that wipes out a family on the side of the road as (sort of) the living embodiment of God's judgment. On to the next victim.
Or what about the titular Moby Dick, himself? He crushes ships all around the world and destroys the Pequod and everyone on it, except Ishmael, in the final chapter of the novel. Though Ahab stabs him with a harpoon, the white whale swims away and lives on.
Who else can you think of from literature that doesn't face punishment?