Richard beat down

[kippurbird]

Chapter Seventeen.

Nathaniel has left and Richard wants to know how Anita love him. I'm wondering the same thing. But then again Nathaniel is as pliant as squishy things. Anita is hesitant as to how to answer the question. Her answer? "Because he never makes me feel like a freak."



Richard retorts "Because he is a freak... anyone looks sane besides him."

Look! Look! Sanity! Look! Someone is speaking the truth! Watch it get crumbled and beaten under the threat of Anita!

"First," I said in a very tight, careful voice, "Nathaniel is not a freak. Second, he's willing to disrupt his entire life if he got me pregnant, and you're not. So I'd be careful before you throw stones at his character."

"If you're pregnant, I'll marry you."

The room was suddenly full of one of those silences so thick you should have been able to walk across it. I stared at him for a second, or two, then said, "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Richard, is that all you think it takes to fix this? Marry me so the baby won't be a bastard, and it's all better?"

"I don't see anyone else offering marriage," he said.

"It's because they know I'll say now. Every other man in my life understands this isn't about marriage. It's about the fact that we may have created a little person. And we needed to do whatever is best for that person. How will marrying anyone make this work better?"

He looked at me, and there was such pain in his face, such struggle, as if I'd said something incomprehensible. "If you get a pregnant, you marry her, Anita. It's called taking responsibility for your actions."

"And if it's not your baby? Could you really raise someone else's baby? Could you really stay married to me, and play Daddy, as you watched the baby grow to look like something else?"

He covered his face with his hands, and he screamed, "No!" He showed me a face ravaged by rage. The room was suddenly hot again, as if his power were raising the actual temperature. "No, I'd go crazy. Is that what you wanted to hear? Is it?"

So, first of all, I think it's very noble of Richard to offer to marry Anita. He's being proper and a gentleman. A bit old fashioned, but he loves Anita and now he wants to raise the child properly. As opposed to in a house with two men and a mother who sleeps with any guy she comes across. Personally I don't think that's a very healthy way to raise a child. Of course I could be wrong. Also -and I could be totally wrong - but I thought as a Catholic Anita would want to get married because having a child out of wedlock was a sin. It seems that Anita's religion is just as flip-floppy as everything else about her.

Finally, why would Richard care whose baby it is. I mean, some babies don't look like their parents. It's genetics, you know? Lots of genes involved. And Richard doesn't seem to be the sort that would care -beyond the bad characterization. He's willing to marry Anita because he thinks it's right. I think he would welcome the baby, no matter who the father is, because it's Anita's. And he loves Anita, and that's all that matters. The whole bit about the baby belonging to someone else driving him crazy is out of character from what I've seen. It feels forced. The "He covered his face with his hands" seems to me, as a writer, the character not wanting to do what he's being told to do, at least within context of the rest of what is known about him.

The two of them bitch at each other some more when Claudia breaks in. She tells Richard to shut up because "you're making Anita feel worse than she already does". After all, Anita's feelings are the most important ones here. Never mind the fact that Richard is getting equally, if not more beat down. Everyone is against him.

Claudia continues to berate him and tell him that he's living in the 1950s.

Eventually, after about four pages, Samuel buts in. He tells Anita and Richard basically that yes, Anita is going to turn into this other person because she'll have a baby to protect, also that the baby will require a great deal of time attention and energy. As in, it's not likely Anita'll have the strength to take care of the zombies after dealing with feedings every two hours at night.

At this touch of reality, Anita demands to change the subject. Richard does not. The following exchange ensues.

"What if I don't want to change the topic?" Again I got the impression that Richard was spoiling for a fight.

Micah finally said something. "Anita is only asking to change the topic until we know for sure, Richard. That makes sense."

"You stay out of this!" Richard yelled it at him.

"Don't yell at Micah!" I yelled at him.

"I'll yell at whoever I want to yell at," he yelled

Claudia yelled both of us to silence.

Bolding mine. That's four instances of the word "yelled" in four sentences. Rogert's Thesaurus II Has the following synonyms for yell: roar, bellow, bluster, bawl, cry, call, clamor, holler, shout, scream. As well as a few others. These would have easily mixed up the sentences without the redundancy of "yell". "While said" is a non-word, the reader's eye just skipping over it. Other speech descriptors aren't and having the same one all in a row is jarring.

Moving on.

Claudia wants to fight Richard because "he's like so many men. He thinks that if he could just get you pregnant, just get you married, you'd be the perfect little woman."

They bitch some more. It's not really important.

And then Samuel interrupts again saying that perhaps they should move on to other things. Such as what are they going to do if Anita manages to bugger everyone into following her around like puppies. They decide to say that they want to see how powerful candidates are in the hopes that they don't turned into mindless slaves. I'm not really sure how that one will work.

The chapter ends with them Samuel and Sampson leaving for the night and the getting of the pregnancy test. Buhm Buhm Buuum!

Comments

[mranon-y-mous.livejournal.com]

Want my OCs to kill Anita so badly, and I want to smack Laurell. Honestly, YOU DO NOT TAKE OUT YOUR FRUSTRATION OUT ON A CHARACTER JUST BECAUSE YOU HATE YOUR EX WITH A PASSION OF A THOUSAND SUNS! IT DOES NOT CAUSE YOUR READERS TO HATE THAT CHARACTER, IT ONLY MAKES THEM LOVE THEM MORE SINCE THEY DON'T LIKE YOU, AND WILL NOT HATE A CHARACTER BECAUSE YOU SAID SO! RICHARD IS A GOOD MAN, AND NOTHING YOU CAN DO WILL CHANGE THAT! *gives Mrs. Weasley her Capslock of Rage back*

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Go! Kill! Whack a Sue is waiting for you! =D

[mranon-y-mous.livejournal.com]

Yes! =D

[wariena.livejournal.com]

So, wait... all this drama is before she even knows she's pregnant? Wow. Bitch please. It makes me want to ram the bloody pregnancy test down her throat. >=(

Also, cookies and a blanket for Richard. He's a survivor.

[x-trickster-x.livejournal.com]

"I survived the Doom Crotch and all I got was this lousy characterisation."

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Pregnancy test next chapter.

Yay.

[smurasaki.livejournal.com]

N-next chapter? It takes them eighteen chapters to get to a bloody pregnancy test? When you can pick one up at any grocery store or drug store, or even most convenience stores? Why is there all this drama when she doesn't even know if she's pregnant, much less who the daddy is. (Oh, god, I can see them on Maury Pauvich now...) I could be wrong, but I'd think most women would do the pregnancy test before launching into baby-drama mode.

Poor Richard. Never make a reasonable offer in an unreasonable story.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Well they bought the test in I think chapter four. But she still hasn't taken the test.

And yes. Poor Richard.

[jacedraccus.livejournal.com]

I don't know who Maury Pauvich is, but even Jerry Springer would be leery about this one.

[mranon-y-mous.livejournal.com]

You forgot that the whole novel takes place in a day, or two.

[x-trickster-x.livejournal.com]

So. Richard offers to marry Anita even though she's sleeping with about five or six other men, even though the baby might not be his and even though he's just admitted that if the baby wasn't his it'd upset him. And he's the badguy here. Obviously because he wants to take responsibility for his actions that makes him a BAD, BAD person. *eyeroll*

[mranon-y-mous.livejournal.com]

You don't get the metapicture! If she marries Richard then she would be TIED DOWN. TIED DOWN to a MAN. The MAN is TYING her DOWN and SHE doesn't NEED a MAN to be HAPPY in her LIFE. SHE does need a MAN, since SHE is EMPOWERED and STRONG.

[authoressarktos.livejournal.com]

And of course the only thing men are good for is sex and showering compliments on her. Anything close to or approaching love is DO NOT WANT. Because, as you said, she's 'EMPOWERED and STRONG'.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Obviously because he wants to take responsibility for his actions that makes him a BAD, BAD person.

He keeps on saying that. But that's apparently oppressive.

[reverie-shadow.livejournal.com]

Know what would be funny?

That if after all of this talk of self-sacrificing and mindless bickering, it turns out Anita isn't preggers after all, thus making all this arguing moot. That would be funny.

[mranon-y-mous.livejournal.com]

Spoiler

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She isn't pregnant after all. Her blood is just special from being a vampire servant.

[authoressarktos.livejournal.com]

What the hell?! What was the point of that then?! God, LKH...

[amamelina.livejournal.com]

She's just a special snowflake, isn't she.

[reverie-shadow.livejournal.com]

Well that just fucking figures.

[jacedraccus.livejournal.com]

.... which begs the question why Jean Claude hasn't brought it up. Or any other vampire.

They've never had female servants who thought they might be pregnant and weren't?

But noooo. Rationality and consistency die a horrible death. The Power of Plod compels it.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Strange that you should say that.

[authoressarktos.livejournal.com]

*snorts* God, I hate all these characters for going after Richard so much. He sure is the Butt Monkey...I agree with everything you said on the matter.

LOL to the 'yell' thing. I guess her editor had a heart attack and died at the beginning of the book, because that's the only explanation I can find for him missing such a stupidly obvious error.

Claudia wants to fight Richard because "he's like so many men. He thinks that if he could just get you pregnant, just get you married, you'd be the perfect little woman."

Alright, that's it. I'm not a very violent person by nature, but them's fighting words. I'm beating her up at whack_a_sue sometime in the near future.

[amamelina.livejournal.com]

Whack a sue? I keep picturing a game of Whack-a-mole with Anita popping out of the holes.

[rurounitriv.livejournal.com]

Hm, I don't think anyone's killed her that way yet... [j/k]

[authoressarktos.livejournal.com]

LOL, I think that was Kippur's intention; she'll be happy to hear that.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

That was the idea, actually. XD

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Nooo! Her editor is a goldfish! They're not that smart.

Yay! Beat her up! She deserves it.

[reverie-shadow.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I can't help but think that the "yell" thing wasn't a typo, but it was intentional. I think LKH was trying a vain attempt at being "funny" here. It was almost amusing, though I'm not sure if it's for the right reasons.

[(Anonymous)]

I'd just like to point out that Richard appears to be the only one of Anita's bitches that wants to actually provide for the baby instead of quitting his job and giving up his income.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Nathaniel was going to give up some of his hours as a stripper because Anita makes more than enough and she likes supporting herself.

[amamelina.livejournal.com]

Oh, Kipper, you know I love you. At least you didn't have to drink this chapter away.

1. Richard is the voice of sanity. However, being the only one to point out Anita's flaws and not worship her on her grounds, he's portrayed as jealous and crazy and possessive.

2. Can we please stop calling Anita Catholic? That makes baby Jesus cry and the Virgin Mary drink.

3. Y'know, I think LKH has some warped views of life. How is proposing marriage to a girl you might have gotten pregnant backwards? Richard asks Anita to marry him, and she acts like he suggested they roast the baby and eat it with a side of rice. And the whole Claudia saying that Richard is a typical man who "thinks that if he could just get you pregnant, just get you married, you'd be the perfect little woman." Uh, honey, a lot of guys that I've met would run when they found out they accidently got a girl pregnant. Marriage is taking responsibility for their actions.

4. Claudia is an idiot. That's all.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

1. Being based on the ex-husband doesn't help much either.

2. I would, but she doesn't.

3. See point one.

4. Yes. Yes she is.

[dryaunda.livejournal.com]

All the sexist relationship drama of Lifetime, all the gratuitous sex of Spike TV, all the intellectual value of both.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

And now I'm glad I don't have cable to watch them.

Lifetime is sappy and gooshy.

[acdragonmaster.livejournal.com]

You know, am I the only one that gets the impression that this all amounts to basically going "oh no, I might be pregnant, but I'm not sure if I am, so I better go boink as many people as possible just to be on the safe side!" here?

[jacedraccus.livejournal.com]

Thinking she wants to be pregnant, or she wants to make sure nobody can tell who the father is?

Of course, if it's the latter, then LKH is stupidly forgetting DNA tests.

Oh god... what if all the men Anita slept with result in ALL of them being the father? Given what I've read about the therianthrope 'Chimera' in LKH's books, it wouldn't surprise me.

[acdragonmaster.livejournal.com]

Well see that's exactly my point: it doesn't give the impression the author is obviously aiming for at all, instead it just makes no sense.

[jacedraccus.livejournal.com]

Seems like everything links back to justifying Anita boinking everything, even when it has nothing to do with that concept, or just outright shouldn't.

[subieko.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, every chapter you spork makes me like Richard more. It would be so easy for him to just agree with them and stop fighting the madness, but he stays at it like a trooper, providing the only voice of reason in the book.

And the fact that Nathaniel is willing to rearrange his entire life for Anita is actually very disturbing, to my mind. An extreme codependant relationship isn't good for anyone involved in it, and certainly isn't a healthy relationship for a child to grow up in.

If anything, Richard would be an AWESOME dad, much better than any of the other men in the story. And marriage IS a potential solution to this problem--Anita seems to want to have this baby, so by marrying her, Richard is essentially promising to care for the baby and support Anita and child no matter what. That's very responsible and loving and is NOT a reason to give him hell. *smacks Anita*