The chunk of text we had to read this week of “God Don’t Like
Ugly” by Mary Monroe, confused and baffled my mind. One character that baffles
my mind every time he speaks is Mr. Boatwright. While at Granny Goose’s
funeral, Mr. Boatwright tries to sound intelligent while he was talking to Rhoda’s
dad and Judge Lawson but just couldn’t seem to fit in. They were talking about
presidency and Mr. Boatwright blurts out “A woman president would mean the end
of the world, sure enough. She’ll get in one of them PMS moods and every month
she’ll push a button and nuke a foreign country.” (P. 184). Why on earth would
Mr. Boatwright say this? In this time period mostly all of the men thought
women were only good for cooking, cleaning, and sex. God forbid we get an
office or high positioning job, yet alone be president. It’s almost as if women
were considered to have no intelligence at all, and sometimes I feel as if men still
think of us as Mr. Boatwright did. But in reality, women are more level headed
than men are, meaning we can comprehend and deal with situations a lot better
than they would ever be able to.
The second character that confused me greatly was Rhoda. Did
she or did she not kill the policeman that killed her brother? The clues kind
of give away the fact that she did. “They found him layin’ along the side of the
road off the Sampson Rive Bridge in the bushes. He been layin’ there a few
days, and they say it look like a hit-and-run.” (P. 198). Later on in the
chapter, when Annette asks Rhoda where her car is, she claims that it’s in the
body shop getting fixed. She also says that she was trying to avoid an animal in
the road and hit a mailbox, which I highly doubt. How coincidental is it that
her cars in the body shop around the same time the policeman died from a
hit-and-run? Also, when Annette called Rhoda saying she heard what happened to
the police man, all Rhoda did was reply with an “Uh…huh.” (P. 199). Therefore, I
feel as if Rhoda will come out later in the book and tell Annette what she has
done, along with killing Mr. Boatwright later in the section.
Finally, Annette was the character who astonished me the most.
As much as she hates Mr. Boatwright, for some reason, when Rhoda finally killed
him she was not amused. “’Why, Rhoda? Why did you kill Mr. Boatwright?’ I gasped.”
(P. 205). My question is, why does Annette care so much that he’s dead? Mr.
Boatwright tortured and raped her for literally years. If that’s not a reason
to kill someone, then I don’t know what is. I really just don’t understand why
she doesn’t want him dead? After all these years of hatred towards this old, horrendous
man, the second Rhoda ends the misery for her, Annette starts yelling at her
asking what she’s done. I also find Annette’s reaction kind of rude. Rhoda puts
her life on the line for her best friend and doesn’t even receive a ‘thank you’
back, instead she’s yelled at for the act. To conclude this section, there were
many characters that shocked me and mixed my opinions towards them. I am sort
of left dumbfounded and speechless in the end.
If I hadn't read this post, I would have never put the two together that it is possible Rhoda killed the man who shot her brother. I did notice that her reply to the incident was strange but it never clicked in my mind that she could have been the killer. The things we are finding out about Rhoda are crazy. I also agree with the statement made about Annette's sadness and astonishment that Mr.Boatwright is dead. It is strange, but I can see from her point of view that she has endured the torture so long that it is a normal routine for her everyday so Mr.Boatwright being gone is a large adjustment that she needs to get used to. The daily routine of being tortued without her mother knowing reminds me of the song "Blown Away" by Carrie Underwood (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJgoHgpsb9I). Although the song is about a girl who's mother died and her father abuses her and she just wants to get away, it reminds me of the way Annette feels about Mr. Boatwright. Because of the fact that Mrs.Goode has no idea of what is going on, it's very similar to the girl that the song is about. One of the main lines in the song that is repeated multiple times is, "There's not enough rain in Oklahoma, to wash the sins out of that house. There's not enough wind in Oklahome, to rip the nails out of the past." By stating this, I find it similar to Annette's life because she feels as though no matter if Mr.Boatwright is alive or dead, she is always going to be tortured by the thought of him.
ReplyDeleteI never would have even questioned that Rhoda was the one that killed the policeman until you brought that up, but it does seem to make sense. I never put two and two together to figure that out until I read the later section of the book and discovered that it was very true. However, I do agree with Annette's reaction to Mr. Boatwright's murder. Rhoda was so casual about it that it was almost disturbing. No matter how much of a disgusting man Mr. Boatwright was, a murder is a murder. Especially that Rhoda, Annette's best friend did it like it was nothing, is very scary. I think Annette was not saddened by his death but more the fact that the person she had looked up to and befriended could do such a cold and heartless thing and act like it was nothing. Rhoda committed a murder, which is not something to be taken lightly. So, I would say that I agree with Annette's reaction.
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