Heroic Criminals Essay

All finishedout childhood we atomic number 18 taught that breaking the fairness is bad and the people who do ar criminals and should be punished. Edward Abbey, informant of The Monkey Wrench Gang, and Carl Hiaasen, author of Sick Puppy, alter these thoughts. Both refreshings focus on adventuresome environmentalists who bicker up trouble in means of al-Qaidaing up for their beliefs. Both Abbey and Hiaasen construct higher(prenominal) and instinctive laws over the traditional justice governance that drop deads characters justification for their actions.Ethically we as humans should not look with these rebellious characters, but the theme is so central in the books cover-to-cover that we, as readers, lose sight of moral philosophy as the authors manipulate us to be tot up completely invested in these heroic criminals. With sharp expenditures of characterization and description, Edward Abbey glorifies the machination of law breaking and leaves his readers cheering for the heroic criminals. Throughout The Monkey Wrench Gang, the group of four activists send out to destroy bridges, signs, bulldozers and anything else harming the American southwest.From the very originatening, Abbey illustrates a scene full of the workings of the justice system in his prologue. When describing the ceremony to open the bridge he states, the bridge stands clear and empty except fora emblemic barrier of red, white and blue ribbon stretched across the bridge from rail to rail (3). If the instinct of patriotism wasnt evident enough through images of children eating ice cream c matchlesss and people potable Coca-Cola before that, Abbey drapes the bridge in the colors of our nations flag.His portrayal of the project square offms to be adored and al more than or less sponsored by America. He uses the writing technique of verisimilitude throughout the prologue to captivate readers and make them anxious to see who disapproves the project. This is a professedly introductio n and welcoming to rebellious characters. As the novel progresses, we become familiar with the gang Hayduke, fair, Seldom Seen and Doc, as they are driving through billboard signs. Some readers might lose respect for the characters because their actions seem insincere and pointless.Their actions are against the law. But then Abbey soft develops the characters and gives them justification for these criminal actions. He does this with Hayduke criticizing the construction of bridges, They cant do that it aint legal. Theres a law against it. A higher law (27). The phrase higher law justifies the gangs destruction because they are taking a stand to save the environment, the well-favored American southwest. As destruction projects get bigger, we bring ourselves rooting for these criminals because they are heroes.And we find ourselves captivated in the novel with Abbeys clever use of an episodic plot. He arranges plot elements into a story and although we arent deep into the character s lives, the focus on episodes drives us forward. As Abbey slowly develops the protagonist characters, he introduces the character, Bishop Love, who we as readers coin as the antagonist. Once again Abbey manipulates our morals as we begin hating the character who could possibly bring down our rebels. Bishop Love exclaims, We might get them on the Mann Act come to think of it-crossing the state line for immoral purposes (296).The fact that the Mann Act was first established to regulate prostitution across state lines cleverly draws us against the bishops character and law in general. Abbeys use of an actual law brings the entire chase back to reality as we still see ourselves railroad siding with the heroic criminals. Abbey actually realizes this chase into a war and the heroic criminals become heroic war veterans. As the chase continues, Hayduke once again defines this higher sense of law and justification for war, I sat in that rotting jungle every night, playing with my chain, and all I could think about was home.And I simulatet mean TucsonI thought about the canyons (359). This is a very lively twist on the patriotic term war because when we think of war we think of Americans waiver into another country. Here, Americans are in a war in America against other Americans. And because of this, someone is breaking the law or going against the law. As true as that statement is, we find ourselves naming the criminals as the war heroes through Abbeys manipulation. Although in the end these heroes are captured and the project seems to be brought to an end, the denouement proves to serve poetic justice.The epilogue consists of Doc, Bonnie and Seldom being almost immediately bailed out of jail, Bishop Love in slow recovery, and the survival of the most prominent environmentalist, Hayduke. Such a fitting ending for our manipulated beliefs. Similarly to Edward Abbeys manipulation of our morals through characterization and development, Carl Hiaasen uses the same tech niques within the theme of criminal heroes. Right off the bat, we meet Twilly who is the definition of activist. We quickly learn that if he doesnt like something, he takes immediate action.And its not with anger that he takes action, but disappointment, if I was really pissed, I wouldve done it on a Monday morning, and I wouldve made blest sure my uncle was inside at the time (19). This is in response to his therapist asking if the reason he blew up a bank was due to the fact that he was angry his uncle made a impart to some rotten people (18). We arent really introduced to the proper sense of law as we were in The Monkey Wrench Gang, but such chimerical images of the characters in political positions make us see them as the bad guys and the person who blows up a bank as a hero.More grotesque images develop as we learn about Robert Clapley and his Barbie dolls and Palmer Stoat and his trophies. So even though we essential to hate the chief(prenominal) characters, we hate who Hiaasen wants us to hate more. With this manipulation technique and Hiaasens rapid tonal shifts between analog characters, we find ourselves not being able to put the novel down. He creates a sense of higher law that gives us a place to go and pretend were there with Twilly being a heroic criminal and activist. Hiaasen also does not overstep his boundaries with this sense of higher law as characters are able to resist destruction.In the scene where Twilly and Desie are driving behind a lady in a Lexus who threw her cigarette butt out the window, Twilly wants to put her car up in flames, but he lets off (219). Although we are already on Twillys side, the fact that he can resist gives him more respect as a criminal. Once again, in the readers eyes, what makes him a hero is how Hiaasen develops the blackball characterization of characters like Clapley, Gash and Stoat. In a very grotesque scene between Clapley and Stoat, Stoat explains, The central thing is, that nutty kid is finall y out of the picture.And, oh yeah, Desie and Boodle are OK, too. Not that I give a shit (360). Immediately after this is said, Clapley finds himself gazing past Stoat, at a dancer performing in a nearby boothif only she was taller (360). As illustrated, Clapley and Stoat are both sick people and we want them to be punished and destroyed. We are pulling for Twilly to torture them and win. The novel takes shifts towards a focus on the covetousness of politics where nature is just a victim and Twilly is standing up for it. In another beautiful example of poetic justice, the epilogue is used as a framing device to bring the novel full circle.In one example, the novel begins with Stoat hunting a rhino and ends with him being impaled by one (429). The ending of our other hated character, Robert Clapley, comes full circle as his most prized possessions, Katya and Tish, become, a trademark symbol this order to include but not expressly be limited to such oral and optic depictions as Goth Barbies, Undead Barbies, and Double-Jointed Vampire Barbies (445). This is a direct occurrence of what Clapley didnt want to fall and we find ourselves giggling about the fact.The sense of the novel as a political cartoon truly adds to our use of goods and services as readers and superb justification of higher law and love for heroic criminals. In conclusion, both Abbey and Hiaasen create a new definition of criminal through manipulating our morals in their development of characters and justifying it with the sense of a higher law. Adventuresome environmentalists deface and destroy many things, yet we find ourselves as readers cheering for them to do so and get away with it. Ethically we should not side with these rebellious characters, but we truly are completely, 100% invested.