Through the Eyes of Monsters
When a despicable character is brought up in literature, the conversation always includes Patrick Bateman from American Psycho and Humbert Humbert from Lolita. These are the typical people whose perspectives we see through in those books. These two books are commonly brought up in the context of controversy, but that is something I won't be addressing. What I will be addressing is the importance of the POV narrative in regards to these types of characters. The last three novels I read were Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates, Violent Faculties by Charlene Elsby and Crushing Snails by Emma E. Murray. Each one puts the reader in the perspective of a psychopath. In Zombie we are Quentin P___. Crushing Snails slips us into the skin of Winnie Campbell. Violent Faculties allows us to inhabit the mind of an unnamed philosophy professor who was recently fired due to 'budget cuts'. The character of Quentin in Zombie is based on Jeffrey Dahmer, known for murdering, dismembering seventeen m