V-2nd - Chapter 11: Those kids

[kelber at mindspring.com]

The scene where the Maltese kids set upon the dying V., laugh at her and dismember her, well, it's kind of disturbing, no?  I have a mental block against anything Biblical, but the scene's clearly got some Christian overtones.  Does it relate to a specific scene in the New Testament, anyone?

It reminds me of two other cases:  the historical reports of the murder of Greek mathematician Hypatia.  Her heresies enraged a mob of citizens to set upon her and rip her up, even scraping the flesh from her bones with seashells.

The other is that scene from Tennessee William's Suddenly Last Summer ( all right, the movie version) where gay Sebastian is ripped apart and cannibalized by an angry mob of indigenous types.

Who do we sympathize with in these scenes?  Are we meant to think that the victims deserved what they got?  Fausto seems to harbor guilt for not rescuing V. from the mob of kids, but he doesn't seem to blame the kids either.  The message is that when we have progress, we have to expect the mobs to fight it.  Ultimately, they'll lose, so we can't be too hard on them.  Is that it?

Can't help but think how this is playing out in the 21st century.  The forces of globalization (faceless corporations exploiting people across the globe, draining resources, concentrating wealth and power in the hands of an unelected, uncontrollable oligarchy) versus the forces of reaction (religious fundamentalism - Christian, Jewish and Islamic, nationalism, anti-immigrant racism, with, alas, those of us who believe in strong, regulatory democratic government tacked on for the ride).

Laura