Today I read some more Of Mark Clay's Deny.
It's making me think a lot...making me wonder.
In some ways, Cassie fits the stereotype of a sociopath. She's tortured small animals and she wets the bed. Now she's moved onto killing a friend.
I'm looking online and seeing articles (including this one) that says the bedwetting thing is a myth.
Can I fault the book for making Cassie a bed-wetter when this stereotype is not based on fact? Not really, because it's likely there are sociopathic teenagers out there who happen to have a problem with enuresis.
But then again, if you have a stereotype and you give that character the stereotype, are you perpetuating a stereotype?
I imagine it's rare for teenagers to suffer from enuresis.
Well, no. I just looked it up. According to this article, it effects 1% of teenagers. It's slightly rare, but it's not incredibly rare.
I've also been reading about the difference between sociopaths and psychopaths. Honestly, I'm confused, and I'm not sure where Cassie Moore falls.
Besides a lust for blood, the other trait I greatly associate with sociopaths and psychopaths is a lack of empathy. But empathy is shown in the novel. It's not presented in a sweet and rosy manner, but it's still there in a sort of way. In the last scene I read, Cassie describes how her father has come home late again. And to make matters worse, he prolongs the time his wife has to wait to be with him by taking a shower first. On top of that, he forgot to bring home a movie for them to watch. The mother tries to hold back her tears, and tries to be strong. Well, pleasant really. She doesn't want to rock the happy marriage boat.
Cassie notices all this, and to me that shows she has empathy. She seems to feel sad for her mother, and angry at her father on behalf of her mother.
There's a part of me that's thinking, this book's wrong. She's not fitting into my definition of what's a sociopath/psychopath.
Then there's the other part that's thinking....well, first of all the book, so far, hasn't used those labels. It's just brought up traits that I've learned to associate with those disorders. Second, it's likely people don't fit easily into mental disorder description boxes.
I just googled empathy and sociopaths and got an article about an interesting study. They had sociopaths watch a movie and tested the empathy bits in their brain. They showed lower activity than other people. But then they had the sociopathic people watch the movie again, this time telling them to try to feel empathy. They did feel it. Their responses matched those of non-sociopaths.
I think that's encouraging. Maybe sociopaths don't lack empathy. Maybe it's just harder to arouse in them.
My guess is it would be easier for them to feel empathy for people they love. Like Hannibal Lector kind of loved Clarice Starling. I imagine he'd feel empathy for her...and maybe he did, in the books and movies. I can't remember.
There might be people unwilling to harm those in their special circle, but would feel no remorse hurting those outside of it.
In Deny, Cassie Moore has fallen into like with two homeschooling twins. She seems to admire them, which is different from the deep cynicism she feels towards other people. She enjoys being with them. I imagine she'd feel empathy for them if they were hurt. I think what sets her apart from a non-sociopath is that she'd murder the person who caused the twins harm, and she wouldn't feel remorse.
Oh, and I can imagine she'd kill her father to avenge her mother.
Well....I shall see what happens.
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