Is Shep right?

[thezirubclub]

The novel shows that Shep's idea is faulty, that despite all his attempts at control, the same thing happens again, to Joey as to Jesus. (I absolutely love that and how it all unfolds--brilliant, Adrienne). But it's a concept that's worth exploring--what would have happened if Jesus had lived (we can easily say his death made him a martyr and so made him mythical, especially with the rising from the dead stories), but that could have come later as well, and so it leads me to believe that people would have gotten tired of it all if he'd have gone on longer, like we get tired of everything. A few moral lessons, okay, then we start throwing stones, saying shove off already.

Okay, that might sound cynical but I've really always wished the teachings could have gone on longer, and Shep ... that's what he's aiming for. In the novel, it came down to free will. Humans won't give it up, and are willing to take the bits of good with the bad in order to retain that freedom. (Kind of like our willingness to let thousands die every year in car crashes rather than limit speed and thus limit our freedom to go anywhere we'd like.) Do we come off as greedy to Shep? Stupid? Faulty little pets he's grown fond of even so?

Okay, I've wandered into different things here. Just opening up some of the issues this novel raised for me. And none of the above is resolved for me, except, I know I'd stand by Patrick, the whole way through, despite loving Shep the most.

[Adrienne]

When I first saw this post I thought you were referring to something else---so at the risk of hijacking, I'd like to toss another question out there.

Is Shep crazy and paranoid, or did his superiors really steal, and then conspire to foil his plan? Obviously the story was swayed to make you believe the former, that that's just nuts, of course it wasn't his idea, and of course they're not out to discredit him.

But Joey believed him. And do we really know anything about his superiors or the structure/hierarchy he comes from? Just food for thought. As Joey said to Patrick in the end, "Not everything that crawls out of that void is on a holy mission."

;D

[pesposito]

I'm glad you raise this question. I think there's a million things we can discuss about Shep, and the question is open enough for a lot more to be introduced.

Personally, I don't want him to be paranoid and crazy. I well-believed that it was his idea, but I don't know how much of that comes from my love-lust blindness. And that line Joey offers up--that opened up so many new possibilities. It was scary, maybe because I think people hope that there are some good forces out there. And this introduced entirely different motives for everything (though, let's not forget, Shep came to do good--God! If I find out he's lying about that ... no, no. Refuse to believe that, but er, umm, hey, it's Shep, he can do what he wants. Okay, I forgive).

Maybe all this is why a sequel feels so necessary. There's so much more to explore. And though I do think about it, I don't want to surmise too much because I don't want anyone to be anything other than what has to come out of this novel by this author because that's the only thing that's real.

I'd love to hear some opinions!

[franktoast]

I took the stance 'Who the hell knows what's right?' and didn't particularly think Shep was wrong. I think his plan was ingenious, in fact. He wasn't killing anyone, and it might have conserved this overcrowded rock for a bit longer.

But any credability Shep's original plan may have held was wrecked by his single-minded vendetta against his superiors. It went from being food for thought to seeming more likely he was just off-the-rails with anger, and more on a mission 'to show those celestial bastards what's what' rather than it being for the good of anything.

But back to my original fiction-enjoyment perspective - I don't care what his motives are - I'm with Shep for world domination all the way.

[thezirubclub]

franktoast said:

But any credability Shep's original plan may have held was wrecked by his single-minded vendetta against his superiors.

Yes, definitely. He's charmingly faulty, no?

[Bill the Awesome]

I don't think Shep cares much about humanity at all. He admits at the end that he was just trying to prove a point. I think he's out to fuck with those that fucked with him, at any cost. I admire it in a way even though he's stark raving mad.

[pesposito]

Bill said:

I think he's out to fuck with those that fucked with him, at any cost. I admire it in a way even though he's stark raving mad.

Ooh, this opens up something new for me. (I have a problem of always wanting to believe someone's intentions are good, at the least.) But as I read this, I realized that it's not going to matter. For some reason, I'm with him, no matter what his motives might be. I wonder what he'll have to do to get me against him. Or is he just one of those villains we can't help but love? Those are the most complex of characters because we have to wrangle with ourselves.

[Adrienne]

I'm glad people feel an affinity with Shep, regardless of his atrocious acts. He's my favorite of all characters I've created, he feels the most real. He's real in the sense that I can't always predict what he's going to do.