In The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson tells the story of a man with a split personality. Wanting to split the bad part of himself from the good, Jekyll develops a potion. However, when he drinks it, he is horrified to have taken the form of a monster named Edward Hyde. Luckily, he can switch between the two by drinking the potion again. Jekyll becomes almost addicted to using the potion, but one day, he goes to bed as Jekyll and wakes up as Hyde. Terrified, Jekyll stays away from the potion for a good two months, and all seems to be fine. However, Jekyll succumbs once again, and drinks the potion. From then on, Hyde would always pop out eventually, even when Jekyll didn’t drink the potion. Although many people seem to think Jekyll is the tragic victim of this book, Hyde is the true victim of all this mess. Firstly, Hyde has no choice but to commit atrocities, which cause him to be persecuted and eventually leads to the destruction of both him and Jekyll. Hyde is created by Jekyll as a monster, a being with no conscience. Because there is no part of him that holds himself accountable for committing crimes, the nature of humanity naturally tugs him towards said crimes. Although Hyde is the one who committed the crime, it was effectively Jekyll who “forces” Hyde to commit these crimes. As an analogy to Frankenstein, Jekyll plays the role of Frankenstein, and Hyde plays the role of Frankenstein’s monster in this book. It is quite clear in Frankenstein that the monster is the true victim, and thus in this story Hyde is the victim, because he is essentially forced by Jekyll to suffer punishment for committing crimes. In addition to this, Hyde is also not allowed to be free, as Jekyll keeps suppressing the Hyde inside of him. If Hyde is the victim, then quite obviously Jekyll is the corresponding culprit, for many reasons. Mainly, Hyde was born from Jekyll’s own moral faults and even a glint of greed. We have already established that the very existence of Hyde is a crime committed by Jekyll, and moreover, this crime is committed on the basis of moral faults and greed; Jekyll wants to be perfect, and thus wishes to separate his bad self from his good self. It’s easy to feel sympathetic for Jekyll, seeing as moral faults and greed are an integrated part of human nature, but the pain Hyde suffers is far worse. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Longman’s Green & Co., 1886. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
The Outsiders, Reviewed by Daniel, 12
S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders tells the story of a young teenager named Ponyboy, who is a member of the greasers gang, who is ensnared in a battle with the Socs, the richer people in the neighborhood. One day, a group of Socs try to drown Ponyboy, who is a greaser, in a fountain, but his friend Johnny kills one of the Socs, which causes them to run away. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Ponyboy and Johnny are also forced to flee, and they hide out in an abandoned church. It is during this time that a fire starts in the church, and Ponyboy and Johnny go in to rescue the children who are still stuck inside. From this moment in the book forward, things begin to change for Ponyboy. He questions the ideals he has believed for a long time, and it seems that his worldview has changed substantially by the end of the book. At the beginning of the book, Ponyboy believed that all Socs were bad, and that revenge against them was the only option; however, he meets some Socs who show him that’s not true. Many of his friends, including Johnny, had been jumped by Socs before, and they were often very brutal, sometimes even killing greasers. Ponyboy thinks the Socs “jump greasers and wreck houses and throw beer blasts for kicks.” However, one day when Ponyboy is at the theater, he meets a Soc named Sherri Valance (nicknamed Cherry), who tells him that not all Socs are bad. Ponyboy befriends her, and Ponyboy comes to the conclusion that while greasers are more sensitive, Socs are cold, aloof, and the exact opposite. As Cherry puts it, “we don’t feel.” While Ponyboy begins to realize Socs like Cherry exist, his viewpoint gets conflicted when Cherry’s boyfriend Bob nearly drowns him, driving Johnny, who is known to be kind and perhaps a bit shy, to stab Bob, which kills him. This incident lingers in Ponyboy’s head for a while, but it isn’t until the end of the book that he really changes. After Ponyboy encounters another Soc, he begins to reconsider who’s right and who’s not. After Ponyboy returns from the abandoned church with Johnny, Randy Anderson, who is a friend of Bob, pays a visit to him. He tells him that in truth, Bob was actually a nice guy, and that his parents spoiled him too much. This caused Bob to be very angry, annoyed, and perhaps even sad; all he wanted, Randy said, was for his parents to say “no” to him once. He went out of control and was constantly drinking, and that’s partially what caused him to attack Ponyboy. This was different from what Ponyboy had believed; he thought Bob was simply fueled by hatred for the greasers. Cherry tells him a similar story, which changes him even more, since Cherry was the only friend he had that wasn’t a greaser. Although he still shows up at the big fight between the greasers and the Socs, it is clear that he is a changed person by the end of the book. While many of his friends, such as Ponyboy’s own brothers, remain unchanged from the beginning to the end, a small but certain seed of change is planted in Ponyboy, and grows steadily throughout the book. His encounters with Cherry, Randy, and the other Socs changed him, and this is portrayed well by the last couple pages of the book. During this time, Ponyboy’s grades drop substantially, but he gets over this by writing out what’s nagging him the most: the event that started his of conflict morals, Bob’s death. The change in Ponyboy may have been small, but in the end it was enough to make him think things over again. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. Puffin Books, 1988. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
Redwall, Reviewed by Daniel Zhu
In his novel Redwall, Brian Jacques pits a fearful rat named Cluny, who was thought to be a myth, against a relatively small community of peaceful creatures. However, in these dire times, the creatures of the Abbey surprised Cluny with unexpected strength and will. What Cluny thought would be a swift victory ended up being a slow, gruesome defeat. The transformation of the peaceful creatures of Redwall into formidable fighters was quite amazing and inspiring to see. The qualities that they came to possess seemed to directly combat the dirty tactics deployed by Cluny, and allowed them to achieve victory. The creatures of Redwall were quite formidable, but because the Abbey had preserved peace for so long, that formidability lay dormant for many years. The main character of the book, Matthias, has been aspiring to be like his hero Martin the Warrior, a legendary warrior mouse, since the beginning of his book. However, because of the long-lasting peace that the Abbey has preserved, Matthias was told to push that aspiration aside. Unfortunately, this was soon changed by Cluny’s sudden attack on Redwall. Luckily, Cluny completely underestimated the Redwall Abbey, and perhaps his inflated ego at the start of the conflict is what caused him to lose the war. By not immediately overwhelming the Abbey by force, precious time was bought, which allowed the defenders to set up proper defense; the wall defending the Abbey also contributed to Cluny’s defeat. Under the lead of Matthias, the creatures of Redwall were able to mount a strong defense force that was not only trained in strength but also in will and confidence. With encouraging leaders like Basil Stag Hare, a loquacious hare, the creatures of Redwall were able to keep their spirits up even with immense danger looming in front of them. On the contrary, Cluny’s forces were driven by fear, a bond that was destroyed the instant the fear-instiller – in this case, Cluny – was vanquished. A major reason for Cluny’s loss was the way his army, and that of Redwall, was controlled. The entire reason that Cluny’s army held together was the menacing reputation Cluny had built for himself. Using fear as a cruel form of motivation, it was soon apparent that none of the horde cared for each other; they were like zombies, controlled by the fearsome image of Cluny. The Redwall Abbey, on the other hand, was held together by friendship and trust. There was no one person who controlled them; rather, they naturally banded with each other. While Cluny had all of his soldiers chained to him, Redwall had their creatures bonded with each other. Cluny’s army lacked confidence and will, seeing as Cluny scarcely ever encouraged anyone, but by encouraging each other, the creatures of Redwall were able to edge Cluny’s army out of their beloved Abbey. While Cluny’s army began to despair, for example, after Cluny was forced to rest for three weeks after an injury, even after their tapestry of Martin was stolen and the gates of Redwall were opened, Redwall remained firm. Every person knew they were cared for and had an important role to play, and that increased their motivation and strength. This strategy was far more effective than the cruel, torturous methods of Cluny. In conclusion, the main contributing factor to Cluny’s loss was the way his forces, and those of Redwall, were united. While Cluny’s horde was chained to him, and only him, the creatures of Redwall shared a much stronger bond with each other because they were part of a community; none of which existed with Cluny’s horde. As more and more attacks failed, Cluny’s army began to lose hope and break apart. Many high-ranking creatures in the army were killed off, and the fact that Cluny wanted to have complete control over everyone in his army didn’t make it better. Ultimately, the friendship shared between the creatures of Redwall far outweighed any power fear could invoke. Redwall by Brian Jacques. Firebird, 2002. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process!
