Roland's relationship with his mom... could he...??
A question appeared in my mind as I was reading one of the treads.. it might be meaningless but you might have some ideas about it.
So my question is:
Could Roland have avoid killing his own mom if he had forgiven her?
That I mean is.. that Roland went to his mom's room with lots of anger in his heart. And dark emotions can make us blind to soft things and signs..
Roland would have understood.
it's a very good question, and for me personally the answer is Yes, he could have. I don't believe any reflection in the mirror, any glammer or the most powerful witchcraft can force you to do something that hasn't already taken roots, however slight, in your soul
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I know that Roland is a gunslinger but why did he kill his mom? It never made sense to me.
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Originally Posted by LadyHitchhiker
It was because he didn't like the belt she'd made for him.
Gunslingers aren't perfect. They make mistakes too, especially since they have such heightened reflexes. Anytime you have fast reflexes, you run the risk of your brain not being able to keep up and properly identify threats, even with all of a Gunslinger's training.
I think it also bears reminding thatSpoiler:
Also, don't forget there was the glam of the wizard glass that contributed to Roland's misidentification and subsequent shooting of his mom.Gunslingers aren't perfect. They make mistakes too, especially since they have such heightened reflexes. Anytime you have fast reflexes, you run the risk of your brain not being able to keep up and properly identify threats, even with all of a Gunslinger's training.
I think it also bears reminding thatSpoiler:
It'll take a lot more than words and guns,
A whole lot more than riches and muscle.
The hands of the many must join as one.
And together we'll cross the river.
Puscifer, "The Humbling River"
*shakes head* still doesn't make sense to me
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Brice
Well then I should kill my mom for making me wear Natalie's hand me downs.. the horror of hot pink leggings and leopard print at the sensitive junior high age... making me look like a demi-prositute... *shudders* The horror! The Horror!!!!
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I hate to be a bore
(lying, of course... I love to be a bore...)
but are we still on topic?
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry for the brief derailment of the thread. It was my fault entirely.
Well Jean i wasn't trying to be off topic, but for me to understand if Roland could avoid killing his mother I needed to know why he did it because even after reading them I don't know how many times it still doesn't make sense to me.
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He did it because he saw Rhea and not his mom. He meant to kill the witch (and of course he didn't mean to kill his mom AT ALL) who had helped Susan to reach the end of the path. Roland should have felt that it was a glamour but he didn't.
Roland would have understood.
Don't you mean "glammer"?
(WAIT ARE THESE THE SAME THING?)
And yeah, didn't King write that Roland saw Rhea instead of his mother? (Didn't I also read that Susannah, or someone, actually wanted to stop him because he was seeing the wrong person??)
Last edited by BillyxRansom; 11-30-2008 at 08:52 AM. Reason: actual response to this thread
Perhaps merlyn's grapefruit was an instrument of Gan's as well.
If he had not killed his mother, then that would have been a reason to return home instead of forward on his quest.
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Roland hated his mother, plain and simple. He hated that she was so weak and that she would allow that monster to touch her.
The grapefruit was able to take advantage of that.
Many people hate their parents without ever fully realizing it.
The kindness of close friends is like a warm blanket
why should he have been able to see through the glammer? he was still a child, he wasn't fully over being caught in the pink piece of the rainbow, he had just found out that the person he thought was his heart's love was burned to death because of his actions, and he got to watch the instant replay of it (and perhaps actually live through it, we'll never really know) in the bargain.
yes, he was pissed at his mother. but i don't think he really hated her, at least not truly. hated what she had done, yes. hated who she had become, absolutely. but i think his time in mejis taught him the difference between hating a person and hating their actions. if he had truly hated her he would have just told his father who was supposed to wield that poisoned knife now wouldn't he? instead he didn't. imagine if he had - the satisfaction of watching her hang, or worse.
i think we're all forgetting that roland was still just a boy when this happened. and still partially caught up in the wizard's rainbow, at least in his own mind. it's sad really. because all of that happened because he made the decision not to kill when he could have. and he ended up going on to kill practically everyone in his path ever after.
and you know me, i'm no defender of roland or his actions. but in this instance i feel badly for him. i really feel like he was in over his head - way over his head. and his was still caught up in things he didn't understand and never could understand.
You are absolutely right turtle, there is a lot in what you write but still I have a feeling Roland might have avoided the tragedy if he had been able to forgive his mom.
I don't say he should have forgiven her, Roland was too young and too many things happened around and inside him it's understandable he needed more time to be able to open his heart to his mother again.
All I say is that he would have had some chance to get out of that horrible trap if he had forgiven.
Roland would have understood.
I believe that he would have killed his mother even if he did not hate her.
It was his extreme hate for Rhea that made him weak to her "spell", not his hate for his mother... As soon as he saw "her", he went straight for his guns; not even a thought in his mind to stop.
He should have killed Rhea the second he saw her... It was obvious that his threat would do nothing to stop her, and it should have been even clearer after the snakes' attack.
But oh well...
I think TS has some strong points. There are some other ideas I've had.
Does anyone feel that there might be an undercurrent of Oedipal Complex in Roland's relationship with his mother?
That maybe seeing her with Walter not only pissed him off but made him jealous also?
Also there's the wanting to save her part. If she hadn't hid, and they had actually had it out, do you believe she would have still tried to escape with the grapefruit? Is it possible that he could have convinced her to stay and confess?>
And, if she had stayed and confessed, would Steven have let her live, and taken her back?>
"So many vows. They make you swear and swear. Defend the King, obey the King, obey your father, protect the innocent, defend the weak. But what if your father despises the King? What if the King massacres the innocent? It's too much. No matter what you do, you're forsaking one vow or another."
Sounds like a really good theory to me
The words written upon this paper, are none compared to the words written upon my heart
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