Alison wrote:
>Or does Blake secretly hate human beings in some way, as deeply as
>Travis does, and for similar reasons? After all they are both
>aiming for the same goal ? the destruction of Star One. How
>different are their motives? Perhaps it is as alienating to be a
>hero as to be a monster. You are always on the outside of the
>human race, looking in.
I think you're reaching, Alison :-) As you yourself say, Blake
"seems too normal and friendly most of the time" to make a convincing case
for his harboring a deep hatred of humanity similar to what Travis
displays.
>I sometimes think great heroism or self sacrifice could be
>motivated by the fact that the hero doesn't really like people all
>that much, or want to spend normal time with them. I'm only
>guessing, because I've never met that kind of big?action hero in
>real life.
FWIW, I *have* met Blake-type heroes in real life, and beneath their
heroism and self-sacrifice, all *I* ever discerned was great love--for
people and for life. That's not to say there *couldn't* be an individual
psychologically constituted as you describe. But it isn't Blake, and if I
had to guess, I'd say it isn't most "heroes."
Then Betty wrote:
>Hmm. He does say in "Duel" that one of his reasons for not
>killing Travis is that he would have enjoyed it... Which maybe
>*does* make him more akin to Travis than he would like. Maybe
>refusing to kill Travis is Blake's way of reassuring himself that
>he hasn't *become* Travis.
Hey, we all have the capacity to enjoy destroying an enemy. That Blake is
in touch with that aspect of his psyche and makes a conscious choice not
to indulge it only adds to his moral stature in my eyes.
Sondra