"You make it sound as though Bonnie was completely innocent, and was dragged along by Clyde as a hostage. She loved the excitement of life on the run from the law. They were a team. It was equal between the two of them, they both shared in the spoils and the fame. If you see Clyde as a monster, than you must see Bonnie as one as well. She was thinking clearly in her own mind. She loved Clyde, and she loved the thrill that came with being an outlaw."
4 comments:
I think I agree with this statement more than I disagree. Love may be blind but it isn't stupid. Reading Bonnie's own poems let you know that she knew that what they were doing was wrong.
From our comfortable perch 75 years removed it is easy for us to comment on her choices- but truth be told I wonder if I was in her position madly in love and young if I wouldn't be just as foolish.
I would hope not..... :)
Well, I think it may have looked more ok going in than it became. At first, when they were not widely known, staying out of their West Dallas neighborhood was enough. They could still go elsewhere, buy food, stay in a motor court, even at first rent an apartment. While they knew they would at times be pursued and shot at, I don't think they could have imagined Buck with a head wound, Blanche with glass in her eye, Wellington with the burns, and being so hot that pulling into a tourist court would be risky. That you can't cruise into town and check out stores when your car has bullet holes and busted windows even if you did steal another good license plate. That it's hard to get serious painkillers without a doctor's help. That you need clean and unbloodied clothing to pass among non-criminals. I don't think they calculated how friends come and go but enemies accumulate, and the more people who get killed by and around you, the more innocent people become unsettled and afraid just knowing that you're nearby. The astronomical growth in the number of people with an incentive to report them was, I believe, not foreseen. They apparently never suspected Bailey Tynes. (That's the problem with movies, they don't show more than a fraction of the people who were around them.) By the time it got bad enough to be constant hell, Bonnie had made a serious investment in Clyde, and before long she too would be facing jail, and maybe even the electric chair at the end. http://texashideout.tripod.com/Reserved.html She let her chances to play the same role of corrupted innocent youth (the W.D. role) pass her by, until people were accusing her too. - barb
Great comment Barb, you always articulate your points so well!
I suppose the "innocence" of youth can even account for the short sightedness they both had. It's tough to see the forest for the trees, and the thought that your actions will tend to hurt others around you much more that yourself probably never crossed either one of thier minds. By the time it did there was no going back....
Besides I don't know about anyone else here, but didn't you know all the answers to life at 19? I DEFINITELY did. (Huge sarcasm.)
Nicole, your point about if we were young and in her position was right on. She looking forward could not foresee anything but what she hoped for and I don't believe the reality of being tracked down and shot set in until one or more people were killed, no matter what she might have said. -barb
Post a Comment