Moses and Blandine are a Series of Contradictions
The novel The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty follows a cohort of people from a melancholy town, Vacca Vale, Indiana. The novel follows Moses Robert Blitz, the son of a starlight actress. Moses shows us that even if you are a victim of your circumstances, you can continue to make poor decisions that are contradictory to your beliefs, and we see that throughout the book with Blandine, a mystic-obsessed girl, as well.
Moses’ life has been peppered by his mother's abuse, and he swears to be better than her. Moses' contradictory lifestyle does more harm than good. He preaches support and giving help because of the abuse he received from his mother, but he is quick to dismiss and ignore people that ask for his help, as seen with “Mr. Boddy” (Gunty 260-261). He believes that if you do not think like him or act like him, then you simply do not understand what he has been through. Moses preaches goodness and even refers to himself as “Dr. Malachi" on his blog. His use of the blog is for nothing more than self-validation, which makes him no different than his mother.
Like Moses, Blandine is a victim of her circumstances being abused by James Yager, her music teacher; she goes on a “crusade” to save Vacca Vale. She wishes to fix Vacca Vale but proposes no solution to do so. Her inaction to fix Vacca Vale is hypocritical. Blandine is quick to anger when someone proposes an idea that is not aligned with hers, but she proposes no alternative. She acts like a bratty toddler. Blandine has the potential to attempt to fix Vacca Vale but instead sits in the background and gawks at people that propose ways to fix Vacca Vale (215).
Both Moses and Blandine are victims of their circumstances, but we see that although they wish to be better than what happened to them, they continue to contradict themselves. Moses' wish to be better than his mother only ends up giving him self-validation. Blandine’s wish to save Vacca Vale is only meant with hopeless endeavors and creepy pranks, leaving Vacca Vale in its rundown state. They have the potential to do good by helping others or saving a rundown town, but they chose to do the opposite. Moses and Blandine are just “a series of messy, contradicting behaviors like everyone else” (166).
The ineffectiveness of doing nothing for her cause is prevalent for Blandine in Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch. Blandine constantly complains about the urban development project to take place in Chasity Valley, however, she doesn’t have her own plan for the run-down city of Vacca Vale, Indiana. The attacks she plans on the Valley’s developers do frighten them and make headlines in the town newspaper, but the plans remain the same no matter what crude act she performs next. Blandine is fighting for a lost cause, and it puts to question if her actions to save the Valley are worth the trouble she must go through to make them happen.
ReplyDeleteJack notes Blandine’s pessimist attitude when they’re in developer Maxwell Pinky’s home, of whom Jack works for as a dogwalker. He questions why Blandine won’t leave Vacca Vale even though she has the capability and potential to do so that others like himself do not. Blandine refuses to ever leave the town and states that she and Jack “are the only ones who can save it,” yet proposes no plan (Gunty 219). It makes it difficult to understand Blandine’s cause to “save” her town if she has no realistic idea on how she’s going to do that besides sabotage.
In Tess Gunty’s The Rabbit Hutch, Moses and Blandine display how deep rooted trauma can lead people into contradicting their own beliefs and aspirations. Moses, who was drastically shaped by the abuse from his mother, desires to be better than her. However, the contradictory nature of Moses is ever apparent in his treatment of others, especially in how he treats Mr. Boddy. His mistreatment of someone in need reflects the hypocrisy of his behavior. Moses preaches kindness and support, but fails to live up to these ideals. His blog persona is more about feeding his ego than genuinely helping others. This makes him no different from his mother and reflects how negative trauma can vastly affect someone's morality.
ReplyDeleteBlandine's struggles equally with these contradictions. She wants to save Vacca Vale, but she fails to provide any solutions to the problems. Instead, she criticizes other people who propose ways to fix the town. Her actions highlight her immaturity and lack of direction. Blandine poses as someone with a higher purpose, but she acts selfishly and for her own benefit. Blandine has the potential to change the town for the better; however, like Moses, she chooses to stand on the sidelines. Both characters choose to criticize what is wrong, rather than enacting change. These characters, like many others in the story, are full of “messy, contradicting behaviors” (Gunty 228).
Works Cited
Gunty, Tess. The Rabbit Hutch. Thorndike Press, a Part of Gale, a Cengage Company, 2023.
Though Moses’ contradictions cannot necessarily be explained in the same way, I believe that a lot of the Blandine’s contradictions are a product of her immaturity. As a reader, I often struggle to remember that Blandine is only 18 years old and has had vastly different life experiences that stunted her emotional maturity. Not only did she grow up in the foster care system, presumably without stable parental figures, but she was manipulated and abused by her teacher, a supposedly “safe” person who began to take on the shape of a father figure.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the novel, Gunty reminds readers that though Blandine might think so herself, she is not all-knowing. She is intellectually intelligent, but she struggles with social cues and is extremely uncomfortable around others. For example, Blandine “panics a little [because] she has run out of facts to share and can’t remember how to fuel a conversation without them” when she speaks with Moses in the Valley (303). Blandine’s circumstances make it reasonable, if not likely, for her to be a “series of messy, contradicting behaviors” because she has never known stability (166). As Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs teaches, it is impossible for Blandine to reach her full potential or even feel connected to others without having her more basic needs met. It makes sense that she is emotionally-stunted, as her basic needs have been neglected her entire life.