Trusting Insanity

When I read "The Five-Forty Eight earlier this week, I had trouble deciding to which character I should give my trust. Who should I like and trust more, the cruel man who doesn't talk to his wife for up to two weeks at a time because she didn't cook him dinner and often finds weak women to prey on, or the literally insane woman with a gun who follows the main character, trying to somehow make herself feel better for the things he has done? Of course, I trusted the narrator at the beginning of the story, because we see the events and happenings of the story from his own perspective. It's not hard to trust a narrator who is running from a woman who might be trying to kill him, but as the reader learns soon enough, it's really much more complicated than that.

The story starts out with a seemingly normal, everyday man--Blake--walking to the train station after work to get home, but it quickly turns into a sort of twisted adventure in which the narrator is followed by a woman who we know nothing about. All the reader is told about the woman is that "she might be meaning to do [Blake] harm--she might be meaning to kill him." At this point, the reader instantly roots for the narrator. The reader hopes he can get away from the woman, even though it seems unlikely. Blake, pondering an escape, even thinks, "He could run--although he was afraid that if he did run, it might precipitate the violence he now felt sure she had planned." Finally, the reader is given more information on the situation. We learn what relationship Ms. Dent, the woman following him, and Blake share.

At this point, Blake, the narrator, begins to lose the readers trust. Six months ago, when Blake hired Ms. Dent, he believed her to be "oversensitive, and as a consequence, lonely." He even "recognized a particular feeling of deprivation" in Ms. Dent. Despite all of this, he threw away the rose she had given him, telling her that he didn't like roses. What's worse is that Blake even had the "feeling that she had been the victim of some inner--some emotional--conflict." Even though Blake knew about the delicate state of his employee, he chose to sleep with her and then fire her the next day. The reader is then informed of the true nature of Blake, a cruel man who searches for vulnerable woman to prey upon. Ms. Dent is not the first one he has done this to, and as the reader finds out later in the story, she is probably not the last either. Before Blake sleeps with Ms. Dent, he even says, "Her diffidence, the feeling of deprivation in her point of view, promised to protect him from any consequences. Most of the many women he had known had been picked for their lack of self-esteem." Here, Blake is portrayed as an extremely dishonorable man who hunts women who are lacking confidence and stable emotional states. At this point the reader does not know who to trust.

We follow Blake, as he walks from work to the train, aware that Ms. Dent is following him closely. Soon after Blake sits down in the train, Ms. Dent appears and sits down beside him. Here, the reader learns about Ms. Dent's insanity, and her stay at the hospital. She discourages him from trying to escape with a pistol held in her pocketbook. Then, she asks him to read the letter she wrote to him. The letter, which addresses Blake as husband, shows the reader the extent of Ms. Dent's insanity, but this is where the reader begins to side with and trust Ms. Dent over Blake.

With a gun pointed at his belly, Blake has some time for reflection, but instead of feeling regret for the less noble things he has done, he only "regrets his lack of suspicion when she first mentioned her months in the hospital." The reader also learns about Blake's cruel nature. When his wife failed to prepare supper for him one night, he cold heartedly told her that he would not speak to her for two weeks. Once all of this is put into perspective, the reader sees Blake as the antagonist and wrongdoer of the story, not Ms. Dent. Ms. Dent gains more credibility with the reader.

So, does Ms. Dent's insanity affect how the reader feels about her in the story? In the end, no, her insanity does not discredit her in the eyes of the reader. The reader sees that Blake is the one who is wrong. He is the one who needs to change, even though his cold hearted indifference prevents him from doing so at the end of the story. In fact, Ms. Dent's insanity tells us something about Blake. Blake, in comparison to Ms. Dent, seems to be the insane one. He is the one with the flaw. Ms. Dent's insanity allows the reader to see this, and fully understand Blake's character. (849)