Freak Self-Awareness Essay

Question: How does one’s level of awareness about their status as a ‘freak’ compared to the society that envelopes them factor into their ranking as a freak? By knowing they're a freak does this make them less of a freak?

            One of the most influential factors in how freakish a character is is if they have self-awareness about them being a freak. There are three main types of self-awareness when it comes to freaks, self-awareness that causes them to try to be better, no self-awareness, and self-awareness that creates a feeling of superiority.    

            Freaks who have self-awareness of their freakishness and show some effort of reformation are the most sympathetic. The Misfit in A Good Man Is Hard To Find reveals at the end that he does not find joy in killing when he states, “It’s no real pleasure in life,” (page 133) in reference with his accomplices’ excess in excitement after killing the family they had happened upon. This comment shows that allow the Misfit is willing to kill he doesn’t use it as a first option and reserves it for a last resort, even showing some sympathy for those he has killed. Scy the Photo Guy from One Hour Photo was also sympathetic because he understood his status as a freak and strove to break away from it. He saw his lonesome place in society as outside the norm and in an effect to change that he latched on to a family he viewed thought their photos as being perfect. Scy showed he strived to be normal and even daydreamed of a life where he was part of an imaginary family with his photo family and was able to appreciate the simple things with them, he did not act out until the father threatened his ideal family.  Both of these characters were aware on some level of their freakishness and avoided acting on their natures, tying to fall more into society’s norms due to their status as outcasts.

Freaks who have no self-awareness of their freakishness are scary because of their naiveté of the horrors they have committed. In The Black Cat the Narrator shows that he is unaware of the extent of his abnormality in his ability to easily cause harm to other living beings. The Narrator begins his story by stating, “mad am I not,” (page 11) showing that he believes his actions were completely same even though mutilating and killing a cat and murdering and hiding your wife’s body are certainly not same. He also begins by presenting his story as if it were one of a silly life event such as the redecorating of a room instead of a homicide when he says, “My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events.” (Page 11) Gaear from Fargo is another freak who seems unaware of his freakishness because he also shows no remorse in killing and does it with ease.  Gaear shows more empathy while watching a soap opera than when he is taking the live of others, even his partner. This lack of awareness about the unusualness of their excessively violent behavior makes these two freaks exceedingly dangerous because they lack the moral compass to stop themselves from hurting others just for annoying them.

Freaks who have self-awareness and are fueled by the superiority they feel from usurping social norms are the most frightening. Arnold Friend from Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? shows that he gains pleasure from asserting his power over young, impressionable, and helpless girls. Arnold hints that Connie is not his first victim and she picks up on this by observing that, “his words were not angry but only part of an incantation.” (Page 377) It is easy to conclude that Arnold has gained this “incantation” though his repeated successes in luring young girls so he can rape them, and this comfort he shows makes him all the more creepy because he is fully aware of his disgusting actions but the fact that they are wrong is what engages him and arouses him. Amy shows a similar heightened pleasure in knowing she is outside of society’s norm in Gone Girl. Amy believes herself to be more intelligent than most of all of society and prides herself on this and her ability to play the role that society wants her to very well while she is simply laughing at the stupidity of it all. She embraces her freakishness and uses her deceitful and maniacal mind to enact revenge on those who have wronged her, while looking down on everyone else in the world who can’t do what she does. These types of freaks are the most disturbing because their heightened level of self-awareness and their pleasure in using their freakishness to ruthlessly take advantage and harm others, while holding no remorse because of their beliefs of their superiority.  

            These various flavors of freaks depending on their level of self-awareness open the possibilities for freaks to have levels of freakishness and therefore have different effects on audiences. Readers and viewers find it easier to sympathize with freaks with self-awareness and a sense of remorse, while it is more difficult for them to relate to freaks with no self-awareness, and almost impossible for them to understand actively malicious and completely self-aware freaks.