Do you believe that Bobby Williams's jailhouse conversion to Christianity was authentic, or that he is, as Wesley asserts to his brother-in-law Arthur, a sociopath just trying to con the parole board with a story of rebirth and reform?
Created: 01/08/16
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Do you believe that Bobby Williams's jailhouse conversion to Christianity was authentic, or that he is, as Wesley asserts to his brother-in-law Arthur, a sociopath just trying to con the parole board with a story of rebirth and reform?
Join Date: 09/09/13
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Williams is a psychotic masochist. I do not believe he was able to abort his true nature in prison. He is a cunning manipulator and I think he duped the system into paroling him. The parole board let loose on society a dangerous, deranged criminal who should have been behind bars for life. Let's have a sequel and find out what happens next.
Join Date: 01/10/16
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One of the things brought up again and again was Wes's belief that people don't change (for example he thought for sure Scott was bad news because his father was bad, lots of talk about characteristics being "in the blood," etc.). So, I think the author's intent with Williams's conversion was for Wes to accept that change is INDEED possible, which led him to try to talk to Dennis. So I'm going to go with yes, it was real.
Join Date: 10/16/10
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I was also interested in the fact that the parole hearing was so perfunctory. There was nothing to indicate whether or not the conversion was real, so nothing to help Wes know one way or the other. It therefore had to Wes's choice alone to believe in change.
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I don't think so. By his demeanor, and the way he spoke to Wes at the bus station shows he is a casebook psychopath - no conscience, no remorse, no guilt about his actions. Although Wes himself believed that no one can change, I think he felt that he had to believe Bobby so Wes could go on living.
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I don't think its at all relevant to the driving narrative which belongs to Wes. This book was for me all about his moral evolution as a person especially as it related to father/son relationships: Dennis and Scott. Although, it does leave you wondering!
Join Date: 01/12/16
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I agree with Peggya, I don't think it matters. I think Wesley's kind of faith and the doubts he had were what drove him back to Black River. I also think that Bobby's comment about the effect of the prayer during the riot rang true. For Wesley's life to go forward, he had to have that final confrontation and realize he could walk away from Bobby but not Dennis.
Join Date: 05/31/15
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I agree that it isn't particularly relevant. I personally doubt it but he sold it to the parole board. Like was said, it was only going to help Wes if Wes changed. Bobby could have become the Pope but if Wes was still angry and bitter, it wouldn't have mattered a bit.
Join Date: 04/26/15
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Williams conversion to Christianity seemed authentic, but the truth is known only to himself and God. He did seem to have changed in the past several years. He told Wesley that Wesley's prayer during the riot was the first time he had heard someone witness to faith and that it had changed his life. Wesley answered that all he had was Williams' word that he was what he said he was and that he chose to believe him.
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No, I don't believe it was authentic. He knew that was a way for him to leave the prison, but I agree with others who said this was just another part of his manipulative manner. I also believe that one's responses to this question would be influenced somewhat by your own religious experience and belief.
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I believe he was using "Christianity" to sway the parole board and it worked in his favor. This is similar to the quotation "there are no atheists in foxholes." if S.M. Hulse does write a sequel to "Black River", i think it might be interesting to update Bobby Williams's character and see how he doing living as a Christian.
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Just reading the group's responses to this question is fascinating, and I think the author would be pleased with our discussion. Hulse left it open for us to decide based on the character she had drawn for us. But in the end, it was Wesley's character we were most concerned with. Wesley changed dramatically in the end. Why not Bobby Williams too?
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I am not sure either. There were times that I felt the answer was yes, he did change. Like when he told Wes that it was his prayer when he was being tortured that made the difference, how he couldn't get it out of his head. But on the other hand, Wes would talk about the look in Bobby's eyes and it would make me wonder if he was just playing games to get out of prison.
Join Date: 06/13/11
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I agree with the others who feel that we will never be able to know if this conversion was authentic and that it actually isn't the point. It's really Wesley's story, and he was able to let go of the anger and ideas of revenge (either in his own suicide or by killing Williams)--a form of grace for him. On the plus side for Williams' conversion, though, we have testimony of lengthy change from a corrections officer. This gray area is one of the many reasons this book is so good for discussion!
Join Date: 02/05/16
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I think this is left ambiguous to us, as it was to Wes, for a reason: so we can choose, as Wes had to choose, what we WANT to believe. Do we want to be the kind of person who is open to transformation, or do we want to believe that nobody, ourselves included, can ever overcome our inner demons? I think this comes to a head for Wes when he confronts Williams with the gun. At that moment he has to accept that he'll never know for sure, and the threat of more violence won't resolve anything. All he can do is act AS IF transformation is possible -- and regardless of whether it happened for Williams, Wes's choice will make a difference to how he sees himself. In choosing to keep the possibility of transformation open, and walk away, Wes puts himself on a path toward healing himself-- and that's all any of us can do.
This reminds me of The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Moshin Hamid. It similarly ends with ambiguity that forces readers to make a choice about what we think happened, a choice that forces us to confront our own assumptions of who, if anyone, is the victim, who the terrorist.
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