Why do you think the town turned a blind eye to Crete's behavior and illegal activities?
Created: 03/10/14
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That did bother me a bit. I am sure fear was a factor, but at some point someone must have worried that they would be a victim of his evil and certainly not everyone was in his pocket. Usually when a character is a leading a criminal life like this they cover their tracks by instilling fear, bribing people and/or having people in their debt for favors. Crete did not seem as smooth at the "favors" part as most successful long time criminals (think mob bosses, drug lords...) so I was surprised none of the good/honest people of the town caught on to him and wanted it to stop.
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I'd have to agree with Ruth - that part of the story bothered me. The men who were sleeping with the girls weren't strangers, so it would seem a large number of men knew what was going on at the very least. This would seem particularly terrible when the girl was someone local, like Cheri.
Join Date: 05/24/12
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I think it was mainly his customers that knew the depth of the depravity he was involved in--even his brother apparently thought he was running an escort service. The people who knew the most had as much to lose as he did if he got caught. Plus, his family had been there forever and apparently that was more important to a lot of the residents than what kind of person you actually were.
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Let's not forget that Crete was the town's economy. He had is fingers in all of the pies and that kept them humble and able to keep their monkey see attitude. Monkey see, monkey do is a saying that popped up in American culture in the early 1920s. The saying refers to the learning of a process without an understanding of why it works. Another definition implies the act of mimicry, usually with limited knowledge and/or concern of the consequences.[1]
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This town was far removed from civilization and ascribed to the back country way of doing things. It had not evolved at all - people were born, lived, and died there, and most never left. Crete was a born bully and, early on, he realized that he had the town under his control. No one had the nerve to challenge him.
Join Date: 08/23/11
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I think the ones who knew what he was doing are the ones who condoned it, and they were also afraid of the consequences of turning him in. It is not very realistic, though, to think that even unsavory members of a community would want to use a local girl when they know the parents and all the relatives.
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I think that most of the replies got it right. He was a big fish in a small pond who knew where all the "bodies", so to speak we're buried. A section at the end of the book alludes to this when the story speaks of a shed where he kept his mementos. People were afraid of him and what he might do do them .
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