Giroux+Reaction+to+Murderous+Son

Giroux LOTF Journal

 Dear Naval Officers, I absolutely refuse to believe that my son, Jack, is responsible for the deaths and torture of the boys on the deserted Pacific island. All his life he has been the picture of innocence. He never disobeyed his father or me and there has never been even the slightest trace of evil or malice in him. Jack couldn't kill anything; he was too much a gentleman. Not only did he act like an angel, but he sang like one too. In fact, he was in charge of the boys’ choir. The heat, food deprivation, and loss of civilization must have had the boys delusional, causing them to confuse my Jack with a real killer. How dare you overlook their conditions and mental health and believe their lies? However, even if the boys' stories are true, my Jack would never have done such things unless pressured to do so out of fear for his life or the lives of others. Perhaps the murdered children were in fact the murderers and Jack was just trying to put an end to their evil. The young man being hunted must have done something terrible to Jack or to one of his friends to be chased, if indeed, he was being chased. Another possibility; the deaths might have been an accident. That one young boy could have fallen and stabbed himself with his own spear. As for the other child, that rock could have been unstable and ready to fall at any moment. As you can see, you don't know for sure what happened on that God forsaken island and it seems very foolish of grown naval officers to believe the story of some extremely disoriented boys. If any form of torture or murder did occur it would have been the murder of the boys’ innocence. They are far too young to be accused a murderers or to see death. All I can think about is that I will never see my little boy again. He will be changed now, he won’t be himself anymore. Sure he will fall back into the role of a schoolboy, but the shadow of what he was or what he saw on that island will always be in his eyes; lurking, ready to come out again at the sign of no civilization. The shadow of his beast will be with him forever, just as all of the other boys’ beasts will be with them.

Sincerely Yours, Mrs. Merridew