Reflection 10: Villains

Villains provide an important aspect to books and that is why they interest us. They are essential to stories because they add an exciting element that protagonists just cannot do. Without a villain, you just have a story about a normal person. There are no heroes when there are no villains. The hero has to overcome the villain in order for them to be defined as a true hero. The severity of the villain, or how mean the villain is, reveals a lot about readers. If a reader enjoys an exceptionally evil villain that shows that the reader has a darker side. Villains also show what our culture is capable of. If somebody can write about an evil villain, somebody can certainly act like one, or even try to mimic a villain. Some villains become heroes in the eyes of crazy people. We have seen this happen before in our society. In the famous TV show, Criminal Minds, there is a new villain in every episode. It is scary to think that people are really capable of such crimes. The stories might not be real, but I can bet there are people out there getting ideas from this show. The same goes with villains in books. It could be even more serious in books because writing can give a lot more detail than any TV show. Villains are important in reading but they can also become dangerous.