May 27, 2025
To:Bubbles
Hm... I'll try to describe Cillian's thought's here.
"Becoming a wolf" means becoming someone that can easily be described as "dangerous" to society. Not just an outcast, but someone whose presence is "harmful" to the rest.
But in a sense, the sheep turned wolves are "free" to act--they are not afraid of judgment, and can easily tear into the "herds of sheep" to bring out hidden evil out into the open. The issue with this, of course, is that everyone else who is unaware of the "hidden evil" will be distraught by the wolve's behavior. And sheep dogs--those who do things according to the rules--will generally try to stop the wolves from causing a disruption.
"Wolves in sheep's clothing" are people who easily get away with evil, because they are hidden in the crowds. The easiest personal example of this are those students in high school who get away with being bullies by being good students and being good to those in power.
In this SPECIFIC context, the wolves in sheep's clothing (the bullies) pick on the "sheep" (bullied students) while other sheep (unaffected students) standby and watch, while the sheep dogs (teachers or anyone of similar status) either is unaware of the situation OR is aware but are also helpless due to having very little evidence to use.
The sheep that are picked on often turn into "wolves" (bullied students who decide to fight back). That's when they are at their most free to fight back and punish those who have wronged them... but at the same time, it's very easy for sheep dogs to notice great commotions caused by these wolves (ex: the bullied student yells back at the bully during class, the teacher notices and kicks out the bullied student).
I used this example here because this is where I got the idea from... This is just what happened to me throughout middle & high school. This is how I interpreted my past experiences.
Cillian's assertion here is that evil is generally invisible. Evil hides themselves among the innocent because if they were to outwardly reveal their true nature, they would be caught and destroyed extremely quickly by enforcers of societal rules.
Cillian implies that the people who those enforcers generally catch are just puppets of the real masterminds. In other words, most "wolves" are simply victims...
He considers the people who wronged him as these "wolves in sheep's clothing", and hence believe that a "sheep dog" such as Abigail would not be able to bring them to justice.
And this isn't supposed to be a moment of "Cillian is right, Abigail/you are wrong". This was just me displaying one possible perspective a person could have of the world.
I think that's generally most of what this novel is... an explanation of a way of thought and behavior... not necessarily to convince the reader to behave in a certain way, but to show them and make them wonder what THEY think about the proposed ideas in the novel.
Each character (like Cillian) have their own philosophies, and my favorite part of this novel is being able to express it onto paper and allow others to form their own opinions on their opinions.
... Which, uh, well, makes it a problem if the idea has been muddled. Admittedly I did struggle with this chapter quite a bit and was worried that the message wouldn't go through, but I really, really wanted to include this idea in the story. So... well, this is the result. I honestly do wonder how I could have done it better.
Anyway, thank you for letting me know :> your honesty is appreciated.
I sure wouldn't want to be the one who takes on the weight of the sky and be alone for God knows how long...