So, what's the moral of the story?

[Dances_in_Underwear]

I read somewhere that the central theme is "Justice." I've heard others say that the moral is "Be careful what you wish for."

Any comments?

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

I think it's 'Don't eff with the gypsies' LOL

Long days and pleasant nights

[Sigmund]

I just LOVED that the Chapter that dealt with Judge who helped in the cover up of the womans death and was having , shall we say "skin problems" was called, "The Scales of Justice." That was a hoot!

[GNTLGNT]

I always thought it leaned toward "The Golden Rule", but don't jack with the Gyps works too!:smile2:

[Dances_in_Underwear]

I think the moral of the story is something like, no one is safe from justice. He thought that nothing would happen to him because he was friends with the judge and the cop. But the Gypsy king made sure something happened to him.

[Rand]

I think the moral of the story is something like, no one is safe from justice. He thought that nothing would happen to him because he was friends with the judge and the cop. But the Gypsy king made sure something happened to him.

That fits well with the typical messages of the first set of Bachman books released.

Halleck may seem to accept responsibility for his crime at times, but really never does. The only thing he finally accepted responsibility for was letting his daughter get cursed at the end. Up to that point, he was fine with shifting the blame onto his wife, or anyone else he could think of, as long as it got him off the hook, all the way up to the point of allowing the gypsy leader to put the curse into a pie that Halleck knew had to be consumed by someone else for him to remain free of it.

[motocop]

If the stupid old gyp woman looked both ways before crossing the street there would be no need for a moral.

[mrsnye]

Hmmm, I thought it was don't eat the pie, but I like all the others as well!

[Pucker]

That we all have to own our actions is pretty explicit throughout the story, and that the more we try to deflect the blame or escape the consequences, the worse the ripple effect becomes.

[wally wonder]

you can always count on the mob?

[Anna Rose]

karma's a bitch

[Ortal]

dont eff with the gypsies, lock up your pie

[Evil Queen]

I'm not exactly sure what would be the moral. Maybe treat others as you yourself want to be treated, because you never know when it'll come back on you. Although it wasn't Billy's fault, it was his wife's fault for doing what she was doing AND the Gypsy woman's fault for not looking before crossing the street AND jaywalking. So I don't think it was fair that Billy was punished. Why didn't Taduz Lemke curse Heidi, since he said he knew what they were doing? If he had the sight, then he would've known that it really wasn't Billy's fault. But I guess if Heidi had been cursed, then it would be an entirely different story line & who knows how it would have turned out. I just wish Heidi had eaten the pie herself in the end.

[omm poppa mow mow]

"Sure, we need the Gypsies. We always have. Because if you don't have someone to run out of town once in a while, how are you going to know you yourself belong there? Well, they'll be along soon, right?"

Oh you bet. Seems like all of life is centered on the playground. You are It. Nanoo nanoo!

There's another King story that says something like: And if there aren't any Gypsies, we'll make some....the exact wording and the exact story escape me at the moment. But this is one of those "social issues" I posted a thread starter about. And as someone said, don't frick with the mob, the mob of course being, all and sundry not Gypsy...of whatever flavor of the month is unfavorable....be sure to affix a label to them, so as to keep em straight

[~Ally~]

Although it wasn't Billy's fault, it was his wife's fault for doing what she was doing AND the Gypsy woman's fault for not looking before crossing the street AND jaywalking. So I don't think it was fair that Billy was punished. Why didn't Taduz Lemke curse Heidi, since he said he knew what they were doing? If he had the sight, then he would've known that it really wasn't Billy's fault.

In effect Lemke did curse Heidi when he placed the curse on Billy. Her husband was changing before her very eyes, not just physically but also psychologically and her family was falling apart. Billy became extremely distrusting of his wife, and also eventually blamed her for his predicament. He was happy for her to eat the pie and die, to save himself, yet he could not live with his daughter also dying. In his final moments he probably understood a little of what Lemke felt at the loss of his own daughter, which would have been retribution in itself.

I believe the moral of the story is to take responsibility for your own actions...like I regularly preach on here. :wink2:

Billy unintentionally killed Lemke's daughter yet he made the informed choice to cover it up with his friend the Judge so he could walk free and evade justice for his crime. Gypsy or not, the subject of vengeance would be on the minds of most people who felt the life of their loved one had been devalued in such a way. (Un)fortunately in this instance the deceased came from a gypsy family who could enact their own punishment outside of the law. Billy had what was coming to him, he did the crime and shouda done the time, then everyone could have eventually lived happily ever after...but instead he tried to escape justice. Mega fail.

[doowopgirl]

If the stupid old gyp woman looked both ways before crossing the street there would be no need for a moral.

If she had looked both ways there would also be no story. I think the moral is justice.

[Evil Queen]

Billy unintentionally killed Lemke's daughter yet he made the informed choice to cover it up with his friend the Judge so he could walk free and evade justice for his crime.


he did the crime and shouda done the time

Yes, this is true. After thinking about it, he realized too late that his friend the judge should have excused himself from the case & I agree too, that he should have did SOME time. So maybe there was meant to be more than one moral in this story?? Doowopgirl is right also, if the Gyspy woman didn't jaywalk, then there wouldn't have been a story. All very interesting points of view! :wow:

[Evil Queen]

Upon thinking about this further, Heidi did have some blame in this matter. While we all probably agree that Billy should have done some time for vehicular manslaughter, she picked the absolute wrong time to get horny. Not once did I see that she apologized to Billy herself for doing what she was doing to him, unless I missed that somewhere in the book. If I have, someone please correct me. If she had told him-Billy, I'm so sorry. I don't know what got into me...or something to that affect, & Billy chose to NOT to forgive her, then I could probably feel some sympathy for her. So while we're talking about people taking responsibilty for their own actions, I feel she should be included. She just wanted to sweep everything under the rug & pretend nothing happened. I still say she should have ate the whole pie by herself.

[friend of Oye]

Eat More Pie.

[Aericanwizard]

I think that the morals that "Nobody is above justice" and that "Everyone must accept responsibility for their actions" would apply.

I guess you could say that there is no free lunch :biggrin2:, or as Taduz Lemke tried to tell Billy "There is no poosh!!"


Long days and pleasant nights

[DebA913]

I'm not sure I ever considered the story to have a moral before. I just thought it was a great story by a fantastic author! Although all of them listed have some validity, don't they. (Well, maybe not ALL:biggrin2:)

[blunthead]

I haven't read all the posts here; nevertheless, I think the moral of Thinner is Don't bite off more than you can chew. Our central character--a kind of anti-protagonist--is a corrupt lawyer, who happens to be obese, who thinks he's succeeded once again in oppressing the innocent. This time is different.

The lesson the gypsy demands is justice, which is symbolized in the pie (a glutton's delight, but this one has built-in repentance). The lawyer, now thin, still has not learned the ultimate lesson. He decides to murder. He ends up murdering everything he loves or ever has, including his own innocent, loving daughter and himself.