Rebel Without A Cause

I finished The Mercy Seat a couple of days ago and I found it interesting, to say the least. The way Abby's character kept badgering Ben's character to make a decision the day after a national disaster was mind boggling. How can a anyone make that decision? The mistress of 3 years or the family you helped to create? It's no wonder Ben made the decision that he did.

Abby's character wasn't the most normal person. From the beginning to the end all I kept thinking was "She doesn't want a commited relationship. She wants a sparring partner who will continuously walk into the punches. She doesn't want to be his equal when all she does is belittle him."

In the end the story was all about manipulation. There wasn't one person manipulating the other. They both are guilty of this act because neither one of them loved each other and they play the car-less version of "Chicken" except with the game of love. Love is the car, obviously. Abby gets Ben to tell her that he loves her and because Ben says that he feels he can ask Abby to run away with him. When Abby agrees, she feels that he should tell his wife instead, but when he refuses Abby is left with egg on her face or like in the movie Rebel Without A Cause, she's the one who's sleeve gets caught in the door and ends up in the ocean. In the end, I can't help but to feel sorry for her.