The Bad Girl

- W A I T,   I ' V E   S E E N   T H I S   B E F O R E -

After reading the first half of Mario Vargas Llosa's "The Bad Gril" I realized its direct correlation to Madame Bovary. At first I thought, "Oh no! Not again," however I do seem to enjoy reading this book despite the annoyance of its Madame Bovary, Lily. The one predominant theme that I couldn't fully understand (in both novels) is Charles or Ricardo's attraction to such an undesirable character. I tried to look into this more.

It's very clear that when we lust for someone our judgment becomes clouded (we have seen this in countless examples of film, tv, literature, etc.) however how come our judgement becomes so clouded that we ignore all of the major flaws that someone has? I mean, when we're extremely hungry we will eat just about anything, but you can still hate the taste of the food. How come we don't see the bad parts  of people.

Lily had constantly treated Ricardo poorly, yet he would continuously take her back! Why?! If he's so "hungry," then why doesn't he just get something else to eat? I came to the realization that it also may be a specific character trait (...flaw) in these character's personalities. From personal experience, I had been in a similar position where I was infatuated with a girl that did not treat me well but after awhile I grew sick of it and broke it off. Even though I still wanted her, her undesirable qualities were too strong to outweigh the desirable ones. So how come Charles and Ricardo can't do it?

Perhaps they're too blinded and even more infatuated than I was, but I tend to view this element as a character weakness. Of course, there wouldn't be much of a story if Ricardo just left Lily in the beginning I suppose, either. Regardless, I have one more theory. Lily presents herself as such a talented liar and cheat that perhaps Ricardo constructs his own "lie" of her. Maybe Lily isn't lying to Ricardo as much as Ricardo is lying to Ricardo. Maybe he willingly suspends all belief of the negativity in Lily's character and therefore manipulates his mind into seeing only the positives. Then again, isn't that what desire is anyways?