Angel, Saint, Devils Spawn ….

“Angel, saint, Devil’s spawn, good or evil, you’ve got me pinned to the wall and labeled as yours until the day I die. And if you die first, then it won’t be long before I follow.”

Christopher – Potw

AtticSecrets, Jennifer Clark , always gives us the most compelling quotations from VCA’s works and brings fantastic conversation to the group as we explore them further.

Here she explains todays choice :

Such a strong quote. I think it says so much about Cathy. Opinions?

Ready to see the debate on what this quote meant.

Toni : Wow what a great quote of the day!!! I have always been on the fence about C&C’s REAL relationship… I know most people think it is an eternal love formed from the attic years and the shared abuse… but sometimes I think Chris was a little psychopathic and pushed Catherine into the husband/wife relationship, and it is passages like this that put me on that fence… “you’ve got me pinned to the wall and labeled as yours til the day I die” sounds like it is an unwelcomed love, but then Cathy says “and if you die first, then it won’t be long before I follow” which is self explanatory… she doesn’t feel like she can live without him… maybe like Stockholm syndrome, where the “prisoner” starts to sympathize with their capturer … Catherine knew Chris was the “perfect” man, and she loved him more than anyone ever, and I think she ultimately resigned herself to the relationship CHRIS pushed so hard for, simply because there was no one better to love her and make her feel safe… or that understood her nightmares and dreams and pain.

Toni :Perhaps in a way it IS the ultimate love story…. just not a fairy tale.

Jennifer : I think it is complicated and not black and white, right and wrong.  I think it is fair to say Chris felt loss of Corrine’s love harder than Cathy did because he had been her favorite.  The same way I think Cathy felt the death of Chris Snr. more for the same reasons.  I  think although Chris and Cathy had differences than their parents I think  a part  them were attacted to each other because they represented the parents they were missing so much.   I believe that was one reason it is repeated throughout how much they resembled their parents.  Also, I think them being locked up did contribute also.  I think those plus many other factors contributed to Chris being so locked on Cathy and whether she would admit it or not Cathy back to him.  I think it was easier for Cathy to make it seem like it was more Chris being hooked on her and her not being able to pull away from that then for her to openly admit it really was her wanting him a well.  Remember she could not go on without him.

Toni: I think C&C would have eventually ended up in the same relationship regardless of the attic situation…. Catherines pride in impressing Chris with the sheet ladder in case of fire speaks volumes… they had only been locked up a few days, and NO 12 yr old girl wants her brothers admiration like that… just saying… LOL!!

Jennifer : It probaby would have happened but would it have had the same impact? Meaning would they have connected in that same way if they weren’t locked up and made to be parents at such a young age?

Toni wonders : Maybe… maybe not. Maybe they would have dated normally ( other people) through high school and did normal teenage stuff and had normal lives… but maybe the genetics would have been too strong to fight and they would have known they had an abnormal relationship and never had any “purple grass”… so maybe, in a way, being locked in that attic together was the best thing that ever happened to them… they got to be together and happy and really that is all that matters….

.Jennifer  :I think VCA teaches us not to judge people by rules of society. It doesn’t meant to condone everything but in understanding people and why they choose certain things I think we learn not to judge so harshly.