The Devils Footprints

People interpret others’ actions as good or bad depending upon their morals. This ambiguity is reflected in John Burnside’s novel The Devils Footprints with the protagonist, Michael Gardner, who struggles to come to terms with his sadistic tendencies. An intimate first person narrative is used to bring empathy and support to a story that may otherwise inspire disgust. The author’s powerful strategies that make readers align themselves with anti-hero such as Michael are he lacks the capacity to torment another human; his immoral actions occur due to the strong influence of others, but he remains in control of his humanity. The Devils Footprints aligns the reader with the anti-hero Michael Gardner by invoking relative morality in which his morals

Furthermore, Mrs. Collings shows Michael that his native intellect is not built to take advantage of the weak; yet she teaches him how to skillfully access that. Michael lives in a very difficult situation: prey to Malcolm’s constant torture, his unsupportive parents, and his lack of friendship at school which surfaces on to his isolation. Due to his situation, Michael is a vulnerable figure and therefore requires an extensive amount of grooming from Mrs. Collings to come out. She carves the idea of a severe revenge by referring to the samurai warriors: “they prepared for battle by deciding they were dead already and had nothing to lose”(Burnside, 56). This analogy clearly demonstrates Mrs. Collings conniving side and her attempt to manipulate him. However, it’s quite difficult for him to grasp on to this new perspective and his maturity is not to blame. He’s involuntarily unable to picture how it’s possible to turn off a feeling such as intense fear. He says, “Still, for a long time, I dismissed what she was saying. It was easy for her to talk about fear and cunning and being invisible…How was I supposed to become invisible? How was I supposed to become cunning? It was all just fancy talk, I told myself”(Burnside, 56). With this in mind, there’s a distinguishable gap between suggesting intelligible ideas when sitting cosily next to a warm fire

However, there is humanity in the inhumane as he has a non-malicious intent towards Hazel; he simply uses her to get out of a marriage and marginal lifestyle, which has been holding him back from achieving psychological freedom. Through Hazel, Michael is able to escape from the sorrows of life. Saving Hazel from her alcoholic father Tom Birnie is an opportunity Michael’s provided with to escape from his wife Amanda. Above all, the protagonist is fully aware of the reason why Hazel joins him; she possesses no feelings for him. Hence, he feels a sense of relief when he wakes up one morning at the hotel realizing Hazel and her gang of “fuckboys” have stripped him from his valuable items: car, wallet, watch. As a result, Michael has found an opportunity to start his life afresh. This is shown when he’s lying sick on the bathroom floor of the motel vomiting food and fighting a dark force fighting its way up his chest through his throat. Specifically, this scene is demonstrating Michael’s regeneration to a new life; he has both mentally and physically cleared his life from the past. He says, “It wasn’t comfort, and it wasn’t absolution; nothing like that. It was just being present, being stripped of all pretences. Being myself at last, empty-handed, with nothing to defend” (Burnside,197). Through