Doodles Of The Characters From Donna Tartt's The Secret History

Doodles of the characters from Donna Tartt's The Secret History

Bunny Corcoran, an empath, sensing that they are not looking for new ferns.

Bacchanalia - Francis Abernathy

We've all heard about that one bacchanal theory – that it wasn't them who killed the farmer, but a mountain lion. It's all left vague enough for anyone to decide whether to believe it or not, but the reason why I love it and think it could make the whole story even better if it were true is because it would add to how meaningless everything was.

The five of them had a motive to want Bunny gone, which was definitely not enough to justify their action in the first place anyways, but it still made sense. Bunny knew they had killed a man and the only way they found to prevent him from spilling their secret was getting rid of him. From their twisted point of view, it was necessary.

But if they hadn't actually killed that man? Bunny would have been murdered for nothing. Bunny's death, Henry's death, everything that followed that one night would have been caused just by a big misunderstanding.

Of course, the first murder wasn't the only thing that pushed them to commit the second one, and actually we could argue it wasn't even the main reason why they did it and maybe they would have done it even under different circumstances, maybe they were always going to end up like that – but still, what happened then was the practical catalyst for all the rest. So if that wasn't their fault, then there was no actual reason for things to go as horribly as they did.

It really makes it all look even more like something out of a Greek tragedy. Everything could have been easily avoided, hadn't they been so hubristic. But instead they played gods, payed the price, and brought their own fate upon themselves.

Iconic moments in literature series: Donna Tartt

Camilla: What have you got there? Charles: A KNIFE! *takes off running* Camilla: NO!