Whitewashed Perceptions of Sheila

[Erik Narramore]

It is interesting how Julie Mugford is being whitewashed in all this.  The way some people go on, you'd think she was a robot being programmed by Jeremy, with no agency of her own.  Similarly, with Jeremy.  He is portrayed as robot-like too, but in a different way: as a singular killer, cold-blooded and evil, like the malignant android out the James Cameron blockbuster, 'The Terminator', released in the cinemas round about that time.  Perhaps Jeremy saw the film and took inspiration?

If, instead, we approach them all as complex, multifaceted individuals, the glib simplifications can be put aside.

Likewise, I think, with Sheila.  Schizophrenia is an extreme psychosis involving delusional thinking that can be distressing to the sufferer and result in violence.  It doesn't completely abdicate criminal responsibility, though.  I know the tendency to absolve Sheila is well-meaning, but Sheila was still an adult and could make her own decisions.  She was under treatment.

As with Julie, character assessments of Sheila seem to come out of Schrödinger's box territory.  She was well and the treatment was working.  She wasn't well and the treatment wasn't working.  She couldn't put beans on top of toast.  She could do her nails and make-up.  She was a loving mother.  She was violent.  Colin was worried about leaving the twins with her.  Colin left the twins with her.  Colin was worried about the influence of June on the twins.  Colin left the twins with June.  We're told that this treatment for Sheila was successful.  We're told it wasn't.

Meanwhile, we're assured that Jeremy was perfectly sane and in control of himself, yet he behaved in all these strange ways, they tell us.  That's because he was a psychopath, you see.  Was he?

It seems there are multiple realities here and which applies depends on what suits the argument at that moment.

[Erik Narramore]

Sheila also seems to be treated with proverbial kid gloves in comparison to Jeremy, even to the point that some who think Sheila was the real killer make excuses for her and even express sympathy with her. 

Virtually every aspect of Jeremy's life is afforded the very blackest imputation possible.  Even if Jeremy did commit this terrible crime, it does not seem fair since there are always layers of complexity to people's actions and motives.