Revenge is old, tricky business. It piles up until you forget what you're fighting for, and plenty of authors have used revenge as the driving force of their stories. Nearly anywhere in the library, you can find books exploring the depths of vengeance.
Ancient Greek theater has a knack for portraying the complexities of revenge. Euripides' Orestes exists in a confusing, violent world bent on blood. As the play begins, Orestes has just killed his mother in revenge for her murder of his father, and furies spurred by his mother's blood are driving Orestes mad for his crime. They push him into further acts of violence and vengeance, until it goes so far that Apollo himself comes down from heaven to tell humanity to knock it off. It's a mad play and worth the read.
In real life, revenge can be just as complicated. When a terrorist nearly killed Laura Blumenfeld's father, she wanted some kind of emotional revenge but didn't know how to go about it. She ended up writing the thoughtful, introspective Revenge: A Story of Hope, exploring the topic from a wide variety of angles and diving into its complex intricacies.
But as far as nature is concerned, revenge is nice and simple. You hurt nature; nature hurts you. In the Heart of the Sea tells the heart-wrenching true story of the Essex, a whaling boat that was attacked by an 85-foot sperm whale. Seeing as the ship had just finished a good hunt, you can't help but think that the bull whale had a serious chip on his shoulder. What's worse is that the sinking of the ship was only the beginning of the crew's troubles. The story inspired great big chunks of Moby Dick and is a nightmarish tale of the limits of human perseverance.
Books like these teach you lessons. Revenge is dangerous, and never tick off a whale.
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