10 Questions, Topic, & Thesis Statement

Original Questions:

1. Specifically focusing on Hal, what are the his motivations for blaming his son Cully's actions on anyone and anything other than Cully himself?

2. What was Hal hoping to accomplish through acting as though Cully raping Willa was not a big deal?

3. Was Lee's intended destruction of the EPA successful? Why or Why not?

4. Based on the characters in Friendswood, is it harder to self-blame or push the blame onto others?

5. Why were the repercussions different for Cully's actions against Willa and Lee's actions against the EPA?

6. Is it the "norm" in Friendswood to try to protect the reputations of some citizens but disregard those of others?

7. What truly determines one's reputation and who decides whether or not it is a good or bad one?

8. Can the institutions in Friendswood (the EPA, the police, etc.) honestly admit that they have done everything in their power to protect their citizens?

9. What were the motives for the EPA's dismissal of the still clearly present toxins in the soil?

10. Now that Willa is beginning to move on and find closure from her rape, will her hallucinations finally begin to dissipate?

My Topic:

I will be focusing on "Why were the repercussions for Cully's actions against Willa different than those for Lee's actions against the EPA?". However, my more broad topic is what characteristics or attributes, if any, cause institutions or citizens of Friendswood to be biased towards their fellow people. (For example: what made Cully more forgivable than Lee even though Cully's actions were clearly worse than those of Lee)

Thesis:(something along these lines)

In a small, close-knit town such as Friendswood, reputations can make or break a person. That being said, if someone with a negative reputation begins to act out against the societal norms, that person will be punished more than another person who commits a more unlawful crime but who has previously had a positive reputation.