The Good Thief Blog #4

Ren's team of con-artists increases again one day when Benjamin, Tom and Ren were digging up bodies in order to sell them. They ended up digging up a man in a purple suit who was still alive and breathing. When the man awoke, he called himself Dolly, and for some reason he did whatever Ren told him to do. Like almost all of the other characters in this book, Dolly, turns out to be a killer who was buried alive by the people he was hired to kill. Ren wasn't completely sure of what Dolly could do, or how far he could go, because when they were being chased by the men who had originally buried Dolly, he killed them in a very gruesome way. Ren tries to think that Dolly didn't mean it but, "in his heart Ren knew that Dolly had meant it, and he would have done it again, and again...The lamppost disappeared behind them, and the boy realized that he was sharing a seat with a murderer. There would be no more bargaining with God. He was into hell for sure" (Tinti 177). Ren's religion and upbringing make him think that God was going to punish him and Dolly for killing those men, and all the men he had killed before. Ren really like Dolly, which is why he wants Dolly to confess in order to absolve his sins, but Dolly, who doesn't believe in God, doesn't see the need to do anything because he didn't grow up believing that someone was going to come after him for his sins on judgment day. Ren looks behind them and thinks, "Father John had always told him that the Day of Judgment would come in their lifetime. But when Ren glanced behind, no one was following them and no judgment seemed at hand" (Tinti 179). Ren's belief in God goes downhill after Dolly joins, but he still prays. He becomes more like Benjamin and Tom, people who believed that God was there, maybe, but definitely not looking out for them.