The Good Thief Blog #3

Everywhere Ren goes in The Good Thief, he gets strange looks because of his arm. Living after having your arm cut off from just above your wrist would have been almost impossible, especially if you were just a small child. Ren has had to show his arm to more people because of Benjamin's plans, because an armless child makes people pity him. One instance when Benjamin takes advantage of Ren's arm was when he pushed Ren into the muck beside the road while Benjamin pretended that he was a good samaritan by pointing out Ren's arm while giving him money and asking others to do the same, "What's this?' Benjamin said loudly. He took hold of Ren's left arm and pushed back the sleeve. The boy's wrist was revealed before all of them, a cold and lonely nub...'Here, take something that will help your poor, miserable life. Here, here,' said Benjamin, and he dug into his pocket and held out...five cents" (Tinti 67). After being humiliated like this by Benjamin many more times, Ren starts to see how useful his arm can be. Aside from pity or repulsion, there are also some unique people who saw Ren's arm as well, interesting. The doctor who Benjamin and Tom were dealing in corpses took one look at Ren's arm and said, "The cut is crude, but the arteries were clamped off early. Whoever did this knew what they were doing. You're a lucky boy...Would you mind if I take a sample?" (Tinti 132-133). Despite the fact that the doctor was pretty much only interested in the science behind his arm, the fact that this a fresh and new perspective on whether or not his arm was a disibility deffinitely affected Ren. If you thought you had a disibilty, would you be happy that someone didn't see that as a disibility, even if they were only looking at you as a thing to dissect or a way to earn money?