Was he a tragic character?

>>93992887
Technically speaking, but he was so loathsome that it didn't really matter that much.

Yes but he was still an asshole

>>93992887
Didn't the mom force him to get into drinking?

>>93992887

Yes, but he took out his misery on those who never actually did anything wrong to him, notably Orel.

I mean, he could have literally shot the whole town, and it could argued that it was retribution for something or 'the straw that broke the camel's back', but Orel literally says he doesn't like it when Dad drinks, goads Orel into firing the gun, being disappointed when he misses, and shooting Orel.

>>93992887
No. Everything that happened to him was a result of his own shitty behavior. I'm sick of people always trying the shift the blame from self to environmental factors.

>>93993715
Then would you shift all blame from Bloberta even tough she enabled his alcoholism?

>>93993741
She didn't force him to drink, she just encouraged it. Bloberta wasn't any better, herself, but if you think she was what turned Clay into what he was you're delusional.

>>93993715
She pushes him to drink for the first time, his stupid fault for never stopping. Although maybe drinking is the only thing worth doing in a town like that

>>93992887
I mean, he had reasons to be an asshole to everybody, since he was just weak at the beggining, and he got butt-fucked by his wife.

... but, yeah this anon >>93993468 is right, he's still an asshole, and does not deserves kindness from anybody.

I think his whole purpose was to show how different him and orel are but his behavior is partly the environment he grew up in and how his loved ones affect him but it's still HIS behavior so you can't entirely blame the community he lived in

>>93993295
Not force, but she manipulated him into getting drunk

>>93995323
>but his behavior is partly the environment he grew up in
How is Orel's environment not 3x as fucked up as Clay's? Moreso because Clay himself figures so heavily in it.