Do you think Ricky would've hurt Sylvia if she was his friend?

I know what you think the title of this may suggest, but I want you to know that I'm not trying to put Sylvia down in any way for not being his friend.

Here's what I think. Sylvia was such a sweet girl. I know that when I was her age, I had all kinds of friends and I cared about all of them, no matter what they looked like. If Sylvia had the chance to get to know Ricky and become his friend, I'm sure that Ricky would never hurt her. I don't think Sylvia was the kind of girl who would treat people badly for being geeky. I imagine her helping people that are disabled and not caring about what they look like, especially since her sister, whom she loved, was disabled from polio.

I think the kids including Ricky Hobbs had something innately wrong with them to participate in the torture. It wouldn't have mattered how Sylvia treated them, because some of them were her friends. I just don't see any good at all in any of them. The one concession I do make for one of them is Judy Duke who did have a twinge of conscience and told her mother about the horrible beating that Sylvia got from Gertrude.

katherine wrote:

I think the kids including Ricky Hobbs had something innately wrong with them to participate in the torture. 

Yeah, and how the neighborhood kids could even watch the torture and not think anything of it is beyond me.

It wouldn't have mattered how Sylvia treated them, because some of them were her friends. I just don't see any good at all in any of them.  The one concession I do make for one of them is Judy Duke who did have a twinge of conscience and told her mother about the horrible beating that Sylvia got from Gertrude. 

I agree. Judy did have a twinge of conscience. I'm just surprised that her mother didn't get an inkling that something could actually be wrong. After all, she was a mother herself. I think that if she thought about how it would make her feel if her child(ren) were in the same situation Sylvia was in, then maybe Sylvia would be saved. This whole situation is very sad.