Should Uncle Clarence be forgiven?

[Khasheem]

No, I don't think he should be forgiven. That whole scene is one of the main parts of the book I disagreed with. Uncle Clarence has issues, but what he needs is mental health treatment, which is not once mentioned in the book. His trauma cannot be used to excuse his behaviour. He is responsible for his own actions.

[Sarah Sonbol]

This part if the book was extremely irritating and unbelievable. Of course, he should not be excused. Many people experience past traumas that greatly affect them, but humans have free will and can decide whether they would choose the good or the criminal side.

[Odindi Omo]

I'll just say the guy was sick, what he did was a whole lot over the edge, he deserves to be punished, but before that, his mental health needs attention first, so as to avoid the situation repeating itself.

[Nicky Rita]

No. He doesn't want to change at all and that's not the first time.

[Unique Mary Iloakasia]

While I think he should be forgiven, Maureen needs to avoid him as much as possible. It has nothing to do with his childhood trauma.

[Ogechi Okonkwo]

I do not feel this is something that should be forgiven easily because attempted rape on its own brings so much trauma and pain. His experience as a kid should not be used as an excuse for his behaviour.

[LS Daniyal]

Uncle Clarence should take responsibilities for his actions. Minimizing how wrong attempted rape is because of past childhood trauma is causing more harm and no good at all. Instead of therapy, his parents decided to pity him all his life and see how it ends.

[John Aburzzi]

No for me he does not Clarence. That's the reason we should try not to let out past define our future. He should seek help.

[Mercylib]

Uncle Clarence does deserve to pay. Being forgiven doesn't mean he shouldn't take responsibility. If we all based our bad actions and blamed our childhood traumas the world would be so chaotic. No, I do not like the idea of him playing the victim. Nothing warrants taking advantage of another person for whatever reason. He should have been held accountable.

[revathy sw]

This is something that I feel conflicted about. There's something disturbingly childlike about Uncle Clarence. And we can all empathize with the abuse that he experienced as a child. However, the only and true victim in this situation was Maureen. I feel like her feelings about the assault were not addressed at all in the book and the author was trying to direct all our sympathies towards Clarence. As I once read in a book, having a bad past doesn't give you an automatic free pass to hurt people.
On the other hand, if there's anything positive to be said about this plot point, it makes Maureen an interesting character in that she was able to forgive Clarence so easily.