The Reapers are the Angels: Temple

As I read further into The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell, I've come to enjoy the story even more than before.  There are so many post-apocalyptic books and movies (some cheesy, some gory, some just plain silly) out there like 2012 and World War Z, so for this book to stand out is an accomplishment.  Again, I'm not the most experienced with zombie or even apocalypse literature, but I have read a lot of other great books -- realistic ones without monsters and gore -- and The Reapers are the Angels can most certainly fit in with books like The Book Thief and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Anyways, half way through the book, the main character of Temple has really developed.  It's become very clear that Temple is battling something inside her, something that makes her despise herself for the evil she thinks resides in her.  She constantly says things like "I ain't good," (p. 79) and refuses to listen when people tell her otherwise.  Moses says, "I've seen evil girl, and you ain't it,"  (p. 158) and she replies by saying "Then what am I?"

The following is an excerpt of what Temple says to Maury on pages 161 and 162:

... It's a sin as big as the world we live in , bigger even -- to lay your hands on a creation of God's and snuff it out.  It don't matter how ugly a thing it is, it's a sin, and God will send a terrible vengeance down on you for it -- I know, I seen it.  but the truth is -- the truth is I don't know where I got off on the wrong track.  Moses, he says I ain't evil, but then if I ain't evil... If I ain't evil then what am I?  Cause me hands, see, they ain't seem to got no purpose except when they're bashin in a skull or slittin a throat.  That's the whole, all around truth of the matter.  Them meatskins, they kill -- but they ain't get any satisfaction out of it.  Maury, you sure are waderin a lonely earth -- full of breach and befoulment -- but the real abomination is sittin right next to you.

Temple, because she believes she is so awful and evil, cannot allow herself to become part of a whole.  She thinks she's unlovable, that she can't forgive herself for the many times she's killed.  This is shown by her constant wondering -- the most frustrating part of this book has been that Temple can't settle somewhere and stay.  The Griersons at Belle Isle seemed like a great place to settle down, and where I am now in the book, the train seems like a good place, too.  She's left so many places because of her self-hatred.  What I'd like to see happen at the end is Temple come to forgive herself (and believe God will, too), and then she and Maury settle down at some safe place.