Scott wrote:Great question and good responses everyone.
I also feel the first time Sam apologized it seemed like her apology was more about herself than really being sorry. I think she revealed she was still in the process of becoming actually sorry. Before the end, Sam apologies seemed to contain a lot of excuses and minimizing the bullying.
Absolutely! In one of my other posts I pointed out that Sam was nothing but a bully and I didn't feel she had any redemptive qualities, even though she tried to help Juliet in the end. I think this just backs up my opinion even more. I saw Sam as a very egotistical, narrow-minded girl who didn't really care if she did anything wrong or not. The first apology had no meaning or feeling to it and I will be honest, that was really frustrating for me. I used to work with people who would do something mean or wrong, apologize, and then refuse to change their actions, resulting in them repeating said actions. I have a hard time dealing with people like this so Sam really grated on me all the way up to the end. So, as far as her apologies go (and this is including the last one), I couldn't agree more that they seemed feigned and relatively forced. I have to hand it to the author though, writing a character to act that way and make forced apologies isn't easy and I think she did a fantastic job conveying those traits and emotions.