The Wasp Factory

Frank thinks of himself as a state or a city and compares his moods to the political changes that municipalities experience. He compares his conflicting thoughts to the way people vote for change: They may act against their self-interest just to feel differently: “I decided I must be lots of different people inside my brain” (62).

Sometimes he feels guilty about the murders and for the attack on the rabbits, although his guilt is not about the loss of life. He killed the rabbits because of the rogue male. He also knows that he is racist, although he knows few people of color on the isle and understands that his racial distaste is irrational. Frank knows there was no need to take revenge on the rabbits, and that the death penalty serves primarily to make the avengers feel good, not to punish the guilty.

Frank anoints his new catapult with various bodily fluids, then finalizes the naming ceremony by firing a pellet at a wasp, and then at his own foot, which leaves a bruise. He scoffs at the ritual while also acknowledging that it works and makes him feel good. Finally, he writes the name of the catapult on the back of a polaroid of Paul, wraps it around a pellet, and shoots it into the sea.