Implanted Vengeance



Revenge is a common feeling every human being feels at some point in their life. Whether it is being picked on by a bully and wanting to fight back or having a family member or a loved one killed and wanting to kill that person. It is a feeling that is uncontrollable and normal to human life. For the most part all humans feel vengeance but never follow through with it it just seems to bother them constantly, but it soon becomes part of their past. In “Axiomatic”, revenge is followed through but only because of an implant that allows Mark Carver to seek revenge to kill his wife’s murderer. Mark Carver did not need an implant in order to seek revenge on his wife’s murderer.

After Mark Carver’s wife was killed, he lived everyday with a constant rage that would not go away. He wanted revenge on her killer but was never able to do it himself. It was not until he bought an implant that allowed him seek the revenge he had desired. This implant caused a placebo effect. Mark Carver bought the implant thinking it would allow him to want to kill his wifes murderer. By him doing so it allows the reader to think that he does want to kill but just does not have the courage to do so at the time. Having some sort of revenge makes it easy to take control of you. It’s the only thing the person can think about and they begin to think about it too much. In Mark Carver’s case he prepares himself for revenge. Before he buys the implant,he purchases a firearm and ammunition and he also goes and shoots at moving human targets at his local sports club. He does all this without already having the implant installed in him showing that he is actually willing to kill even without the implant installed. He shows that he is able to kill by just shooting at a human silhouette. He knows that whether or not the implant works he will most likely kill his wife’s murderer and bring peace to her death because it has been something that has bothered him for five years and the only way to end it is to seek revenge.

When he installs the implant in himself he begins to gain some confidence, but for some reason still has some doubts. Why would an implant that would allow him to kill cost almost four hundred dollars and allow him to still have doubts of killing his wife’s murderer? I personally think it was a placebo effect. He had and knew everything he needed to do to kill his wife’s killer but having the implant would make him want to do it. Having the implant just gave him the confidence to actually commit this crime that he wanted. To him the implant did work because it gave him that little bit of extra courage. It is also possible that he just bought the implant knowing it would not work, but it would give him an excuse incase he was ever caught in committing the crime. It would be an easy excuse and possibly an easy case to defend in court because technically it was the implant that allowed him to kill. His wife was already dead for five years. Within those five years he was carefully planning how he would seek vengeance. He knew that he was going to eventually kill him but did not want to mess up and get caught.

When Mark Carver finally has the courage to go and seek revenge on his wife’s killer he still feels that one thing every human feels, guilt. The guilt of killing another human being bothers him more than the anger he had built up against the killer. This guilt will be with him throughout his whole life, it will cause more pain than the anger he had build up after his wife’s death. In my opinion I believe that revenge is not a completely wrong way to view a situation but one must be able to endure the consequences of the action. This can be anywhere from being put in prison to being executed by the government but the guilt of taking the life of another human being will always be with that person.

Wanting revenge is normal for humans. Who is to say that revenge is just as evil as the person who committed a murder? In the end killing a murderer may save another life and will not allow other families to go through what that person went through. To me this seems reasonable and fair. What Mark Carver did in my opinion was the right thing. He knew that he was going to kill this man but needed something else to help him go through with it. We will never know if the implant actually worked or if it just caused a placebo effect. Sometimes people just need think something is helping them in order for them to actually do it. In the end anyone can do whatever they want if they have the mental strength and commitment. Revenge only eases the pain for a little while before the guilt becomes reality. If “Axiomatic” were to have continued it may have shown Mark Carver buying a new implant to help him with his guilt. Does the implant actually work or does giving a human being a placebo actually allow them to think they can do what the placebo is intended for?