The Beast of Power by Kimaya

As human beings, sometimes our thirst for power overwhelms our self awareness and senseful thinking. Author, E. Lockhart and Singer-Songwriters, Of Monsters and Men, share their thoughts on power through their graceful words. In We Were Liars, E. Lockhart wrote about the Sinclair’s struggle with power; their uncertainty on how get it and how to wield it. Similarly, In Dirty Paws, Of Monsters and Men sing about a beast with four dirty paws, which, to them, symbolises power. In both, the character’s greed for power drives them to engage in an act they are soon to regret. Managing power is comparable to making a deal with the devil- it’s precarious. If not handled carefully or misused, power can be extremely dangerous. Aside from attracting the worst people, it can also corrupt the best ones.

The Sinclair Aunts in We Were Liars are similar to the Bees in Dirty Paws. In We Were Liars, the Aunts don’t appreciate the houses they have inherited on Beechwood. They all want one house, Clairmont, and they are willing to fight for it. Their quarrels result in “Bess [crumpling] into tears”, “Carrie [storming off] towards the dock”, and Penny throwing “her wineglass against the side of Clairmont”. Similarly in Dirty Paws, “The bees had declared a war,” because “The sky wasn’t big enough for them all”. If these stories were to be intertwined, the sky would represent Beechwood. The sky, despite being vast, wouldn’t satisfy the bee’s greed. They wanted one particular forest, when they could have any other forest below the sky, anywhere in the world. The bees also would not even attempt to live in harmony with each other or the other animals in the forest. They wanted to be the most powerful beings under the sky, and their search for that power resulted in them losing the forest they spent their entire lives fighting for.

Similarly, the Birds in Dirty Paws are much the same as the Liars in We Were Liars. The Liars, like the birds aren’t much better than the bees, as they accept their war and fight fire with literal fire. When the birds realised they couldn’t battle alone, “they got help from below; from dirty paws and the creatures of snow”. The “Beast with those four dirty paws” would represent power. In We Were Liars, this would relate to the Liars urge to overpower their Aunts. Their surge for power would lead them to burn “Not a home, but a symbol,” of power, “to the ground.” By the end, Cadence loses her fellow Liars in a fire they created because they weren’t thinking clearly, and all they could think of was overpowering their Aunts.

The Bees and the Birds were both overpowered by the Beast. In Dirty Paws, it represents power. The Beast, with her “dirty paws and furry coat,” would run “down the forest slope.” If Clairmont was to be the forest, Dirty Paws provides a clear representation of power meandering through the corridors of Clairmont. The Beast is also the one that “took down the queen bee and her men”. In We Were Liars, it seems as though Cadence burns down Clairmont to most people. However, it is not her as much as it is her thirst for power. Cadence’s yearning for power consumes her and turns her into a different person. Cadence and the Liars thought they were trying to burn their family’s power vessel, Clairmont, in order to restore peace on Beechwood Island. However, they didn’t realise that by engaging in this act, they were fighting for power from their Aunts and Grandfather. Their battle for power resulted in the deaths of Cadence’s only true family members- Gat, Mirren and Johnny. Therefore this made Cadence regret setting the fire almost as soon as she lit it; she has been left truly companionless.

In summary, the Sinclair’s battle for power resulted in several deaths. Similarly, the war between the birds and the bees resulted in uncontroversial decimation. Both of these conflicts were driven by power. Power, when abused, much like the devil, fights back and attacks a person’s life, by clouding their judgment and leading them to engage in an act they will most definitely regret taking part in. E. Lockhart and Of Monsters and Men went through great lengths to convey these messages through their well thought out words. Power corrupts any being that let’s it get inside their head and control their mind. “And that’s how the story goes, the story of that Beast with her four dirty paws.”