Obsession and Infatuation

     One of the main focuses in The Day of the Locus is Tod's obsession with Faye Greener. His life practically revolves around her. He decided to rent a room in the same building as the Greeners simply because of Faye. He drew pictures of her and cherished a still from a movie she was an extra in that she signed for him. Tod fantasized about Faye on a regular basis; most of these fantasies involved a forced sexual encounter with her or, more bluntly, raping her. At the beginning of the novel Faye was fairly innocent and, throughout the entire story, she was gorgeous, attracting Tod and fueling his obsession. However, as the story unfolds, Tod realizes that she is simply a performer with no real emotions and that, because of this, all of the flirting Tod thought she was doing with him was empty. This created a violent reaction in Tod; he no longer wanted anything to do with her. He put her pictures away and didn't see her for months. His obsession was over; but he still felt bitter towards Faye.
     In an indirect sort of way I can relate to this. I can understand Tod's obsession and his bitterness towards Faye; however, obviously, I cannot imagine wanting to rape somebody, no matter how attractive he or she is. I have what I like to call an infatuation issue. Nearly everything in my life I either absolutely love and need to know everything about, or I just don't care at all. Sometimes, I get a false view of how something really is; I fall in love with what it is not, then, when the truth comes out, my obsession with it diminishes and I am left with a feeling of almost bitterness. This happens when I find a new band I really like; I get all of their music and fall in love. Then I find out they can't actually sing and are awful live. It makes me lose respect for them, get angry that I actually liked them, and I stop listening to this band. All because of one thing.
     This whole obsession/infatuation problem can work in the opposite way though, too. For example, I started listening to Falling in Reverse simply because Ronnie Radke was the lead singer and I had liked a CD he made with his previous band. I liked the music, but was not too concerned about the band. I got tickets to go to one of their concerts then started following Ronnie Radke on Twitter; he constantly tweeted nice things so I gained more respect for the band. The one thing that pushed me over the edge was how amazing they are live, though. Now, I'm completely obsessed. I know all of the members of the band's names and am following every single one of them on Twitter. So, clearly, Tod Hackett and I seem to share the same obsession issues.