though he doesn’t really change all that much. He explains at the beginning of the story that his early experience of being rejected by a girl in seventh grade has coloured his entire view of relationships – that everything he’s experienced since then has been a variation on that theme.

He heads into this journey believing himself to be a victim in some way – because he believes he is continually rejected - but, this is the central toxicity of the tale. Rob can admit that his behaviour toward women is awful, and yet he feels victimised by their perceived rejection of him – which implies that he thinks he should be able to behave badly, and not be rejected. Women should simply tolerate being cheated on and manipulated, because he has decided that he should be desired regardless.

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