Booth's Escape Route

[Linda Anderson]

This is a fascinating thread.

We don't really know what was going through Powell's head when he assaulted Seward. Was he the good soldier following orders or the "cold blooded killer" taking out his rage on the Seward family while also following orders? When he told Gus Seward in a quiet but intense voice during the assault that he (Powell) was mad, (insane), was he repeating what Booth had told him to say or was the whole experience so overwhelming to him that he found himself telling someone he was attacking that he was mad? Why didn't he kill Seward? Was it a "lack of nerve" (Pitman) or the fact that after his gun misfired and he had bashed in Fred Seward's head, he fought with Robinson and found his way in the dim light only to find Seward wrapped in bedclothes with bandages and wire around his head. Did Fanny's hysterical screaming distract him?

I was introduced to the Enneagram a while back. It is based on an ancient way of describing people's personalities. There are nine basic personalities in the Enneagram.

I think Powell is a Type Six, which is a Loyalist/Devil's advocate. Those people work well "in a clearly defined chain of command." They are doubtful of their own capacity to take action so they may "project of great deal of their power to leaders." This has come about in part because as children "they remember being afraid of those who have power over them." "Sixes try to ease this insecurity by either seeking a strong protector or by going against authority in the Devil's Advocate stand." Enneagram: Understanding Yourself and the Others in Your Life by Helen Palmer.

Another good book is: Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery by Don Richard Riso. This book talks about the different levels of each type and what happens to each under stress. For example, at the top level, The Loyalist is The Valiant Hero who has learned to depend on him/herself. The Average Six is the Dutiful Loyalist and at the bottom is The Authoritarian Rebel where they can do "serious mischief, or worse harm, to others."

Of course, I have greatly simplified these books but I find them interesting because I am trying to understand how the boy that Powell was turned into the man who attacked the Sewards. I know the war was hideous but there had to be something in Powell's makeup that made him susceptible to Booth.

Powell's behavior around authority figures in the government and his lawyer, Doster, show how uncomfortable he was with them. Most of the authority figures describe him as a dolt or simpleton but I think he went downhill every time he was in that situation. Sixes respond strongly to the people they are with so that explains how he can be described in so many different ways. Riso's book states that Type Six is the most puzzling of the nine personality types because they are reactive.

The key to understanding Sixes is that they are ambivalent. I think that Powell's behavior reflects the environment he found himself in whereas JWB, say, was always JWB, working on his agenda.

Maybe this explains in some way how the person who brutally assaulted the Branson maid and the Seward family and aids is also the person who gained the respect of his captors.