Question about Ratso
He refused to see a doctor or go to the hospital. Why no cops? What was he trying to hide from the law in connection to his illness?
shareI don't think he was hiding from the law. I think he was afraid of what would happen to him in a hospital. If you remember, he says to Joe: "You know what they do to you when they find out you can't walk." Actually, I don't know what they would have done to him. But he was obviously afraid of being institutionalized (incarcerated for mental illness or being a cripple or something) which is not what he wanted. He wanted to go to Florida.
shareYeah, my take on it was that he didn't want any doctors because they would see what bad shape he was in and put him in a "sanitarium" because he probably had TB. Or when you are so sick you can't care for yourself anymore, they would hold him in a hospital against his will. And he didn't want that.
As for the cops, I did feel like he wanted to avoid them, in part because of the health issues and not wanting to be put away, but also because he's a small time con man, living as a squatter in a condemned building and making his "living" (such as it is) by pick pocketing, shoplifting, and other small cons. Of course he would not want cops in his home.
Like many homeless people, they don't want to be bothered, but not because of the risk of institutionalization. These people get so used to being on the street, they don't think deeply about changing their life or accepting help. I see them, and they aren't in angst or frustrated, but in their comfort zone
shareWell, to be clear, my response was in reference to Rico Rizzo from the movie--the character. Not the motives of true homeless people in the world, who have quite different and varied motives of course. I do not believe that Rizzo was written to be refusing medical care because he didn't want to accept help or because he was simply in his comfort zone. He specifically said he didn't want any doctors because he was in bad shape physically and he didn't want to be put in Bellvue Hopsital against his will, which he believed would happen when the doctors realized that he could hardly walk. He wanted to go to Florida where he could live out his fantasy.
share[deleted]