St. Augustine and the Desperate Housewives

While I was trying to catch up on watching desperate housewives, there was a particular part on the show that caught my attention because it was a topic that we discussed in class about St. Augustine. Well to summarize the show Desperate Housewives, it is basically about the lives of female friends living in a suburban neighborhood.  Each episode uncovers secrets and truths among the housewives and even their husbands at times. Bree Van de Kamp-Hodge is a fictional character on desperate housewives that is played by actress Marcia Cross. Bree is a mother of two and was widowed after her husband died, but then remarried a guy named Orson Hodge. Orson Hodge is a fictional character off the show played by actor Kyle MacLachian. Orson Hodge was a prestigious dentist that lost his career after hitting one of the other housewives husband with his car and driving off. He was sent to prison. The reason he did that was to keep his secrets hidden. But anyway, at the end of season 4, Bree became an author and wrote her own cookbook (Bree is known for her wonderful culinary skills). In season 5 her cookbook was published and she also opened a successful catering business. When Orson got out of jail he needed a job since nobody would hire him because he’s an ex-con. Bree gave him a job in her business, but it didn’t hold any weight. She also didn’t like him making decisions or trying to change recipes. Bree felt like his management was totally different from her vision of her business. Bree didn’t want him to have any say in the company, and the company started a schism between Bree and Orson. Orson begins stealing, initially to punish people who he feels have been rude, and then to hurt Bree for not making him apart of the company and because Bree was too consumed with the company. Ok now to connect the reading with the show… so I was reading “The Stolen Fruit”, “Why Men Sin”, and “The Anatomy of Evil” (book 2 chapters 4-6) in St. Augustine’s confessions and it just reminded me of Orson Hodge. St. Augustine stole a pear that he didn’t want or even need at all. The same with Orson Hodge, he stole miscellaneous things that were of no importance to him. Foul was the evil, and he loved it. Because Bree has a high reputation and he wanted to see her squirm so then she will quit the business. He put his wife and other people through grief, because he was angry and wanted to get revenge. St. Augustine said, “Anger seeks vengeance: who takes vengeance with more justice than you?” Stealing random items was not what his “unhappy soul” desired. He wanted to become closer to his wife but he went about it the wrong way.  To me he had disorderly love of God, and the sanctity of his marriage. After Orson told his wife why he has been stealing, he demanded that she sell the business. In the end Bree got a divorce with Orson and Orson really didn’t want a divorce. Everything he did to Bree to teach her a lesson, ended his marriage; “sadness wastes away over things now lost which desires once took delight.”