Roy Rodger Narcissism Summary

The other trait of narcissism that Rodger has is he excessively shows extreme aggression towards couples. People who display narcissistic aggression will constantly show hostile or violent behavior or attitudes toward another. In the article “Self-Esteem, Narcissism and Aggression: Does Violence Result from Low self-esteem or Threatened egotism? Social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister explains that “When other people question or undermine the flattering self-portrait of the narcissist, narcissist turns aggressive in response, but only to those specific people. The aggression is thus a means of defending and asserting the grandiose self-view” (2). Rodger definitely has a grandiose self-view, because he always refers to himself as “magnificent”,

or a “great gentlemen” in his manifesto. However, he could not have a girlfriend. Therefore, he turns aggressive to couples. In the manifesto, also, Rodger describes how much he wants sex; he could not have it because he never tries to approach a woman.

However, he blames women for rejecting him. He also envies other men who can have women’s love. Therefore, he continually shows aggression to couples who make him as if he is a loser. Rodger displays his aggression very often, as examples, he reflects “When they left the store I followed them to their car and splashed my coffee all over them[couple]” (100), “I dreamed of how sweet it would be to torture or kill every single young couple I saw” (101), and “I wanted to kill as many attractive young couples as I possibly could” (118). Rodger constantly shows aggressive behavior and altitude to couples because seeing couples makes him feel envious and frustrated. In the article “Narcissism: An Integrative Synthesis Dominance Complementarity Model”, author Emily Grijalva explains that, “The theory of threatened egotism and aggression (Penney & Spector, 2002) provides a second generative mechanism: Individuals who are high in self-esteem and are hypersensitive to threats to their self-esteem are more likely to experience negative emotions (fear, anger, frustration, hostility, etc.), which subsequently lead to aggressive outbursts” (6).

Rodger always regards himself as a “supreme gentleman”, even though he cannot experience love and sex. Therefore, his self-value is being threatened when he sees couples so he frequently shows aggressive behaviors to them. In general, it is clear that Rodger is a narcissist since he obsessed with aggression.
Moreover, Rodger always exploits other people for his selfish gains which is a distinguishing narcissistic quality. As for exploiting, author W. Keith Campbell in his article, “The Narcissistic Self: Background, an Extended Agency Model, and Ongoing Controversies” explains that, “Likewise, narcissists’ low levels of guilt and social anxiety (Gramzow & Tangney, 1992), and their willingness to exploit others, make them more suited to self-regulation that benefits the self at the expense of others” (5). As a result of this, Rodger, in pursuit of money and women, but never try to get them through his own effort so he uses others to get what he wants. For example, Rodger regardless of his mother’s thought, constantly asks his mother to marry a wealthy man: “I continued to pester her to get married so that I can be part of an upper class family and enjoy all the benefits that would come with that” (91). For his own good, he wants to use his mother to become part of an upper class family. Even after his mother rejects him, he still does not give up. He is so selfish that he is willing to sacrifice his mother’s happiness for his desire become wealthy. He does not know how to respect others’ decisions because as in this situation, money blinds his heart; what he wants is the fastest way to get rich. On the other hand, Rodger makes friends not for actual friendship, but to enlarge his social circle so that he might have a chance to meet girls. As example: “I grew tired of their lack of consideration for me, so I stopped calling them. They weren’t even popular anyway, and I wasn’t benefitting at all from their friendship” (94); Making friends for one’s benefit is totally exploiting such people. Twenge argues that “A narcissist thinks of a relationship partner as fuel. Narcissists use others to power their status and esteem, and when the other person no longer provides that, they are dumped in the trash bin” (215). Rodger ends his friendships once they cannot bring him benefit. He never truly treats his friends as such: he only wants to gain benefits from them. All in all, Rodger’s exploiting others for his own benefits is a symptom of narcissism.