Well, whilst I don'y entirely agree with your reading (I don't entirely disagree either), I'm pretty sure you're off the mark in terms of the creators intentions. It's seems clear that Sawyer is *supposed* to be a self loathing character: he's taken on the identity of the man he hates most in the world, he's pisses off everyone around him to an absurd degree (even when such behaviour might well get him killed), he sits in bars chatting with the series' other self-loathing arsehole, and a disproportionate number of his subplots have him coming out as an utter failure in terms of his relationships with other human beings.
Not only that, but Lost is about teh redemptive themes. Sawyer, like the rest of 'em, has his demons to battle, and those demons are invariably made very explicit. In Sawyer's case we literally have Kate (read: the writers) telling us that he hates himself and that this is the unfortunate driving force behind his actions - in addition to which, the last episode was all about illustrating that point: he get's close to a Kate analogue, starts to feel the love, starts to be loved, and then does everything he can to bring the whole thing crashing down.
Also, as for Sawyer's adapatability, I'm not really sure when I've seen him do much that'll ultimately work in his favour, and I'm bloody certain I've seen him do loads that most definitely won't. It seems to me that Sawyer has literally survived because of the generosity of others, and not because he's a master manipulator. |
