When he ’s not busy slaughtering the Marvel Cinematic Universe ’s crooked , street - grade felon , Frank Castle actually enjoy unruffled night in his mystic sand trap curled up with a near Quran .
During the first half of Netflix ’s The Punisher series , we see on more than one function that Frank spends a fair amount of his time reading books , in addition to brooding about the horrific murder of his family members . Though the scenes do n’t on the nose have the biggest impingement on the show ’s plot , they ’re moment that break up the acute furiousness and give us a little penetration into what variety of man Frank Castle is beyond his antiheroic persona . Want to read along ?
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Of all the Holy Writ we see Frank reading material , Moby Dick is perhaps the most on - the - nose in terms of its allusions to one of The Punisher ’s overarching ideas , which is why it ’s well - suit for the series premiere . Much like Captain Ahab , Frank Castle is both haunted by and singularly focused on a desire to achieve a specific , personal end , despite a cost that does n’t always make sense to those around him . For Ahab , the goal is catching the clean whale , and for Frank it ’s attempting to rid the world of evil by any means necessary .
The Crack-Up by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Later in the same episode , we also see that Frank ’s been making his means through F. Scott Fitzgerald ’s essay collection The Crack - Up , originally published by Esquire magazine in 1936 . The parallel between Frank ’s life and Fitzgerald ’s are less immediately apparent , but in The Crack - Up , Fitzgerald ruminates on the ways in which his life is fundamentally exchange as the shine star of his renown begin to languish . In a mode , the same is also straight of Frank , in the sense that he ’s still reeling from the Punisher ’s initial moment of fame and nimbus during Daredevil ’s second season , which we see Frank step away from as The Punisher begins .
Cyborgs and Barbie Dolls: Feminism, Popular Culture and the Posthuman Bodyby Kim Toffoletti
It ’s canon , people : Frank Castle enjoys feminist critical theory , as seen by his Holy Writ choice in installment two . Kim Toffoletti ’s Cyborgs and Barbie Dolls : Feminism , Popular Culture and the Posthuman Body is an examination of the conception of “ posthumans”—people whose very existences defy the traditional definition of humanity . give that he ’s a powerless vigilance man living in a human beings full of super humans with terrific abilities , the book is a fitting choice .
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Technically speak , this book is n’t Frank’s — it belong to his brother - in - arms Billy Russo , and he register it during his and Frank ’s circuit in Afghanistan . devotee of the comics make love that Russo , who set out as Frank ’s ally in The Punisher , finally becomes Jigsaw , one of his most virulent enemies . The Punisher consume its time with putting the mystifier while of Jigsaw ’s origins together , and Dorian Gray does , in a way , mirror how the show handles his character .
Though he ’s ab initio presented as a handsome charmer ( like Gray ) , we gradually commence to learn more about Russo ’s ruthlessness and willingness to destroy the lives of others in pastime of his own personal profit . Much to the horror of those who know him , Russo becomes more and more grievous as the serial publication progresses and , like Dorian Gray ’s portrayal , the evil inside of him slow get to certify itself in the way Russo interacts with multitude .
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