Devils advocate for the ______ eating _______

Obviously it’s a wrong and terrible thing to do, but I don’t think the decision to eat Ben is the result of the girls somehow finally enjoying being monstrous or turning irredeemable like many have been suggesting. While I obviously don’t agree with the decision to do this, here are the thought processes I believe many of the girls probably had while doing this act:

1. Because they’ve already resorted to cannibalism twice before, most of the group have probably done the mental gymnastics to justify eating people so they can live with themselves. Meaning they are primed into accepting cannibalism as a justified way to prevent starvation. Choosing to cross a line at eating Ben would mean having to confront how terrible what they did to Javi was.

2. Even though they had other food options, winter was getting closer. I could see some of the girls thinking “well if we eat Ben now we can save more of the animals for winter and prevent another hunt.” Additionally, since they’ve grown to accept cannibalism as a justifiable prevention for starvation, some might even see choosing NOT to eat Ben as a waste of sorts. Imagine killing another person because you guys ran out of animals, when you had a dead person who could’ve replaced them months ago.

If anything, I think the girls were at their most irredeemable when they killed Javi and maybe when they chose to cut Ben’s Achilles. And probably after they do whatever they do to the hikers/scientists. Obviously choosing to eat Ben was completely messed up, but I definitely do not think it’s the worst crime they’ve committed so far. If anything, it’s the least fucked up part about how they treated Ben. Cutting his Achilles and choosing the death penalty for a crime that normally would’ve resulted in life in jail were much worse. They could’ve just kept him alive, tied up, and made him starve again when resources dwindled during winter (something that he proved to be survivable)