BOB is either a real demon that takes possession of a person's body or an imaginary scapegoat - an excuse and cover up for the horrors of incest and rape. I hold that BOB is not necessarily a real demon but an excuse meant to cover up that secret evil that lurks in the back of everyone's personality.
What can I attribute the fact that Laura and her mother both "see" BOB to? I believe this is a defense mechanism that could be employed by actual victims of incest too horrified by the truth. Instead of recognizing your father as your abuser, attach some false identity to him. BOB as a part of everyone's personality is in line with Lynch's prevalent them of duality, and this is supported in many articles, such as Diane Stevenson's Family Romance, Family Violence, and the Fantastic in Twin Peaks.
The demon eventually "takes over" Agent Cooper’s body. I see this as less of an actual transference of some spirit and more as proof that the evil does lurk in the back of everyone's mind. Cooper, the ever well-intentioned gentleman, is no less subject to these dark forces than Leland or the one-armed man.
- Michael P.
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It is true that there is an evil side to all of us and BOB could be Leland's. Even Deputy Hawk mentions that in the Black Lodge, "you will meet your shadow-self," or the dark side of you persona. On the other hand, according to Hawk's Native American customs and religious ideas, BOB is a demonic spirit. As most of the television series is based around the Black Lodge, White Lodge, and inhabitants of such, it should be more acceptable that BOB is a demon rather than just the evil half of a person.
To support the claim that BOB is a demon, Diane Stevenson states, "As the flashes of BOB alternate with Leland through the assault on Maddy we could be experiencing Leland's perception, or Maddy's, or the symbolic or literal materialization of a demon..." (Family Romance, Famlily Violence, and the Fantastic)
In my opinion, the flashes of BOB signify a literal manifestation of the demon possessing Leland. If he was a materialization of a person’s dark half, I believe BOB would appear differently for each person.
-Nathan Ocobock
“Who killed Laura Palmer?” is the most important question in the series Twin Peaks. The answer is revealed in season two. Leland Palmer, Laura’s father, was the one who killed her. One cannot ascribe all the blame to Leland because evidence shows that BOB, who inhabited Leland’s body, impelled Leland to kill Laura and her look-alike cousin, Maddy. However, I think that BOB is just an evil underside of every human being. Although BOB appeared when killing Laura and her look-alike cousin Maddy, he was still just a dark side of Leland Palmer. In her article “Family Romance, Family Violence, and the Fantastic,” Diane Stevenson states that “BOB the demon possesses Leland tells us that anyone could be so possessed, that the incestuous and the murderous do not arise from inside but are constructed from outside.” Diane suggests that BOB wasn’t an existing spirit to kill Laura. He was just a form of evil thoughts that everyone has. It is interesting that David Lynch switched the audience’s attention to the spiritual crime in the second season. I say this because I notice that BOB was not taking place in the first season, and there’s no One Armed Man, no Laura Palmer’s secret diary (which records the manifestations of sexual abuse by BOB.) BOB didn’t take place in the first season. However, Lynch still leaves a foreshadowing in the first season. That’s when Leland bent over Laura’s coffin and when he held Laura’s picture and danced quite oddly. BOB was merely an excuse for Leland, as an incestuous father, to do all these wrong things.
Here's the link to the article "Family Romance, Family Violence, and the Fantastic:" http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=m6mjuWXrqb8C&oi=fnd&pg=PA70&dq=Twin+Peaks+%2B+Diane+Stevenson&ots=0FByCQHbfk&sig=ffJgSyFrQ_FlacVfl938WwM53w4
Po-Wei C.
BOB is BOB
Out for fun.
He wears a smile
Everybody run!
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