Who is Blevins?

Blevins is Mel’s direct symbolic foil: the Corrupt Academic. Blevins has no idealistic notions about the power of knowledge or even about his duty to defend human life. He pursues academia as a means to recognition and control. He wields power in any way he finds it: with misogyny, cultural insensitivity, threats, and violence. He represents the corruptibility of any positive thing, even knowledge, if it is used selfishly.