Is it truly necessary to explicitely condemn your characters in the text? Read this today and, looking at reviews, it's just baffling how many people seem to need for the text to shout "THIS IS A BAD THING". The story has a serial rapist as protagonist, and he doesn't change nor sees the evil in what he does. Ellison doesn't call him out on this, but hell given the setting and style it's never painted in a positive light either.