I am distinctly more skeptical, I find it implausible that these scenes would be given their centricity and word count and "rich detail" were they there merely

I am distinctly more skeptical, I find it implausible that these scenes would be given their centricity and word count and "rich detail" were they there merely a necessary evil to construct an argument or move the plot. There is no shortage of celebrated examples of literature treating the grotesque, violent, dehumanizing, painful, etc... without lingering on it. The abhorrent can be evoked without fetishization. :/