Someone else, many someone elses, have mentioned how vanilla Anita really is. And I find myself thinking if LKH didn't go into Nathaniel's story already thinking there was something wrong with being submissive.
I mean, she certainly doesn't seem to give submissive characters in the books any sort of anything. They're canon fodder. The more I think about it, the more I feel that there was never a plan to explore what it meant to be dominant or not and that she'd already decided that submissive weres were weak people. And therefore Nathaniel was weak.
Whereas any survivor of abusive or an attack, etc, and any good shrink would say that makes a person incredibly strong. They're just unlikely to be one to one confrontational about some things. But an inability to confront or come across as visibly aggressive doesn't make a person weak.
I identified a lot with Nathaniel in the beginning because he did just want someone he could count on and belong to and who would be reliable and stable in his life. As someone with a not too good childhood, I could understand that. It didn't make me think of him as weak. It made me think of him as slightly bruised and slightly damaged and needing a safe place to grow.
Which was why I was initially excited at the thought that Anita would take him out of the hierarchical were society and give him a chance to figure out who he was without it being relevant to whom he might piss off and get challenged by.
I thought she was going to give him a chance to figure out who Nathaniel the Human was, before he got all swept up in Nathaniel the Were.
Instead I've heard, cause I haven't read it, that all she did was try to twist Nathaniel into who she thought he should be - the same way the pard was trying to manipulate and form him.
And now that I'm thinking hard on it, I think Anita's failure to look out for Nathaniel is what had me tossing NiC away right at the beginning and vowing to never read another book by her again.
no subject
I mean, she certainly doesn't seem to give submissive characters in the books any sort of anything. They're canon fodder. The more I think about it, the more I feel that there was never a plan to explore what it meant to be dominant or not and that she'd already decided that submissive weres were weak people. And therefore Nathaniel was weak.
Whereas any survivor of abusive or an attack, etc, and any good shrink would say that makes a person incredibly strong. They're just unlikely to be one to one confrontational about some things. But an inability to confront or come across as visibly aggressive doesn't make a person weak.
I identified a lot with Nathaniel in the beginning because he did just want someone he could count on and belong to and who would be reliable and stable in his life. As someone with a not too good childhood, I could understand that. It didn't make me think of him as weak. It made me think of him as slightly bruised and slightly damaged and needing a safe place to grow.
Which was why I was initially excited at the thought that Anita would take him out of the hierarchical were society and give him a chance to figure out who he was without it being relevant to whom he might piss off and get challenged by.
I thought she was going to give him a chance to figure out who Nathaniel the Human was, before he got all swept up in Nathaniel the Were.
Instead I've heard, cause I haven't read it, that all she did was try to twist Nathaniel into who she thought he should be - the same way the pard was trying to manipulate and form him.
And now that I'm thinking hard on it, I think Anita's failure to look out for Nathaniel is what had me tossing NiC away right at the beginning and vowing to never read another book by her again.