Today I got a message that made me rageful.
It was about a scene in The Dream Thieves. I donât want to be spoilery, so I will just say it goes like so: Boy wants to kiss Girl. He asks her. Girl says no, even though he asked nicely. She does not want to kiss him, Girl says. He does not kiss her. But he is sad about it.
This message (which also echoes thoughts Iâve seen in the online Raven Cycle readership) wanted to know why Girl was being such a jerk. He asked nicely, said the reader. She could have just given him one, as, like, a send-off. Sheâd wanted to kiss Boy before, after all.
No, she couldnât have. She said no. It doesnât matter if we like Boy as a reader. It doesnât matter if Girl, in the world of the book, likes him as a friend. It doesnât matter if Girl at a previous moment considered kissing Boy. If Girl has decided she doesnât want to kiss Boy, ever
Girl never, ever has to kiss Boy.
No matter how nicely he asks.
No matter how sad it makes him.
No matter if she is drunk at a party or he threatened harm to himself or if she didnât say it loudly or he asks her super, super nicely.
And it makes me sad that itâs GirlReaders I see judging GirlCharacter. Yeah, Iâm sad he got rejected too. Heâs a nice kid. But I would hope readers would do the same thing he did, in the book: respect that her no meant no, and respect that she had the right to say it.
gummygunk
romaincrisis
yousharknotpass
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theartofmadeline
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