My thing with Drew isn’t that I think nothing she did was wrong. She clearly hurt her siblings, especially Lacy and Piper, and upheld norms that hurt her siblings. But I also think Drew was blamed entirely to shift any sort of blame on 1. the environment that made her like this and 2. the system that put her in charge.
Drew was so quick to be blamed for generations worth of trauma, neglect, and mutually assured destruction. The “extreme cleaning habits”? Silena also had them, Percy mentions it in the original series. The rite of passage? Something that’s been known in the Aphrodite cabin for at least 5-6 years, implied to have been there for ages. The focus on beauty and appearance in spite of what people actually want to look like? Something that multiple Aphrodite kids exhibit and something that has been pushed on by their mother (as shown by her blessing). The general dislike for Hephaestus kids? Again, something clearly tied to their mother and her relationship with Hephaestus. Drew was a product of her surroundings and of childhood abandonment, trauma, neglect, and violence. She grew up in that cabin and was taught by that cabin. She grew up with Aphrodite as her mother and camp as her (at least part time) home and acted the part. The only person who broke any of these habits (not even all of them) ended up being a spy and, in Drew’s eyes, a traitor. Also, keep in mind she’s at most 16 in the lost hero, so she’s still young and has time to unlearn these behaviours once she’s out of the environment that has taught her to reinforce them.
Not only that, in no way was a 15-16 year old girl who’d just come out of war, who just experienced great abandonment and trauma, who in her mind has been betrayed by her sister who also just died, who has not been offered any type of healing or support, been in charge of two dozen kids. She was a severely traumatised girl who should’ve been treated with grace and given space to heal, but instead she had to take care of kids as young as at least 10 (probably younger). Of course she’d turn resentful and angry; any kid who’d been forced to take care of multiple siblings for a long duration of time can attest to the resentment that begins to bubble, whether you want it to or not, and she’d just come out of war. Drew was blamed by the writing to take away from the greater issue which is no child should be taking care of other children, especially not a child who is also a neglected child war veteran. No, I don’t think Drew should’ve been counsellor, but if I’m being honest, I don’t think anyone under 18 should’ve been. Piper also shouldn’t have had to take on that responsibility at such a young age, even if it was part time. She was the best option available given her better perspective on identity, femininity, and self expression and her lack of participation in the original war and her greater understanding of the needs of others, but that does not mean she should’ve been counsellor, and I say that for Piper’s own good.
The camp’s system and environment puts levels of pressure and trauma no one, especially not children, should be experiencing. Drew acted the part and was blamed for it more than the actual system. Hell, in the same book we see a teenager whose entire body is damaged and wrapped in casts because he was forced into a job he wasn’t prepared for. We see Nyssa take on responsibilities she wasn’t trained for and expecting to deal with the unfortunate side effects. We even see Rachel being forced to answer extremely difficult questions from campers with no guidance from Chiron despite her having only been oracle for what, 5 months? And having only stayed in camp for 1-3 weeks. None of this is normal. Drew’s behaviour in that book is a trauma response to the system and environment she’s part of.
Again, it’s not that I think what Drew didn’t do anything wrong. It’s the framing that just because she isn’t in charge anymore, things are fine that I have a problem with. It’s the idea that she should be singlehandedly blamed that I have a problem with. It’s the shifting of blame onto teenagers over things that are the system’s fault that I have a problem with. Drew did bad things, but she should’ve been given more grace, if not by the characters, then by the writing.
