Happiness is a Matter of Choice

This is an independent, low activity, & private multi-muse blog for various muses from Downton Abbey and The Royal Household. Mun & Muse 25+. Cherished by Chelsea. Please read rules before interactions. If you are a non-roleplay blog, do not follow or reblog my content. Sideblog to royaldresser.

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In the words of Mrs Hughes, I want this blog to gleam and sparkle by Thursday!

One of Sybil’s greatest frustrations in her view is the image her family has of her. The image of her as the sweetest, purest, youngest, and most angelic of Crawleys pigeonholed her into a confine that wouldn’t allow her to grow. But because she does grow and because she does break those confines, she faces a family who is stunned (and sometimes angry) that she won’t stay within their image of her. It can be the simplest of things, such as the time she baked a cake (to Carson’s disapproval), to more complex things like her participation in political rallies for the Liberal party or her work as a VAD nurse. The anger she receives from her father over her political rallies is displaced, too. Robert blames corruption via Tom rather than believe his daughter developed interests of her own because his image of Sybil would not participate in such rallies. When Cora first resists Sybil’s choice to become a VAD nurse, it is because she wants to maintain Sybil’s innocence, a trait she believes Sybil should maintain. 

And when she decides to marry Tom, the anger her father presents is once again not accepting Sybil for her own choices, but stemming from a belief that they had “spoiled her too much” by letting her get involved in her causes. 

It is a frustration to her in a few ways. The first being it frustrates her own growth, as the images her family holds of her keeps her sheltered. But it also is hurtful to her that her family cannot see her decisions and passions as her own--- as her stepping into the woman she is. They feel she is corrupted and coerced instead of the reality that she has made her own decisions in life. They essentially refuse to believe that she would ever choose these things, when in fact, she has.

But it also leads to pain that Sybil carries quietly: the absence of her parents’ (she knows it is Robert’s decision, not Cora’s) attendance at her wedding. It is a quiet reminder of how her family feels. Even though she is marrying the person she wanted to marry, she knows that is not enough for her father, for it is not the image he has for her. It reminds her that her family has yet to see her for her own self capable of setting her own course. It reminds her that familial love and support is not enough to bring her family (besides her sisters) to her own wedding.