human or monster? - a susie analysis
this post by @/deepfrieddeltarunememes and a comment from someone about 'why does susie even *ask* kris 'human or monster' when they're clearly the only human in town?' have given me sufficient brainworms to finally type up something that i've been thinking about since the end of chapter 5
and that's susie's relationship to humans and human-monster relationships
there's a common theory that susie might've been raised as the sole monster in a town of humans, mirroring kris's situation.
we got spades of evidence for this in the form of orange, who looks decidedly NOT like a human, yet insists she is. susie and orange's whole cafe conversation is an interesting read and there are others who have done a thorough analysis of these two (i uh can't find the posts in question, but they exist!) so i will leave that there for now
personally, the biggest indication of this for me was not only susie's tail insecurity and susie's response to kris' red horn headband, but also susie's piano story.
she wasn't explicitly told why she wasn't allowed to play the piano, but she assumes (very pointedly!) that it may have been because she was bad or because she 'just looked like [she] shouldn't be playing'.
wonder why that could be?
there's space for a class reading for this, but the racial reading is just as obvious, in my opinion. fact of the matter is, susie regarded herself as physically unappealing to play the piano, despite not being told the reason why.
in other words, susie has a lot of insecurities about herself stemming from what may be long-term living and interactions with humans.
where kris had a loving family, susie had no such support and likely absorbed a lot of trauma around humans (and more specifically, human-monster relations).
with that line of reasoning, no wonder susie looks kinda happy and teasing when kris says 'yea' to her question:
kris's admission that they had a crush in this monster-only town opens the door for susie to think that kris, a human, might like monsters 'that way'.
but of course, just to be EXTRA sure, she asks them directly:
do you, a human, like humans or monsters?
which of course leads to kris staring at her....
and alternatively, the reason she sounds resigned when kris stays silent is because it affirms her past experiences about humans: of course a human wouldn't like monsters
(doesn't this sound a bit like susie talking about her own experiences as someone who might've been the only monster in a town of humans? maybe???)
the fact remains that both kris and susie are acutely aware of something that the other monsters in hometown rarely bring up: being human and being a monster.
okay, all of the above is probably par the course, so here's the real delusional bit:
when susie mentions that she thought kris and noelle were a thing, she says that she was jealous
NOW I GET IT, the REASONABLE and SANE conclusion is that susie is saying she was jealous of kris because she liked noelle
HOWEVERRRRRRRR taking the above into consideration, what if susie was jealous of the idea of a human-monster relationship...?
susie does not point out who she was jealous of here (i recognize the occam's razor response, but walk with me here)
if she had been raised around humans where such a thing was unthinkable - the mere idea of a human liking a monster in that way was considered nonsense - then wouldn't those prejudices slip through in the form of jealousy?
and doesn't this slot in perfectly with her pre-established jealousy of kris and toriel's relationship? if she grew up around humans and was constantly reminded that she was undesirable, wouldn't it really piss her off that the sole human in town not only has a possible romantic relationship with a monster, but also has a loving monster mother (and seemingly doesn't reciprocate this love)?
after all, it's in chapter 5 where susie admits that kris had it rough too
kris basically becomes the antithesis of everything susie believed: that when the cards are reversed, the only human is still loved despite being human, while she, as the only monster, was shunned
and what if that's the backbone of the reason as to why she's weird about kris? where she calls them 'a big deal' and 'whatever we are', but refuses to put a name to their bond?
what if the reason susie thinks there's no way kris likes her is because they're human and she's a monster? this is on top of her staunch belief that kris flirts with everyone and could 'chu-chu-choose everyone in school', that kris is so cool and can pull off wearing anything, that kris is so dependable and awesome, et cetera.
like what if susie GENUINELY thinks that, because of her prior experiences with humans, there is NOOOO way in hell that kris would like her romantically??? of course, this is on top of the fact that susie's definition of love is reciprocity, where she won't take the first step because she doesn't want to risk what they have (and kris is well, kris).
(immovable object vs immovable object, these two are so hecking doomed)
and the hilariously tragic part is that kris themself has body dysmorphia about being a human and how they likely think they're undesirable to other monsters as a result.
like god, do you think kris ever wondered 'of course susie doesn't like me like that. i'm a human and she's a monster. she likes other monsters, like noelle'
how tragic would that be?
with the knowledge that hometown has heteronormative binary gender traditions, you can even add on their nonbinaryness as part of their status as 'other'. in their mind, they're 'undesirable' because they don't fit in at all.
which may very well be how susie felt in her past and still feels its effects to this day.
both of them are just teenagers trying to fit into their body, trying to find their place in this world, all the while battling the weight of a past that othered them so hard that they're living among the margins like street rats
until they found each other.
