#badgerpri

Hmm. Loyalist primary for sure. Holden spends The Catcher in the Rye in free-fall, and the only touchstones that ground him are people: his crush Jane, his little sister Phoebe, his little brother Allie. When he's heavily in crisis, Holden starts actually praying to Allie, asking for protection. (In terms of *structure* this is mostly a book about Holden processing Allie's death.)

So I thought Snake primary at first. That's a short list of people. But on a read-though... I was struck by how much Holden thinks about groups. He's extremely class conscious. He angsts about the wealth divide. He doesn't know what to do about it (that's one of his problems) but dwells on it constantly. Situations where he might have to potentially out himself as a member of a different group than the person he's talking to stress him out. A really clean example is when he's all worried that the nuns might ask him if he's Catholic, out of the blue.

Holden is also super concerned with etiquette. He will judge people for doing things like ordering a Tom Collins in December, or not having a handkerchief with them. He is very aware of and will comment on the correct thing to wear in any situation. "The father had on one of those pearl-grey hats that poor guys wear when they're trying to look sharp" is a very nuanced fashion critique. This focus on the way things should be done also feels very Badger primary to me.

I think Holden has this cultural reputation of being a lone wolf, a rebel-without-a-cause, on-the-road type. But he's been retroactively colored by the characters he inspired. He's running around in the late forties, not mid-fifties like James Dean and Jack Kerouac. Holden Caulfield is a contemporary of like, Steve Rogers. And this kid is the absolute opposite of a lone wolf - always striking up conversations, always trying to make friends, offering to buy a drink for practically every person he meets. Cab drivers. Piano players. Tourists. Random people he doesn't like but thinks might be in town. His older brother's ex-girlfriends.

So anyway. Holden is a Badger primary who doesn't have a community, and is desperately trying to either find one, or make one. His fantasy is running away to either work on a ranch, or work in a gas station. He's been shipped away to four boarding schools in three years (away from his family and his support systems) and it's kind of been the worst thing for him.

*

Holden's secondary is hard, because he spends the book in crisis mostly trying to avoid things and distract himself. And he very much needs to eat a sandwich, drink a glass of water, and have a nap. Can't live on cigarettes and daiquiris, Holden baby.

So his secondary is definitely burnt, and he also definitely has PTSD. But underneath that... Holden has a really weird relationship with honesty. He reacts very, very badly to anyone who he perceives to be acting (including like, actual actors in movies.) Holden Caulfield hates it when people are "phony." It's his catchphrase.

But. Holden lies a lot. He tells multiple people that he's going to have a semi-serious operation the next day. He fakes a leg injury to get past a doorman. He deliberately lowers his voice to seem older. He gives fake names (Jim Steele lol) He pretends that he knows people to keep a conversation going. And he's super aware of this -"I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on the way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and someone asks where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible."

There's also this bit early early on where he's saying goodbye to a teacher, and I bring it up because it's the closest thing to baseline Holden I think we ever see. And... he's doing some Snake secondary arms-length shifting. He's deliberately using a mask to charm somebody, but also not really feeling it, and not at all bothered by that. This is easy for him.

Well, you could see he really felt pretty lousy about flunking me. So I shot the bull for a while. (...) I told him how I would've done exactly the same thing if I'd been in his place, and how most people didn't appreciate how tough it is being a teacher. That kind of stuff. The old bull. The funny thing is, though, I was sort of thinking of something else while I shot the bull. (...) I'm lucky, though. I mean I could shoot the old bull to old Spencer and think about those ducks at the same time.

That's actually very Badger. 'If you don't meet xyz requirements, I have no moral obligation to care about you.’ It's an opt-out system. Everyone is included by default, and then have to do things to get themselves kicked out.

hi, i’d really appreciate it if you could help sort me because i think that both my primary and secondary are either burnt or i’ve just overanalyzed this since all of the descriptions for the houses seem relatable to some extent. i’ll start with the secondary. i don’t particularly enjoy using any method of the secondaries.

Burnt secondary? Lots of models?

i honestly can’t even find a pattern from the things that have worked best for me. the best things in my life always happened when i wasn’t forcing anything, they just sort of fell into place, so i just feel like i’ve had luck?

Hmm. “Just lucky I guess” is usually a description of a Snake secondary… but it’s not really a way Snake secondaries describe themselves. That’s more the perspective of someone outside looking in. It’s possible that you just haven’t thought much about your methods before?

i have to do lists for the day and week, since it definitely calms me down when i know clearly what im supposed to accomplish in a day, but beyond that i don’t make plans.

The way this is famed as something you “have” to do that “calms you down,” - basically an anti-anxiety tactic - makes me think it’s probably a support system. I’m gong with Bird secondary model for now.

i don’t even know how i solve problems? i am both confrontational and non-confrontational haha. i never want to leave things unsaid and not explain myself properly to people.

That’s Lion (actually, maybe that’s why you don’t know how you solve problems. The classic Lion secondary just jumps in and reacts.) Even this idea of the on/off of confrontational/non-confrontational is very Lion.

when it comes to other problems that aren’t people-related i guess i’m quick and can come up with a solution on the spot.

Improvisational secondary.

i def relate to snake bc i do think it’s a luxury to be able to be fully myself in front of people.

That is a tremendously Lion way of conceptualizing snake. “Oh I get Snake, they’re acting all the time, but what they REALLY want is to be able to feel safe enough to go into neutral.” A snake loves the masks. A snake *is* the masks.

i’ve also been told i’m really stubborn.

Lion.

i tell the occasional white lie, as in, i might soften my criticisms to not offend ppl, or i make up an excuse for why i cant go out if i’d rather stay at home. i would never lie about important things like my beliefs and misrepresent myself, or about anything that has actual serious consequences. but, if i really wanted to, or i’m really pressed, i usually have no problem with coming up with something on the spot (and i’m not proud of it, in fact, i don’t like myself for it).

Lions *can* lie (it’s really only in fiction that you get the Absolutely Incapable of Lying Lion.) They just… really really don’t like it. It make them feel sticky.

i’m definitely known to be smart and hardworking and kind, because i do genuinely do the work and finish what i start, but i don’t know if i find any particular enjoyment in it? sure, it feels nice to be honest and to see things through, but i also don’t mind doing things another way.

Again, you focused in on the most Lion-y part of a Badger secondary, and said that’s what “feels nice.” Other than that, sounds like a useful Badger model. Really common.

i do care about disappointing the people who have a good opinion of me though.

A Badger primary? Don’t want to disappoint the community?

Sorry if this is the improper channels, I just created my first ever tumblr account to follow you haha I would love help with sorting, you’re quite astute and it would be such a service to me as I’ve struggled for years with it, despite (or perhaps because of) reading so many posts about it! I’m much better at speed-reading randos, than I am at categorizing myself.  

I was that classic gifted underachiever.

ugh, I hate the word “gifted.” I’m so pleased that it’s falling out of favor in education circles.

I felt bad for some of my teachers, because I knew they probably blamed themselves. To make them see I appreciated them, I would study their teaching methods, and then give them positive feedback. I was the kid who would sleep through English, then write a collection of stories about the teachers, infusing classical literature and mythological references, performed them in the cafeteria, and sold them for lots of money to the students.

You sound like you were probably bored. Look, don’t feel bad about your teachers. Some students are just Anakins. High ability, low emotional maturity. We know that all we can do is give you guys a safe space until you figure yourselves out.

I wrote about my incompetent Math Teacher, Mrs. Malatestinic, as the Malatesting-Sphinx, an awful creature that posed mathematical riddles she herself did not understand. She didn’t like that (I failed math by 1 percent that semester lol), but when the math department heard me reading, he gasped sharply, his face went bright red and he started shaking in a way that looked life stifled laughter.

… this is your second, like, vengeance narrative? (slept though english class > made $$$ selling writing) (wrote hit piece about teacher > department head secretly agrees with you.) And you haven’t said anything that has anything to do with the Sortinghat Chats System???

I have almost no practical skills of my own (I find it hard to even change my lightbulbs, so I sometimes pee in the dark)

You must have some very understanding roommates.

but I pride myself on my interpersonal pixie dust. I seem to cheer people up, and I like to think I have a keen eye for people. One of my favourite compliments was when a young woman told me I had an almost supernatural ability for making others feel seen.

Okay, so a very social secondary, I can work with that. Going with *not Badger* as a hypothesis, since you almost seem to get kind of a kick out of not being exactly useful.

I naturally bond groups around me wherever I go, and I notice without this sort of found family dynamic in my life (a little team/group/family) I get depressed. I have fused my entire being with my job and have become a sort of mascot/face of the business, and despite not actually being the highest ranked/most senior employee.

… and we have a Badger primary.

I wish I was gentler, but my love for my people is pesky and meddlesome and I worry some day people will tire of me. I get overly involved in people’s lives (even when they ask me not to get involved, I take that as code for “I wouldn’t want to bother you, but secretly I wish you would get involved”).

I’m everyone’s unofficial therapist. This big mouth gets me into trouble sometimes, especially when I attack the powers that be on behalf of the underdog (something I can never resist)

Oh ouch. Yeah, that is some exploded, Authoritarian Badger right there. You get involved in peoples lives when they tell you to stay out? You view yourself as a universal therapist and righteous defender of those who cannot defend themselves? You write like you’ve got all the answers, and everyone else in your life is scared, or helpless.

I once flooded a grouchy old lady’s apartment by accident (ADHD) and then when she called to scream at me, she ended up telling me her whole life story instead.

I know this is the Badger secondary in me, but did you like… help fix the apartment? Untreated water damage can lead to black mold.

And yet, I cannot keep a secret to save my life, people should not be telling me things! My mom and boss often warn me about burning bridges. I know this is true in theory, but sometimes I just get triggered.

Impulsivity is something that people with ADHD can struggle with, but I can’t link it to a specific secondary.

I was bullied and abused a lot as a child/teen, but I never believed I deserved it, only that I lacked power, so I had to dig deep and outwit my opponents. I find story arcs of clever but physically underpowered oddballs like Mulan and Tyrion very satisfying for that reason! I tend to be a bit of a con for the cause at times—I toy with people and can be a bit of a “storyteller”. My saintly double badger mom strongly disapproves of this tendency in me, and half teasing, half scolding calls me Harold Hill (The Music Man).

Snake secondary, for sure. 

I have an awful petty flaw of never forgetting a slight! When the people I love/invest in betray me, I am devastated, and that disillusionment can fester into hatred under extreme circumstances. Darker still, when people cross a certain line morally, they seem to forfeit their personhood in my eyes. Gloves are off, and since I’m kind of an empath I basically have all the destruct codes to people’s souls.

That is… the dehumanizing aspect of a Badger primary in full swing, which has been a through line this whole time. The math teacher was incompetent, so it was fine to mess with her. The old lady was grouchy, so flooding her apartment wasn’t a big deal.

Some examples of my dark fuckery (if tldr, skip to final paragraph 😊):

I will cut this out, actually. There are a *lot* of revenge narratives here, some of them get pretty dark, and in my opinion… these are situations where you either went too far or shouldn’t have gotten involved in the first place. I guess they re-affirm the ‘I know best’ of the Authoritarian Badger, and the improvisational problem solving skills of the Snake secondary.

Um yes, so sorry about how long this is, every time I went to edit it down, it got longer! I understand if you don’t have the time or inclination to read, let alone analyze all this! But at least it helped me a little to write it all out. Please know I love your posts, you’re brilliant! I will lose entire days  studying and obsessing over your posts. Thank you for everything!

hi, wisteria! i'm so happy that i found your blog as i tumbled down the shc rabbit hole. i love this system, it's been super fun to analyze characters, friends, and family-- but i'm having a hard time seeing how i might fit into it. i was hoping you could help? i'm pretty confident that i'm not a bird. i believe in divine guidance/intuition/whatever you want to call it. feelings that guide us in ways that we just can't explain.

So far that’s sounding like a Lion primary’s subconscious reasoning. 

the center of my morality, though, is people. no matter how someone dresses it up, i don't believe that anything could justify inflicting pain others. 

Could be a classic Paragon Lion - you’ve got Badger tenants to your morality, but you feel it in a Lion way rather than a Badger way. 

some of my earliest childhood memories involve me crying in an anti-bullying lesson because i could imagine how i would feel being called names. another memory is me deciding to pay attention to the teacher because he would feel bad if he knew that i wasn't listening. my empathy runs deep, for better or worse. 

I don’t think true “contagious feelings” empathy is actually tied to anything in particular. But the example with the teacher does make me think you use interpersonal connection to exist and do well in the world. That example could be Actor Bird - it is important to be a good student, this is what Good Students look like. It could be Snake... I will do X thing in order to make this person happy. It could be Courtier Badger... although I’m thinking that Courtier Badger would have needed to find some way to *actually* be interested in what he was talking about. 

i don't think that i'm a snake... i'm what you might call a 'big tent' person-- there's room -- there's room for everybody, come as you are. that leaves me with lion or badger. i think that if i am a lion, my morality is badger-flavored.

So far, I’m inclined to agree. 

i don't think that i know what's best for everyone or that there's just one way of being. 

my god, I *hope* not.

what works for me isn't going to work for someone else, and that's okay. i'm leaning badger, but i would love to hear your thoughts!

Could honestly go either way. And I’m bad at telling Badgers and Paragon Lion apart. This is could be a Badger using Lion language, or a Lion with Badgery morals. 

secondaries now--sorry this is so long-- 

apologies are often the sign of a burnt secondary, not sure if the case here. 

i think that i'm either a bird or a badger secondary. i admire lions, but i'm not loud or charge-y. i'm determined, for sure, but in a quieter way. if i want something to happen, gosh darn it, it's going to happen.

Do you identify at all with the battering-ram Lion? Because this sounds like a battering-ram Lion. 

i graduated high school early, made the bball team, got into my college of choice, etc., by putting my nose to the grindstone and working hard. sounds pretty badger, right? 

Definitely could be, especially when paired with the community-building stuff with the teacher. You talk about being too long, but I just want more details. What does work look like for you? Also, why did you decide to graduate early? How did you pick your college? That kind of stuff could really help nail down your primary. 

i do some bird tool-collecting, but i think that's more for fun than anything. i love history, english, and foreign languages. i'm a well of random historical facts that i find interesting and other people likely find boring. sometimes i get excited about how many cool things there are in the world that i can explore and learn about. maybe this is a bird model, one that i have for fun? 

Could be. 

typing all of this out leads me to think that i'm a double badger with a bird secondary model for fun. what do you think? i appreciate your time and your thoughts!! thank you so much! :)