#salinger

Two more OC’s As Dogs commissions! I’ll be listing character name plus their respective owners in order:

J.D. Salinger

For example, on my TikTok (which is “The TV Trove” on TT), I made a joking video which is as follows

(11x12 scene)

Dean: I’ll put Sammy on it, he’s better with the whole talking thing anyways”

(12x16 scene)

Claire: Stop treating me like a stupid kid!

Sam: Then stop acting like one!

It was purely made as a joke because as someone that will adamantly defend Claire, I still find it funny when Dean or Sam match her sneakiness.

Someone who clearly doesn’t like Claire commented and this is a direct quote

“Yep. And people who try to say that she’s Dean? Haha no. Dean had respect for certain authority figures, and he also wasn’t talking back to people who had more experience than him.”

Have you met Dean? Have you watched the show? I’ll give you credit for saying “certain” authority figures, but even that might be generous. But if we’re going to entertain the idea that Claire and Dean are nothing alike, I feel it is only fair that we make it an even comparison since a girl in her late teens is obviously not going to handle situations the same as a man in his late 30’s.

So let’s compare what we know of Dean as a teenager to what we see of Claire at a similar age. And I’m sorry to say, he is arguably just as bad, if not worse than Claire. When Claire was hauled into the group home by an officer, she resorts to sarcastic and snarky comments but she is not fighting him physically aside from digging her heels in a few times. Compare that to a 16 year old Dean in 9x7 who gave the officer a black eye and continued to instigate until Sonny intervened. But Dean absolutely did not care about authority even as a teenager, I don’t think he even respected Sonny’s initially. Sonny was just someone he got dumped off with so they, whether it be John or the officer, didn’t have to deal with him. And it wasn’t until Sonny gave him stability and a chance at just being a 16 year old that he started to appreciate his life there.

I’m going to be bold and say Dean and Claire’s childhood were not that far apart. Both lived a normal childhood until a supernatural being entered their life, taking away one parent, and leaving the remaining one chasing after a ghost. I think the only key difference is that Dean always had someone, even if it wasn’t normal or stable. He intermittently had John, or Bobby, or Caleb, or even just Sam himself. He was never “alone”. But in Claire’s case, she didn’t have anyone to fall back on. She was truly left alone and passed around group and foster homes. Yes, you could argue that she wasn’t helping her situation by being difficult but I think that comes with the territory of a child not having anything stable left in their life. So when Dustin came along, he was someone. She had someone to attach herself to. Which then led her to Randy, an adult that gave her the sense of stability and showed her love when she had none.

It’s obvious to Sam and Dean and us as the viewers that Randy is using her and the connection is superficial but it makes complete sense why Claire doesn’t see it. Because in her perspective, Randy is the only constant parental figure she has known following her grandma’s death. So of course she’s going to want to help him and feel obligated to, because he already helped her. He was there for her when she needed him so she’s going to do the same. And after watching her dad being ripped away twice, and then her mother leaving, and then losing her grandma, she’s going to be desperate to protect the one she has now. And Randy knew that. He knew exactly how to frame the situation and manipulate it to what he wants. And it’s made worse by the fact that Salinger, a literal predator and loan shark, recognized those tactics.

vintage Salinger covers, front and back.