There has been a lot of animosity in the TRC fandom as of late revolving around Blue. I'm not sure you're aware, or maybe you don't mind it, but it does bother me (like an gnat that won't go away gr). Some are saying that Blue is not a strong character & that her feminism is not a "real feminism" because she doesn't shun the institution of men entirely. So my question is, in Blue Lily Lily Blue will we see a more in-depth look at Blue? (maybe a non-aggressive punch in the face to haters) :D
I’m going to use this ask to answer answer a bunch of gender-Blue asks all at once, so I’m sorry. It’s going to be really long.
Let’s clear one thing up from the start: whoever said that Blue’s feminism isn’t real feminism is correct.
She’s saying the words, but she’s as feminist as Gansey is egalitarian. They want to be better than they are, but every single character in the Raven Cycle is a fool or a damn fool. It’s sort of the point.
Second: We are only halfway through their character arcs.
Third: A “strong female character” doesn’t mean a character who is always a perfect role model of feminism and female agency. Strong characters of either gender are imperfect, complicated, changing. Unfortunately, readers often give male characters greater leeway in this department. Adam and Blue are frequently mirrored, but Adam’s terrible behavior is often interpreted as part of his character arc and Blue’s as her being a bad character. Readers often regard Ronan’s jealousy as endearing — aw, look at him being protective! But the reaction to Blue’s jealousy is very different — “I’m sick of seeing girls claw each other’s eyes out!”
The upshot is: both forms of jealousy are because the characters are fools and damn fools. Neither is more acceptable.
Fourth: I wrote before that my characters are not me, but they are the questions I have in my head. I am allowed to use my writing to process my own cultural background, my religion, and my own teen battles with OCD and suicide and gender identity. Other readers might have other entirely useful and interesting lenses they would have chosen for the Raven Cycle, but my own lenses are valid and permitted. To tell me otherwise is hypocritical.
Fourth, part two: I went to college when I was 16, and immediately joined a bagpipe band which became my life (you may laugh gently now). I acquired about fifteen male friends and one female friend. Learning how to relate to other humans and my own gender while living in a man’s world was a formative part of my life, and that’s the story I’m telling with Blue —It won’t be the only story I tell about girls, but it is the one I’m telling with her. My current blood-bonds with my female friends are echoed in the older, more evolved women at 300 Fox Way, who get a closer look in book 3.
Fifth: while on the topic of friends, I have a few asks in my inbox about Blue having no female friends before the Raven Boys came along. That is correct. She had no friends. None. Neither did Adam. Neither did Ronan. Gansey is the only one who had meaningful relationships before the others — coincidence?
“Gansey could’ve had any and all of the friends that he wanted. Instead he had chosen the three of them, three guys who should’ve, for three different reasons, been friendless.”
Fifth, part two: I also have an ask about Blue’s story only beginning when she met a man, Gansey. However, Adam and Ronan’s stories in the Raven Cycle also only began when they met Gansey. And Gansey, who has been wandering the world having adventures for seven years, doesn’t get his story until he meets Blue. The Raven Cycle doesn’t begin because a girl met a boy. The Raven Cycle is because these teens found each other and shit began to get real because of it.
Sixth: In book three, I do look closer at Blue. But none of the other books will have the narrow-eyed gaze on a single character as The Dream Thieves did.
Seventh: Folks can feel free to disagree with everything I’ve just said, and it won’t hurt my feelings. Discussion and analyzing our own biases is how we change the world. It’s also sort of what the Raven Cycle is about.
Also, fools and damn fools.
dailybridgerton
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