Question about Petals on the Wind's Julian. Spoilers about…
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Question about Petals on the Wind's Julian.
Spoilers about a 40 year old book.
I want to know V. C. Andrews intent behind Julian. Because, for all intents and purposes, he is an awful predator and abuser. He hurts Cathy willingly, which she just forgives.
And you can argue that Catherine, haven't been traumatized by all she has lived, has normalized abuse.... but I don't think trauma was well understood at the time.
Cathy multiple times claims that maybe if she had been the pure virgin he needed it would all have been different. If she had been able to love him, him who basically forced her to be in a relationship with him, everything would've been different.
And sure, Cathy is an unreliable narrator, but when V.C. Andrews wants to show it... she does. We can see Cathy trying not to become her mother while figuratively and literally, in the 'Revelations' chapter, she becomes just like her. Even the book closes with her trying to justify that she is like her mother but more noble. Other characters chide her on how she should just let go off her revenge. So all the moral ambiguity and cluing us on how Cathy is in the wrong are right there...
But with Julian is a bit more complicated. All the women baby him. His mother tells Cathy that she just needs to be firmer with him. That SHE was in the wrong for abandoning him, despite all the abuse and control issues he had. When he breaks Cathy's toes, Madame Z tells CHris that "Oh, so you are the brother that has caused all of this"... as if Julian trying to isolate Cathy from her family was the right thing to do. Even Carrie's final note says that despite Julian forcing her to do 'sinful things'... she loved him. And the book is FILLED with underaged girls lusting after older men, even Cathy claims that while being underage she is now at her most desirable for older men. It's this kind of thing that skews me to think that V.C. Andrews wasn't portraying Julian as the monster that he actually was.
And there's another big issue. The only characters that have bad things to say about Julian's behavior are Chris and Paul, two guys that are interested in Cathy. So why does V.C. Andrews use them to say bad things about Julian? To add more melodrama to Cathy's relationship woes?
So... that's it. I'd like to know if Julian is a poorly aged character, or if V. C. Andrews wrote our perspective of him through someone that has been traumatized.
#entertainment
Spoilers about a 40 year old book.
I want to know V. C. Andrews intent behind Julian. Because, for all intents and purposes, he is an awful predator and abuser. He hurts Cathy willingly, which she just forgives.
And you can argue that Catherine, haven't been traumatized by all she has lived, has normalized abuse.... but I don't think trauma was well understood at the time.
Cathy multiple times claims that maybe if she had been the pure virgin he needed it would all have been different. If she had been able to love him, him who basically forced her to be in a relationship with him, everything would've been different.
And sure, Cathy is an unreliable narrator, but when V.C. Andrews wants to show it... she does. We can see Cathy trying not to become her mother while figuratively and literally, in the 'Revelations' chapter, she becomes just like her. Even the book closes with her trying to justify that she is like her mother but more noble. Other characters chide her on how she should just let go off her revenge. So all the moral ambiguity and cluing us on how Cathy is in the wrong are right there...
But with Julian is a bit more complicated. All the women baby him. His mother tells Cathy that she just needs to be firmer with him. That SHE was in the wrong for abandoning him, despite all the abuse and control issues he had. When he breaks Cathy's toes, Madame Z tells CHris that "Oh, so you are the brother that has caused all of this"... as if Julian trying to isolate Cathy from her family was the right thing to do. Even Carrie's final note says that despite Julian forcing her to do 'sinful things'... she loved him. And the book is FILLED with underaged girls lusting after older men, even Cathy claims that while being underage she is now at her most desirable for older men. It's this kind of thing that skews me to think that V.C. Andrews wasn't portraying Julian as the monster that he actually was.
And there's another big issue. The only characters that have bad things to say about Julian's behavior are Chris and Paul, two guys that are interested in Cathy. So why does V.C. Andrews use them to say bad things about Julian? To add more melodrama to Cathy's relationship woes?
So... that's it. I'd like to know if Julian is a poorly aged character, or if V. C. Andrews wrote our perspective of him through someone that has been traumatized.
#entertainment
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