I love my sweet baby angel horse girl...
Ragatha is my favorite character of all time, so of course- Just like the Curly post- this is going to be a long one.
I'll split this up into sections (plus with some drawings by yours truly) so it's more palatable. Ragatha is a character that is best understood by her responses to other characters, so I'll start with general thoughts on what we know about her history, then go into her relationship with Pomni, and finally her relationship with Jax. The last of which I find the most interesting.
Ragatha, Wealth, and Her Mother
Ragatha grew up under the abusive hand of her mother, who seems to have been her primary caretaker. From what we can glean, Ragatha was required by her mother to be the perfect example of the exemplary, happy little girl, at least to other rich families. We know that she was a sort of debutante, so there's an element of wealth culture within Ragatha's character that I think has been massively overlooked. Wealth is inherently performative. To be truly wealthy, one has to reflect wealth in their speech and in their mannerisms. And especially, one has to compete with other rich families for whom the best performs wealth.
Based on this observation and Ragatha's inherited wealth, it seems that she was pressured by her mother to perform. Ragatha was only ever rewarded when she was "happy," even if she was sad, or disappointed, or grumpy, she wasn't allowed to be, and that translated into her adult life. Her mask of positivity is a learned trauma response. Her mind has solidified this connection that any expression of negative emotion is wrong and bad and absolutely cannot be done or she will be hated. Of course, it is this mask of happiness that bars her from having true and genuine connections with other people, because it damages her ability to have honest conversations.
Ragatha's mother probably saw failure in the existence of unhappiness, and ultimately carved out a husk for her daughter to fit into and rot in.
I would assume that Ragatha already found it difficult to find emotional connection pre-circus, but her social circle suddenly shrinking to such a minuscule size is forcing her to confront that difficulty in full force.
Pomni and Ragatha's Desperation For Connection
Speaking of an inability to have honest conversations, let's talk about Ragatha and Pomni, shall we? While Ragatha is dismissive of her own negative feelings (finding them stupid or small,) she is not dismissive of other's negative feelings, and we see that in her relationship with Pomni. She's willing to let Pomni open up to her about how she feels, how confused and upset she must be; The difficulty is that Ragatha isn't willing to open up herself.
Pomni wants to like Ragatha, but she feels repelled by her lack of honesty. While I think its become pretty clear that Ragatha has no bad intentions, it can be hard to tell because of that mask. As Gangle said, it's hard to tell when she's being genuine because she so rarely is. At the end of the day, Pomni doesn't feel like she knows anything about Ragatha, save for the few breadcrumbs she leaves every now and again. Ragatha is desperate for connection, but in order to form anything genuine, she has to renounce everything she ever learned growing up. That's terrifying.
No matter what she does, Rags always feels like she's doing the wrong thing, even though she's doing what she was always told to, step by step. Ragatha follows rules, she likes to know what she's doing. She was genuinely upset when she was down a life at the beginning of episode six, and we see her competitive nature in episode five's softball game. Ragatha hates failing. But she seems to fail over and over and over again. She was told growing up that if she was just nice or pleasant that people would love her, and she doesn't understand why that's not working. That's why she was so emotional over "failing" Pomni, and even Jax.
She was failing her mission to make them like her, the thing she was bred to do from birth.
Pomni doesn't really know Ragatha right now. I think that's why she's distant. Given the latest episode (six), my theory for future installments is that Pomni and Ragatha's relationship will bud into something more genuine as Rags learns to open herself up more. It's understandable why Pomni is reluctant to fully embrace her at the moment, because it doesn't feel fully safe. Even Ragatha called what she does "tricks." Even if she doesn't mean to do anything nefarious with Pomni's feelings, it still feels uncomfortable to put them in her safety, because the foundation feels so fake.
Jax and Ragatha: Textbook Foils
Now for a relationship that's going nowhere at high speeds.
I've been looking forward to talking about this ever since the sixth episode came out. Ragatha and Jax are so similar in such different ways. They're perfect foils for each other.
Jax is apathy, Ragatha is empathy. Jax is insensitivity, Ragatha is sensitivity. But neither is genuine in these defining features. Jax isn't completely apathetic and Ragatha isn't completely sensitive in a non-self serving way. Jax wants to see everyone around him as a character- as a thing. If nothing is serious to him, if he sees the world they're in as an eternal playpen, then nothing can affect him. He dodges connection and love so that it won't hurt him, even though that ultimately hurts him the most.
Something similar can be said for Ragatha. She wants to be loved and to be seen so badly that she's willing to put on that mask, even though it hurts her. She's pretending just like him, but they're doing it in completely opposite directions.
I think Ragatha wants to be called out by someone. She wants someone to see through her bullshit, to see what and who she really is, even if she doesn't even really know what that looks like. On the contrary, Jax does not want to be seen at all. He cannot stand the idea of someone looking for something deeper in him, finding nuance in him, because nuance means hurt. Nuance means connection.
Something interesting that highlights this contrast even more is the way that Ragatha pushed away Pomni and how Jax inadvertently pulled her in. Ragatha craves connection, but her lack of honesty repelled Pomni. Jax desperately avoids connection, but his own honesty of his motives is what attracted Pomni to him in the first place. Basically, both of their methods of avoidance sucks.
They're trying so desperately hard to be comfortable in their situation and they're doing it in ways that hurt not only themselves, but the people around them.
I actually want Jax and Ragatha to see eye to eye. It's hard to say whether or not they really understand each other right now. They could hate each other because they know that the other is playing pretend and it reminds them of themselves, or they could hate each other because they see one another the way the other wants them to (Jax as an asshole that plays with vulnerable people and Ragatha as a happy-go-lucky mother figure who's willing to jump into the arms of whoever's extending a hand.) It's really hard to say.
In my opinion, I think they know each other is faking but they don't really know to what extent. They both think the other is doing it with malicious intentions. Jax thinks Ragatha is "using" Pomni, which is sort of true but not really, Ragatha just wants companionship. Ragatha thinks Jax is "corrupting" Pomni, when he really was just naturally getting closer with her (Though it is true that he was trying to get her to believe the "We're not human anymore" jargon, which is a damaging mindset to have. He just wasn't doing it with malicious intent.)
They both think they know each other. But they don't. Neither of them know anything about the other and their nuances at all, and right now neither of them want to. I want them to be forced to see each other for what they really are. Maybe in that case they wouldn't become friends, but they could at least find comfort in understanding one another.
Or hey, maybe they could become friends. Acquaintances? No probably not even that. I'd like to imagine a world where they do, even if it could literally never happen.
I love Ragatha, join the Ragatha cult. There's just so much to her character, so much that reminds me of myself and women I've known all my life. I think Ragatha reflects a part of ourselves that we often don't want to confront and that's why so many people find her discomforting. Is the face you put on for others really you, or do you just want to be loved? Are you scared of being vulnerable? Do you cry when you fail at making friends? Personally I felt seen in a way I never really have from a character.
I think it also makes sense that people dislike Ragatha simply because she is so dishonest. This type of character in real life can often be manipulative in destructive ways. Have you ever had a mother that seemed perfect to everyone but you?
I find that Ragatha has the capacity to change. She's flawed and she's not completely innocent. I don't think she's a character we need to coddle- She's thirty years old, people- but she's genuinely loving and warm and wants what's best for everyone in the circus.
In the end, I think that will get her far.
annaxmalina
discoholicmusic
janainaart
yousharknotpass
kianamaiart
kaledo-art
titsay
theartofmadeline
romaincrisis
germansingergirl
