alex rider is so awesome because I think too hard about it and get a nosebleed. like yeah it’s already a subversion of the child hero fantasy but it’s also a total narrative about avoiding grief. about being kept away from it. it’s about the support of denial as a reaction to death. Alex is never allowed to sit down and grieve for his uncle— he avoids having to think about Ian at all, and is never made to; he is proven right when he sticks to the belief that Jack is alive instead of having to deal with what it means if she isn’t. so what is alex rider but a story about grief? what is alex rider but a story about the incredible lengths a boy will go to to avoid having to grieve at all? what is alex rider but a boy who is unable to face reality and whose reality refuses to face him. all of the books and the paths alex travels are just metaphorical time loops, repetitive adventures where he cannot get back to reality. He can’t escape the cycle. He can’t help but return to it. The whole thing is just a testament to how far someone will go to avoid their grief. so like. how am I supposed to get past that.
