You know what annoys the frickin hell out of me?
That characters who were abused by their parents always forgave them in the end.
I know that this is something that can happen IRL and all can end well, and when it does, great!
In the case of fiction, I feel like it can send the wrong message to readers. Yes, teaching forgiveness is good. However, characters that are often forgiven by their children (Sandgorse, Rainflower) have done nothing to deserve that forgiveness.
Rainflower was neglectful and verbally+emotionally abusive to her son simply because he was disfigured (this abuse starting when he was a child). She’s never done anything to deserve forgiveness. Even moons after the accident, when he was an apprentice (and his brother who was the same age became a warrior), she tells Oakheart that “[Crookedpaw] will never be as good as you” when Crookedpaw is in earshot.
Now it’s never confirmed (as far as I now) if Crookedstar really forgave Rainflower or if that’s just a false fact, but I prefer to believe that he did not.
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Moving on, Sandgorse was terrible too. He was an okay parent in the beginning, but later? The dude ignored and yelled at his young child because he didn’t get to do his favourite hobby any more. I don’t care how much he loved tunnelling, he made his own son feel like shit. When it comes between something your passionate about and your kid, you choose your kid.
(I completely understand Tallpaw/tail’s rage after his father died and wanting to get revenge, however. The book was well written with terrific character development).
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I do not believe that it’s healthy to teach readers that they should forgive everyone. Should they forgive some people who hurt them? If they can, yes. Should they forgive everyone, even those who emotionally scarred them in times they should’ve received love and affection?
No.
It’s worse that the characters who are said to forgive are such noble warriors. In an indirect way, it’s stating (or at least it can be inferred) that good characters always forgive no matter what, and that bad guys hold grudges. Do I need to explain why that’s a horrible mindset?
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I will admit to having a bit of an AU where Talltail outright refused the life Sandgorse is about to give him, stating that he’d rather be a leader with eight lives instead of a leader with a life from Sandgorse. Maybe Palebird as well. I know she was depressed, and depression absolutely sucks to go through, but she was clearly a lot better in the later chapters, yet still she was hardly any better to Talltail than she was before. In fact, she was worse.
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I’ve been waiting for so long to get that off my chest.
If this bothers anyone, please refrain from arguing, as it is just a post about a fictional world of cats. If you don’t agree with my opinion, that’s fine! Just please don’t bother me about it. I prefer to avoid confrontation.
If you’re argument relates to yourself experiencing abuse and seeing something wrong with this post, by all means, tell me. If I don’t respond, I’m not ignoring you. This is just my third Tumblr account, so I’m hardly on here.
