Girl, thank you, becoz wtf is even happening? People aren’t reading to enjoy the story anymore, they’re just looking for reasons to hate on characters. At this point, I honestly think it’s children reading this story, not just any kind, but the really immature ones, lol
This. It’s easy to forget that when someone has experienced consistent trauma from a loved one since a young age, one of the many ways this manifests in adulthood is through shame. Shame at not having been able to prevent it, shame about the things you were criticized for, shame for not being able to improve from those things, shame that any of it ever happened, shame of allowing someone else to see you at your worst even though it was not your fault. There is so much cognitive dissonance there. You can know that the correct thing to do is to communicate openly and honestly, but since when has anyone in the history of mankind ever just shrugged their shoulders and said “Let me just spill the tea on the most horrific and shameful moments in my life that are next to impossible for me to even begin processing alone and have shaped everything I am today, the good and the bad.”
All of this is to say, I love your comment (and many others that advocate for this mess of a chapter as emotional honesty and just two people doing their best. It won’t be perfect. But they love each other and they are trying so hard. Sometimes that’s not enough. It’s life. However, this fine-tuned world of wildly high expectations when it comes to managing trauma blows my mind. I’m TRAINED to handle trauma and I still find myself facing circumstances where I am not 100% sure what to say and have to let the patient guide me, and I’m just a third party. It’s even harder when the person is someone close to you.
Anyway, you’re amazing. I hope you have a lovely day. Cheers!
THANK YOU!! exactly ! these are two broken, imperfect people that grew up in terrible and traumatising conditions. Sorry they don’t know how to communicate their love for eachother properly but neither would anyone in their situations!
some of these comments are actually insane people calling maxi “pathetic” for being traumatized and abused her whole life while getting mad at riftan for literally having an emotional reaction to seeing the person he loves getting beaten is crazy to me
like sorry they didn’t respond with perfectly calm therapist-approved dialogue after years of abuse, neglect, war trauma, inferiority complex, and emotional repression maxi’s self-loathing is literally the result of lifelong abuse. that’s how abused people often think. and riftan reacting with anger and panic after witnessing that is one of the most human things ever
the comment section barely passed the humane test honestly. some of yall need to look in the mirror and seriously reevaluate your misogyny and emotional intelligence before calling traumatized female characters “annoying” or “pathetic” for not acting like emotionally healthy modern people with therapy and support systems