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Duel/Duet in failure.
Apr. 6th, 2015 01:17 amThe interesting thing about this week's Elly versus letting Mike enjoy life arc is that instead of bellowing about how it would be a betrayal were he to give up trumpet practice, she flippantly dismisses Mike's belief that he's simply a robot meant to do what other people want. This, I should think, is owing to the excuse adults make about how children are resilient when they want to distract themselves from the realization that despite their need to comfort themselves with a reassuring lie that protects them from admitting that they might be in the wrong, what happens to children during childhood matters and will affect them for years to come.
The other interesting thing is that late at night, it occurs to her that she really used to hate being blown off and, while thinking that trumpet practice must continue because she's saving him from a life of poverty, realizes that he might actually be feeling as if no one really cares and everyone sees him not as a person with needs but as a machine built to do anything demanded of him without hope of reward. While she never shares this with him and never quite sees herself through his eyes, the realization that Mike's feelings are real is there despite it being dangerous to act on said knowledge lest he be totally ruined by excessive sympathy.
What isn't there is the realization that her need to withhold praise because she thinks doing so will make him into a praise-craving monster who gloats over not a heck of a lot has the revenge affect of making him into something of a monster who craves praise and tends to gloat about something he never got much. You see, if he had been given credit when it was due instead of being told to be humble, he'd know how to cope with praise and when to expect it and not be the smarmy jackass we know and loathe. Instead, we have a dick who acts like a malicious jerk whenever someone actually pays him a compliment. Ah, well. At least she does have some awareness that children just might have feelings; that puts her one up on Phil and John.
The other interesting thing is that late at night, it occurs to her that she really used to hate being blown off and, while thinking that trumpet practice must continue because she's saving him from a life of poverty, realizes that he might actually be feeling as if no one really cares and everyone sees him not as a person with needs but as a machine built to do anything demanded of him without hope of reward. While she never shares this with him and never quite sees herself through his eyes, the realization that Mike's feelings are real is there despite it being dangerous to act on said knowledge lest he be totally ruined by excessive sympathy.
What isn't there is the realization that her need to withhold praise because she thinks doing so will make him into a praise-craving monster who gloats over not a heck of a lot has the revenge affect of making him into something of a monster who craves praise and tends to gloat about something he never got much. You see, if he had been given credit when it was due instead of being told to be humble, he'd know how to cope with praise and when to expect it and not be the smarmy jackass we know and loathe. Instead, we have a dick who acts like a malicious jerk whenever someone actually pays him a compliment. Ah, well. At least she does have some awareness that children just might have feelings; that puts her one up on Phil and John.
