Post by todd on Jan 25, 2007 12:13:07 GMT
These are some thoughts on Annie's characterization as revealed in the webcomic to date.
As we know, one of her leading character traits is her calmness. No matter what she encounters at Gunnerkrigg Court, be it an extra shadow, a minotaur, a dragon-like creature, or a ghost, she does not seem the slightest bit shocked that something like that could actually exist. Interested, curious, yes, but not shocked or alarmed. In fact, I think that we have seldom seen her alarmed or frightened in the webcomic (the closest cases might be when she was falling off the bridge, the attack by the ghost girl, and when the library started to merge with the Birmingham alley that Zimmy came from). Very little seems to rattle her.
One question that is worth looking into is: how natural does this come to her? It has been postulated before that this might be really a facade of some sort that she raised after her mother's death, as a means of coping with things. There does seem to be a point there (I certainly get the impression that, despite her strong grief over Surma's passing, the first time that she actually cried about it was in Chapter Six), but I'd like to think that this is a real facet of her character, that this composure of hers is genuinely part of her essence.
One thing that we can be certain of: her grief has not paralyzed her. Since her arrival at Gunnerkrigg Court, Annie has not retreated into a shell but has taken an active interest in her surroundings. In the very first chapter (when Surma's death would be most recent), she quickly notes her second shadow, and immediately starts to investigate it, finding a way to communicate with it, and willingly helping it with its problem (showing particular ingenuity in finding a way to get it across the bridge without crossing it herself). In the succeeding chapter, she accepts Kat's offer of friendship and seeks out information on the Minotaur (having immediately chosen it as the subject of her mythology project), proceeding also to greet Basil when she meets him in a friendly fashion and invite him to her class. (She's also the only student in the class who pays close attention to the teacher's words, while everyone else, including Kat, is fast asleep.) And in the succeeding chapters, she continues to show a strong sense of initiative (except in the Cosmonauts exercise, where the fact that it's all a simulation and she knows it makes her less than interested in getting involved initially), exploring the school, meeting its unusual denizens, and often helping them with their problems (such as Mort's having difficulty scaring people - of course, Annie wasn't the ideal target for a scare anyway!). She hasn't retreated into herself at all; she's still sorrowing for her mother (and it doesn't help matters either that her father's taken off to places unknown), but she hasn't let it paralyze her.
Chapter Nine, of course, has given an additional dimension to Annie's matter-of-factness towards the paranormal: as a small child, she met and befriended the Guides such as Muut. Such an experience at that age would naturally predispose one to be less taken aback at meeting Shadow2 or Mort for the first time; they're no weirder than, say, a man with an owl's head.
Despite Annie's bravery, we see that she's also a gentle soul. She always greets the strange creatures that she meets politely, no matter what (of course, if they turn out to be hostile, such as the ghost girl with the sword, her response naturally changes, but that's simply common sense). She's not combative or aggressive (the closest that we've gotten to it is her flipping Winsbury at the start of Chapter Three after he picked on Kat), and seems ready to talk amiably to anyone or anything. (We see this most recently at the start of Chapter Eleven, when she and Kat run into Gamma and Zimmy in the library. While Kat is clearly unenthusiastic about seeing them there, Annie says hello to them in as courteous a fashion as ever.) She's very well-mannered, no matter what.
And throughout, she keeps a strong sense of moral fiber: she's not afraid to stand up for what she believes - particularly when she refuses to turn Reynardine over for fresh imprisonment (all the more impressive, in light of his attempt to possess her and general snarky nature), an event that reminds the teachers of her mother. And she won't be a murderer, as she makes clear to the suicide fairies (though, in a touching moment at the end of Chapter Eight, she recognizes the difficulty of the situation that they're in as she bids them farewell). She's got high principles, and lives by them.
And yet, the webcomic avoids making her too omnicompetent. While I'm not certain that she's displayed any real character flaws yet (the closest that she gets there might be being too serious for a girl her age), she does make occasional mistakes and errors of judgment: she doesn't realize in Chapter Three what Reynardine's really like until it's almost too late, she initially suspects Zimmy and Gamma of sabotaging the other kids' science projects, and in Chapter Seven, she leaves the school grounds in defiance of its rules, with near-disastrous results. These moments keep her from seeming too perfect, too much like a Mary Sue (which is all the more fortunate since her general qualities - intelligence, quiet courage, strength of character, not to mention that she's also very pretty - could in the hands of a less skillful writer than Tom turn her into one).
One final note: although I suspect there's been some occasional speculation over the exact nature of her friendship with Kat (thanks especially to a snide remark from a certain demon), the overall impression that I get of Annie is that she's asexual. There's certainly no indication (apart from Reynardine's aforesaid remark, which under the circumstances, I don't take seriously) that her friendship with Kat has anything romantic in it. And Annie has certainly shown no sign of noticing boys; indeed, she seems politely bemused whenever Kat talks about Eglamore in a way that indicates that she (Kat) has a crush on him. I doubt that it's only because of her youth, either, because Kat, Janet, and William are the same age as she is, and yet all of them have had some encounter with Cupid's arrows. The overall impression that I get about Annie is that she doesn't seem prone to even pre-teen infatuations. Maybe that will change down the road, but for now, I seriously am not expecting her to have a love interest. (That is, a love interest from her point of view, as opposed to Mort's own crush on her.)
I may have more to say later on in this thread, but these are my thoughts on her for starters.
As we know, one of her leading character traits is her calmness. No matter what she encounters at Gunnerkrigg Court, be it an extra shadow, a minotaur, a dragon-like creature, or a ghost, she does not seem the slightest bit shocked that something like that could actually exist. Interested, curious, yes, but not shocked or alarmed. In fact, I think that we have seldom seen her alarmed or frightened in the webcomic (the closest cases might be when she was falling off the bridge, the attack by the ghost girl, and when the library started to merge with the Birmingham alley that Zimmy came from). Very little seems to rattle her.
One question that is worth looking into is: how natural does this come to her? It has been postulated before that this might be really a facade of some sort that she raised after her mother's death, as a means of coping with things. There does seem to be a point there (I certainly get the impression that, despite her strong grief over Surma's passing, the first time that she actually cried about it was in Chapter Six), but I'd like to think that this is a real facet of her character, that this composure of hers is genuinely part of her essence.
One thing that we can be certain of: her grief has not paralyzed her. Since her arrival at Gunnerkrigg Court, Annie has not retreated into a shell but has taken an active interest in her surroundings. In the very first chapter (when Surma's death would be most recent), she quickly notes her second shadow, and immediately starts to investigate it, finding a way to communicate with it, and willingly helping it with its problem (showing particular ingenuity in finding a way to get it across the bridge without crossing it herself). In the succeeding chapter, she accepts Kat's offer of friendship and seeks out information on the Minotaur (having immediately chosen it as the subject of her mythology project), proceeding also to greet Basil when she meets him in a friendly fashion and invite him to her class. (She's also the only student in the class who pays close attention to the teacher's words, while everyone else, including Kat, is fast asleep.) And in the succeeding chapters, she continues to show a strong sense of initiative (except in the Cosmonauts exercise, where the fact that it's all a simulation and she knows it makes her less than interested in getting involved initially), exploring the school, meeting its unusual denizens, and often helping them with their problems (such as Mort's having difficulty scaring people - of course, Annie wasn't the ideal target for a scare anyway!). She hasn't retreated into herself at all; she's still sorrowing for her mother (and it doesn't help matters either that her father's taken off to places unknown), but she hasn't let it paralyze her.
Chapter Nine, of course, has given an additional dimension to Annie's matter-of-factness towards the paranormal: as a small child, she met and befriended the Guides such as Muut. Such an experience at that age would naturally predispose one to be less taken aback at meeting Shadow2 or Mort for the first time; they're no weirder than, say, a man with an owl's head.
Despite Annie's bravery, we see that she's also a gentle soul. She always greets the strange creatures that she meets politely, no matter what (of course, if they turn out to be hostile, such as the ghost girl with the sword, her response naturally changes, but that's simply common sense). She's not combative or aggressive (the closest that we've gotten to it is her flipping Winsbury at the start of Chapter Three after he picked on Kat), and seems ready to talk amiably to anyone or anything. (We see this most recently at the start of Chapter Eleven, when she and Kat run into Gamma and Zimmy in the library. While Kat is clearly unenthusiastic about seeing them there, Annie says hello to them in as courteous a fashion as ever.) She's very well-mannered, no matter what.
And throughout, she keeps a strong sense of moral fiber: she's not afraid to stand up for what she believes - particularly when she refuses to turn Reynardine over for fresh imprisonment (all the more impressive, in light of his attempt to possess her and general snarky nature), an event that reminds the teachers of her mother. And she won't be a murderer, as she makes clear to the suicide fairies (though, in a touching moment at the end of Chapter Eight, she recognizes the difficulty of the situation that they're in as she bids them farewell). She's got high principles, and lives by them.
And yet, the webcomic avoids making her too omnicompetent. While I'm not certain that she's displayed any real character flaws yet (the closest that she gets there might be being too serious for a girl her age), she does make occasional mistakes and errors of judgment: she doesn't realize in Chapter Three what Reynardine's really like until it's almost too late, she initially suspects Zimmy and Gamma of sabotaging the other kids' science projects, and in Chapter Seven, she leaves the school grounds in defiance of its rules, with near-disastrous results. These moments keep her from seeming too perfect, too much like a Mary Sue (which is all the more fortunate since her general qualities - intelligence, quiet courage, strength of character, not to mention that she's also very pretty - could in the hands of a less skillful writer than Tom turn her into one).
One final note: although I suspect there's been some occasional speculation over the exact nature of her friendship with Kat (thanks especially to a snide remark from a certain demon), the overall impression that I get of Annie is that she's asexual. There's certainly no indication (apart from Reynardine's aforesaid remark, which under the circumstances, I don't take seriously) that her friendship with Kat has anything romantic in it. And Annie has certainly shown no sign of noticing boys; indeed, she seems politely bemused whenever Kat talks about Eglamore in a way that indicates that she (Kat) has a crush on him. I doubt that it's only because of her youth, either, because Kat, Janet, and William are the same age as she is, and yet all of them have had some encounter with Cupid's arrows. The overall impression that I get about Annie is that she doesn't seem prone to even pre-teen infatuations. Maybe that will change down the road, but for now, I seriously am not expecting her to have a love interest. (That is, a love interest from her point of view, as opposed to Mort's own crush on her.)
I may have more to say later on in this thread, but these are my thoughts on her for starters.
