Vine (thinking): This seems like a real waste of a summer day . . .
Hyacinth: You like Hazel, don’t you, Vine?
Angelica: All right, Vine, what do you think?
Vine (thinking): Point: Hazel seems fine? I’m not as into her as Hyacinth obviously is, but none of the things Angelica complains about are, like, actual problems.
Counterpoint: Angelica is very loud, so who knows.
Vine: I think . . . maybe . . . both of you could try a little harder to see the other person’s point of view.
Angelica: Well? Can you bother to look from my point of view?
Hyacinth: Maybe I can.
. . . but I’m doing it somewhere else.
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9 Comments
You fucking wimp.
Cut her some slack, she’s 15. And “this person I thought was a friend is going to keep causing harm no matter how many second chances I give them” is a hard thing to come to terms with at any age.
I was talking about Vine.
Switch the pronouns, then, it still applies.
In my experience, writing, even good writing, always has a three second delay of emotions between character and reader. It may not seem like much, but it makes it easy for us to stay calm and say “just pick a side and don’t wimp out” without realizing that three seconds ago, there was a heck of a lot more emotion in those two sides. It’s also why I can’t write tempers, despite having a terrible one myself–it requires me to go back three seconds, and I can’t do it. The emotional side of the writing just always has that three second delay.
Angelica is being awful to and about Hazel and needs to just explain why she really doesn’t like her and then move on. Vine could stand to be less wishy washy, here, he really didn’t help. Hyacinth definitely did the right thing standing up for Hazel and refusing to continue to talk to Angelica when she’s this angry.
I have to say, Angelica seemed really quick to jump in after Vine said that, almost like she was accusing Hyacinth of something. The super huffy, “Well? CAN you ‘bother’ to look from my point of view?”, she’s kind of making it out like Hyacinth is being the unreasonable one, causing drama where there pretty clearly is none, or being a bad friend (when she hasn’t made any effort to actually explain her point of view, just basically dumping on Hazel). Idk, maybe I’m seeing something that’s not there.
Oh, no. I assure you you’re seeing something that is absolutely there. Angelica took Vine’s middle-road approach as tacit approval of her behaviour and “closed ranks” in an attempt to pressure Hyacinth.
This dynamic is the exact reason “take the middle-ground” as an attitude is so highly criticized. In this case, it pretty much enables Angelica in her attack and leaves Hyacinth standing alone on the defensive.
Though, as Erin says, I’d give him a bit of slack; he’s 15.
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