Post by empressjess on Dec 2, 2006 12:50:11 GMT -5
After we both finished the game, my boyfriend turned to me and said:
"Why the heck is everybody so out to get Jennifer?"
Hmmm, well, I thought about that and I think I've reached a pretty decent conclusion.
We are all familiar with Wendy's beef with Jennifer, so I don't feel like I have to go into that, and Gregory seems to not have an issue with her either (quite the opposite, in fact), yet why does Mr. Hoffman, Martha, and the rest of the orphans seems to be so harsh with Jenny?
We'll start with Hoffman, and just so you know, this is assuming that Hoffs is having a go at both Clara and Diana (because that rubbing goes on for far too long to be simply paternal, and he keeps circling her in a predatory fashion...I digress). I personally believe that Jennifer must have at one point been witness to the headmaster molesting Diana, which leads both of them to resent her for being an audience to a pretty embarrassing and shameful scene that they would want to keep secret. Since the game is all contained within Jennifer's memory, she must've seen the final cutscene of the Mermaid chapter in real life.
Hoffman, completely disgusted with himself, channels his self-hatred as an intense loathing of Jennifer, because without her seeing what was going on, he wouldn't have to come to terms with it. Finally, it all gets to him and he ends up leaving the orphanage to get away from the kids he's wronged, Jennifer being one of them.
Now, it's been pointed out that someone as small, young, and fragile as Wendy would not be able to manipulate Diana without the offer of some staggering reward. I agree, so why does Princess Di go along with the Jennifer torture with such zeal? Because she's also angry with Jenny, but for being witness to herself in a weak position instead of "snubbing" her. This girl has seen her cry, and whether or not you want to argue the reptilian aspects of her tears at the end of the Mermaid chapter, at some point early in Hoffman's advances, she must have had a sincere sob or two, which Jennifer could have seen.
"But Jess!" you say, "Eleanor and Meg saw the end of the Mermaid chapter too!"
Yes, yes they did. But unlike Jennifer, they probably never would have mentioned it to her (Eleanor cause she's not chatty and Meg out of respect) and so Diana has no idea that they know. Jenny, on the other hand, probably thought it would be a good idea to try and offer sympathy and so brought it up to Diana, who was most likely insulted and ashamed.
Meg has that thing about the letter, which I forgot to mention but is pretty straightforward. It's also possible that she felt threatened by Jennifer, since Diana seems a bit eager to manhandle her.
As for Martha, if Jennifer's memories about being blamed for everything hold any truth, the older woman could have seen her as a troublemaker. She may have also felt obligated to hate Jennifer since Hoffman is so insistent about it.
Clara's a bit harder, since I don't think she really disliked Jennifer in reality, but that maybe Jenny perceived it that way. You have to understand that Clara takes her cues on how to act adult from Hoffman and Martha, who both intensely dislike Jennifer, so it's possible that she felt they were justified in some way.
And, of course, everybody's still p.o.'d about getting murdered.
"But that wasn't Jennifer's fault at all!"
Not directly, no. But I think everyone could make the connection between Jennifer's kicking the crap out of Wendy and Wendy coming back with a man-beast to exact revenge.
Of course, if you take it a step further back, it's Wendy's fault for killing Brown in the first place--and then one more, it's Jenny's for choosing Brown to begin with.
So why isn't anyone harping on Wendy?
Well, cause she made good on her Stray Dog threat, so she's back in the seat of power in the weird dreamworld/purgatory where everyone seems pretty self-aware of what went down (with the obvious exception of Jennifer). They'd like to put Wendy in the Onion Bag or rub dirty rags in her face and whatnot, but they can't since she outranks them and her errand boy is still wandering around the airship.
However, in that one scene in the sickroom during The Rag Princess Sews where Wendy claims that Diana and the others beat her up for stealing the bear, it seems they found a loophole. You could say that Wendy was being manipulative and just saying that, but I really think that the kids saw an opportunity to vent some frustration on a target directly responsible for their deaths.
Why? Well, they have to know Wendy's the princess, because she's delivering spoken orders, and I think they all remember being mauled by her Stray Dog (otherwise her grip on power would slip), but Wendy can't reveal herself until Jennifer remembers herself. So if someone happens to mention to Jennifer that Wendy is a possible culprit, the others must take it seriously, lest they interfere with Jennifer's memory reload. And they do so gleefully.
Okay, that made much more sense in my head. But anyway, back to my original topic.
Furthermore, though Wendy was more responsible for killing everyone, Jennifer does remark in January that the newspaper article about their murder was shoved into obscurity thanks to the media finding out she survived the Titan--er, airship crash. The fact that the public didn't seem to care about a bunch of rural orphans hits a nerve with these unadopted and later abandoned kids, and they once again project their rage and frustration onto Jennifer.
So, I hope that at least made partial sense.
Also, as a side-note: how does one exactly play "airship" in real life? That baffles me, since I don't ever remember playing "airplane" as a kid.
"Why the heck is everybody so out to get Jennifer?"
Hmmm, well, I thought about that and I think I've reached a pretty decent conclusion.
We are all familiar with Wendy's beef with Jennifer, so I don't feel like I have to go into that, and Gregory seems to not have an issue with her either (quite the opposite, in fact), yet why does Mr. Hoffman, Martha, and the rest of the orphans seems to be so harsh with Jenny?
We'll start with Hoffman, and just so you know, this is assuming that Hoffs is having a go at both Clara and Diana (because that rubbing goes on for far too long to be simply paternal, and he keeps circling her in a predatory fashion...I digress). I personally believe that Jennifer must have at one point been witness to the headmaster molesting Diana, which leads both of them to resent her for being an audience to a pretty embarrassing and shameful scene that they would want to keep secret. Since the game is all contained within Jennifer's memory, she must've seen the final cutscene of the Mermaid chapter in real life.
Hoffman, completely disgusted with himself, channels his self-hatred as an intense loathing of Jennifer, because without her seeing what was going on, he wouldn't have to come to terms with it. Finally, it all gets to him and he ends up leaving the orphanage to get away from the kids he's wronged, Jennifer being one of them.
Now, it's been pointed out that someone as small, young, and fragile as Wendy would not be able to manipulate Diana without the offer of some staggering reward. I agree, so why does Princess Di go along with the Jennifer torture with such zeal? Because she's also angry with Jenny, but for being witness to herself in a weak position instead of "snubbing" her. This girl has seen her cry, and whether or not you want to argue the reptilian aspects of her tears at the end of the Mermaid chapter, at some point early in Hoffman's advances, she must have had a sincere sob or two, which Jennifer could have seen.
"But Jess!" you say, "Eleanor and Meg saw the end of the Mermaid chapter too!"
Yes, yes they did. But unlike Jennifer, they probably never would have mentioned it to her (Eleanor cause she's not chatty and Meg out of respect) and so Diana has no idea that they know. Jenny, on the other hand, probably thought it would be a good idea to try and offer sympathy and so brought it up to Diana, who was most likely insulted and ashamed.
Meg has that thing about the letter, which I forgot to mention but is pretty straightforward. It's also possible that she felt threatened by Jennifer, since Diana seems a bit eager to manhandle her.
As for Martha, if Jennifer's memories about being blamed for everything hold any truth, the older woman could have seen her as a troublemaker. She may have also felt obligated to hate Jennifer since Hoffman is so insistent about it.
Clara's a bit harder, since I don't think she really disliked Jennifer in reality, but that maybe Jenny perceived it that way. You have to understand that Clara takes her cues on how to act adult from Hoffman and Martha, who both intensely dislike Jennifer, so it's possible that she felt they were justified in some way.
And, of course, everybody's still p.o.'d about getting murdered.
"But that wasn't Jennifer's fault at all!"
Not directly, no. But I think everyone could make the connection between Jennifer's kicking the crap out of Wendy and Wendy coming back with a man-beast to exact revenge.
Of course, if you take it a step further back, it's Wendy's fault for killing Brown in the first place--and then one more, it's Jenny's for choosing Brown to begin with.
So why isn't anyone harping on Wendy?
Well, cause she made good on her Stray Dog threat, so she's back in the seat of power in the weird dreamworld/purgatory where everyone seems pretty self-aware of what went down (with the obvious exception of Jennifer). They'd like to put Wendy in the Onion Bag or rub dirty rags in her face and whatnot, but they can't since she outranks them and her errand boy is still wandering around the airship.
However, in that one scene in the sickroom during The Rag Princess Sews where Wendy claims that Diana and the others beat her up for stealing the bear, it seems they found a loophole. You could say that Wendy was being manipulative and just saying that, but I really think that the kids saw an opportunity to vent some frustration on a target directly responsible for their deaths.
Why? Well, they have to know Wendy's the princess, because she's delivering spoken orders, and I think they all remember being mauled by her Stray Dog (otherwise her grip on power would slip), but Wendy can't reveal herself until Jennifer remembers herself. So if someone happens to mention to Jennifer that Wendy is a possible culprit, the others must take it seriously, lest they interfere with Jennifer's memory reload. And they do so gleefully.
Okay, that made much more sense in my head. But anyway, back to my original topic.
Furthermore, though Wendy was more responsible for killing everyone, Jennifer does remark in January that the newspaper article about their murder was shoved into obscurity thanks to the media finding out she survived the Titan--er, airship crash. The fact that the public didn't seem to care about a bunch of rural orphans hits a nerve with these unadopted and later abandoned kids, and they once again project their rage and frustration onto Jennifer.
So, I hope that at least made partial sense.
Also, as a side-note: how does one exactly play "airship" in real life? That baffles me, since I don't ever remember playing "airplane" as a kid.