@Ceereus - From what we’ve seen, the only people who like Maryjun are her parents and the prince. Everyone else seem to be either neutral or dislike her. The parents liking her is self explanatory and would require no social grace from her part. Also, it’s heavily implied the only reason the prince liked her is because he was protective of her. Again, no need for any work on her part for that. In fact... no one seems to ever really listen to her. Like... at all. They just assume things about the situation and push their opinion on her (i.e., the many many times she tried to defend her sister and convince others that Vio’s a good person). I’m not saying she completely lacks social skills. She’s perfectly capable of carrying on a conversation. It’s just that her observational skills are lacking and her intelligence should not imply otherwise.
Keep in mind, I agree with most of what you’ve said about Maryjun. I think your analysis of her character is the most accurate I’ve seen so far. I’m just trying to come up with a few theories that might explain her obliviousness as it’s a huge missing piece of the puzzle here.
Hmm... maybe Maryjun is blinded by her love for her father? She doesn’t notice her father’s abusive behaviour toward Vio because she cannot comprehend that her father could be anything but a good man. Remember, she was raised by this man. Unlike a noble family, she was raised as a commoner in a (comparatively) small home, meaning she got to spend plenty of time with her father growing up. That’s plenty of time for her father to tell her whatever story he liked about his time as a noble. She’s become so blindly loyal to her father that her brain basically refuses to find any fault in him. Her biases are keeping her from seeing the whole truth.
Another theory I have in mind is that Maryjun is aware of what Vio’s mother was like and therefore could not understand why Vio would ever miss someone like that. This is not exclusive with the previous theory. In fact, her father could’ve told her a story about Vio’s mother that put himself in a more sympathetic light. Basically, all the blame got pushed onto Vio’s mother. Maryjun, in her naïveté, thinks she could heal Vio’s wounds and does not understand her father’s complicity in all of this. In her eyes, the loving father who raised her could do no wrong.
I went back and checked, but I’m still not entirely sure. I think the father only acts indifferent toward Vio while in front of Maryjun. The real emotional abuse happens behind closed doors (i.e., end of first chapter in the office). That one time the father actively dismissed Vio’s contributions to helping Maryjun with violin, Maryjun tried to correct him before they were interrupted. It seems to me she thought it was more of a misunderstanding than anything actively malicious.
