@riflow Thank you! She's completely realistic and not even a little uncommon. It makes me so sad to see how many don't see how she's not a harmless/neutral character. The writer does a really good job not demonizing her so we can have this kind of conversation lol. Ultimately a character like mj can only be clocked if she's an ugly stepsister etc huh?
She isn't nice bc she's a nice person she's nice bc she's never had to fear her place in a household, she's literally never had to worry about being thrown away by anyone bc altho she was raised as a commoner she's had the privilege of winning at life no matter what it is and always having her family provide for her even the normal things you should figure out yourself. It's this bald faced main character confidence that everyone and everything is fine even while she's sat there as her dad and mum are actively neglecting and in the dads case abusing her older sister while she effing joins in by getting close to her no matter how far vio tried to pull back.
Very well said. She's so sheltered and living in her own happy bubble which would be fine if there wasn't someone bleeding for her to have had that kind of life. And now that person has to live and care for the girl who benefits the most from her neglectedness. The worst part is Vio just wants to have as little to do with those three (and the prince) as possible but mj in her tone deafness and disinterest in trying to read Violette's mood, forces Vio to spend time with her (tea time, study group, summer trip etc). What Vio wants doesn't enter her thoughts whatsoever. And they're not so close where one should assume the other would want to spend time together.
I hope eventually we get to see maryjun and that damn Prince, realise just how much pain they've put vio through. Also I want someone to shoot the dad into a den of poisonous snakes.
Yes! Justice for Vio! I want Yulan and Vio to become king and queen.
@Dragontrainer You don't marry someone just to protect them lol. That's how they got close but surely not why he wanted to marry her.
I think her observational skills aren't lacking in general though: she's able to notice things like how close Yulan and Vio are and that makes her gain interest in Yulan herself. It was probably the same last timeline with the prince: she noticed who Vio is interested in and she became interested in him too. There are other examples of mj being quick to notice things but it's been a while since I've read it. Furthermore, it's not like people aren't telling (bullying) mj about the reality of her home but for some reason, mj doesn't seem to be concerned about how Vio is feeling. Remember Yulan checking in on Vio about the whole situation during mj's welcoming tea party? We never see mj taking any kind of interest in how Vio must be feeling with everything going on. Perhaps it's awkward for her but her happy-go-lucky attitude in front of her family makes me think otherwise.
My problem with thinking mj just loves her father etc is that, wouldn't you feel sorry for the child your father didn't raise if your father is so wonderful? Wouldn't you want them to finally get time together? But mj is totally fine with being the only one to bask in her father's affection.
About the mother: isn't that even more reason for those three to be more loving to Vio? But they don't seem to have any such intention. More like mj just wants this perfect relationship with her big sister without any added context or acknowledgement of past history.
Of course the father is a bit careful to not show his true nature to mj but he doesn't hide the fact that he only pays attention to mj and her mom (and has since mj was born).
@Hobnobs Idk I find Maryjun interesting. She's not an evil person but she causes cruel pain regardless. It's very real. And irl, people don't change but it's enjoyable seeing Violette's painstaking effort to navigate someone like Maryjun. I think any character development that happens with Maryjun that isn't careful can make all of this not as worthwhile.
@iskaeil Mj would only stop being a commoner if the first wife died and the duke remarried. The backstory isn't there, but I'm pretty sure noble and royal education are restricted to their respective classes. So I'm sure mj had the proper training for a commoner but she wouldn't have access to a noble's education. Did her father neglect her quite a bit by not making sure she was ready to match her new peers before sending her to school? Sure but the first wife just died and it's the beginning of a new term. It would also take so much time to bring her up to speed with some instructors when they probably wanted her join society since she's already missed out for 16 years. He pushed society's acceptance of her with that tea party attended by all the important families. Honestly, was he so wrong since she ended up getting engaged to the prince lol
Did anyone teach Vio about situational awareness? Because she was raised by servants and a mentally unstable mother yet she's able to perfectly understand what's going on around her. From how to maneuver in society to gain followers to knowing exactly what kind of talk her father's actions have inspired. You don't need to be taught but it is directly related to your interests. Mj just isn't interested in anything outside her happy bubble which would be fine if she wasn't causing pain to Vio with her obliviousness.
That's the thing though. She is taking it too far because she's endangering the tiny amount of peace Vio has carved out for herself in that house: escaping those three as much as possible.