Karen's Surprise (15-20)

[xenaeilonwy]

Okay FINALLY guys I'm BACK. I'm gonna finish this snark now. Sorry about the long absence. I've been really busy over this summer. I'm going to finish this snark and also my Claudia and the First Thanksgiving snark, and then snark some new BSCs I got over the summer. (:

Other parts of the snark:
Chapters 1 through 6
Chapters 7 through 14Just as a

Comments

[ext_1747753]

That wouldn't be good teaching though. That would be her making excuses for bad behavior. Sure, understand, but don't let a kid be a brat. Karen isn't exactly well-liked, and it's because of her behavior. And as far as Karen thinks, she has two houses, and so the big house is still hers, and she was excited to gain sisters. Her real difficulty is in parents not cooperating.

We don't know the family dynamics of the other households. There could be deceased parents, kids living with grandparents, etc.. Divorce is never confirmed for anyone else, but even for the 80's it's asking a lot to have readers believe that only one kid in an entire classroom has biological parents who aren't married. With Karen's snotty attitude, it's not like we're really going to get to see the inside of other homes since she has so few friends.

Ms C. doesn't make excuses for the kids who are bullied or the sick kids, the very kids who should elicit more sympathy than a very rich little girl who gets just about everything her heart desires.

This is just a Mary Sue fantasy, and AMM actually believes Karen is precocious and cute.

[masterdivinity]

We actually do know dynamics of other households through what is mentioned and the Kids of Ms Colman's Class... All of them come from and live in nuclear families... even looking at BSC charges, of the regular charges I think only the Barretts are from divorce turned remarriage. the BSC themselves have more unconventional dynamics.

And while Karen may boast and think, there is a deeper subconscious, what we say is not always what we think. IN the earlier books Karen does get snarky and angry a few times with her parents in regards to their divorce, so its obvious she doesn't think it's the best at all times....

You can be excited about things but still find it hard, it's bittersweet. So yes she is excited about sisters, but then when things are hard it's like "ugh I wish they weren't divorced". I was excited to move to the coast from the central part, and as excited as I was and am to live here, I miss living centrally at holidays when my family is there I am not.

I know realistically that AMM thinks Karen is cute

[ext_1747753]

So it's okay for Ms. C. to give Karen special treatment? Even though none of the other kids with different situations get it even if sick? A lot of kids don't know they've been adopted, or that a parent isn't biological. Since we've seen some measure of change can happen, despite the time warp, it's plausible another child's parents have gotten divorced or are on the rocks. Some parents do try hiding their marital issues from their young children. Even if there's some happy-pill that keeps everyone together and Karen's parents forgot to take theirs, this is no reason to let her have a free pass on everything she does wrong.

Karen's sense of specialness comes from being a "two-two." With as much as she identifies and brags about having twice as much, I think she'd probably keep things this way. Sure, she doesn't like the bickering that happens, but would she give up the new family and the twice-as-much to get rid of it? I really don't think so. To her, married parents means parents who get along and don't put the kids in the middle. I think, if Watson and Lisa cooperated more, that she'd be perfectly happy. Watson not letting her see Lisa for Mother's Day without a fight, etc., is where her unhappiness with the divorce stems from. But Watson was probably a crappy dad before that too.

I think AMM has SMeyer-syndrome. Her little pet has to always have things work out perfectly by the end of the book with as little actual conflict as necessary so that minor conflict becomes major because the rest of life is so peachy. Karen's conflicts are almost always absolutely no big deal (even as a kid, I thought she was usually making something out of nothing, and only read the books because I had access to them and wanted to read every book I could get once before rereading any), and she suffers no consequences. It's like Bella in New Moon when the conflict of thinking the Volturi were after Renesmee because they thought she was an immortal child could have been cleared up with a phone call or letter letting them know Bella was impregnated as a human and her beating heart is proof she's not immortal, and deus ex machina with getting to keep her dad and all else after becoming a vampire. Conflict out of nothing and no consequences. Describes the work of both writers.

[masterdivinity]

Good grief I never said it was okay to get special treatment, but really- I teach kids and I let things slide with some kids... And keep in mind this is FICTION and I am talking purely about the kids in the class, of which Karen is the ONLY one with a non-nuclear family, and some of her behaviour I am sure comes from this, even if she thinks its awesome/brags, there are books where she is frustrated with the situation. And yeah of course she wouldn't change it because she likes it, but that doesn't mean she can't be annoyed at times.... good grief it's fiction