resilience: the ability to become strong, healthy, or successful again after something bad happens
I have this idea that Sam is resilient, Dean isn’t. Then again I might be wrong, or it’s not as simple as that. Maybe both are a bit of both. Maybe it depends on your own point of view.
My instinct goes with Dean not being as resilient as Sam, though.
Do you guys have any thoughts on this?
This is a great character question. I think they are equally resilient, they just have different ways of achieving it. We've seen a variety of coping mechanisms and how quickly (or slowly) they bounce back from something.
We've seen both of them have breakdowns, turn to addiction, become something "other" after major events (usually one of them dying) - but ultimately they both find ways of dealing with it all. Dean's has been drink (in the past and maybe still?) and Sam's has been a dogged determination (obsessiveness?). Dean makes deals and tries to set thing "right" immediately. Sam has either tired to escape or work tirelessly to solve the problem (I'm thinking S10 mostly). And then, when things are back to "normal" Dean seems to internalise and probably does a lot of self talk to tell himself things are ok and Sam seems to bury himself in research or reading. And then there's the simple things - like food, watching the stars, watching a movie, a game of pool, a night out - that help them mentally get back on track.
So yeah, I think both are definitely resilient (hee, they have to be or they'd be blathering wrecks each week *g*), but the nature of their resilience is very much part of their individual characterisations.
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I reckon that you're right - they both have to be resilient to be able to still function after everything :D
And yes, so true that they both have very different ways of coping.
I think the reason why I feel Sam to be more resilient than Dean is probably that I just don't pay as much attention to him and so my judgment is skewed, seeing as how I just notice more stuff regarding Dean.
Thank you for your comment, and thanks for popping by again :)
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