'Hugo was in the lift, arms wrapped around his knees, staring at nothing. So I shut the lift again.'
Hey, I'm back for the second time this week. Well, I now I just posted about Dave, but dear Lord, I need to write an psychoanalyzing essay on him. So please excuse this post if you don't mind.
So. Dave Strider, for those of you who don't know, is a 13-year-old boy who grew up with his older brother, Bro, in an apartment in Texas. His life seems to be defined by his brother's examples; he strives to be as cool and ironic as Bro in everything he does. He has a constant pokerface up, likes to rap, is best buddies with John, Rose and Jade, and seems to stay calm in even the most stressful situations.
The thing is, living with someone like Bro would definitely be deconstructive. Bro owns a puppet sex-toy business, and their apartment is littered with booby traps full of the things. Bro and Dave often go on the roof to have full-on sword fights, and it is implied that being in the Strider household means you need to constantly be alert. They keep sharp swords in the fridge, throwing stars in the blender, and all manners of weaponry in secret areas. Bro seems to sometimes sneak up on Dave and attack him, and vice-versa.
Obviously this is played for laughs, but being the psychologist-to-be I am, I have to wonder what would happen to Dave if this was serious? Even as comedy, you can tell the effects it has on him. He is obviously emotionally repressed. I like to believe that Bro, being the immature man he is, never quite knew what to do with Dave, and so enforced a strict 'stay cool' law in their house. As in, he discouraged any emotional displays, as he had no idea what to do when they happened. So Dave would have grown up with morals that told him to ignore his feelings and keep cool.
As anyone who is familiar with emotional repression knows, those feelings have to escape in some other form. I believe this is how he picked up rapping; a way to release his emotions while still 'keeping cool'. But that could only go so far. This is where the puppets come in. Dave grew up in a household that had no limits to sexualizing anything. I'm sure Bro encouraged any sexual activities, probably to the embarassment of Dave at first, who probably grew used to it after a while. So, the obvious outlet open to him would be sex. Especially at 13, he's probably going through puberty, and that would not only give him lots more emotions that need to escape, but also an increasingly perfect oppurtunity for release. As the years go by, he will probably find himself engaging in sexual activities more and more.
However, then the whole Sburb thing happened, so who knows what kind of psychological effect that could have on him. He has definitely grown closer to his friends, and the death of Bro probably cracked his shell, too. With the influence of all these major events, it's likely that he will opt to take a different path than the one he was heading down. He will probably open up more to others, allowing for a healthier route for his feelings to take.
And that doesn't cover what extra problems the Sburb events will have on him. Time travel is obviouslly going to leave some marks on him. Seeing yourself dead a hundred times over can do a lot to you, I'm sure. It must be difficult for him, having to keep track of what happened in the past and make sure that in the future he goes back and completes the loop. I'm sure it would feel like an extreme burden for him, making sure his timeline stays stitched together, trying to avoid dead ends, always expecting to find himself dead somewhere. I'm sure that would make him feel angry and scared. And this would just lead to more cracking of his shell.
Another thing he would have to struggle with is possibly being jealous over John. Now, this isn't a problem he has in canon, but it is implied as a possibility. We don't get to see much behind his poker face, after all. But I believe he may have a bit of envy of the other boy's God Tier status. Obviously, Bro's influence would have made him want to always be on top. He would definitely be uncomfortable, knowing the person he thought of as his most equal was higher than him. It would awaken many feelings in him. He would have grown up feeling like Bro was the best, and he came in second. That was the way it always was for him. Now that Bro is dead, and John is higher than him, I'm sure that would cause some anger over his brother's death to be misdirected towards John. And that, in turn, would have made himconfused and upset at himself for hating his best friend.
Tl;dr: Dave has lots of problems.
So. Dave Strider, for those of you who don't know, is a 13-year-old boy who grew up with his older brother, Bro, in an apartment in Texas. His life seems to be defined by his brother's examples; he strives to be as cool and ironic as Bro in everything he does. He has a constant pokerface up, likes to rap, is best buddies with John, Rose and Jade, and seems to stay calm in even the most stressful situations.
The thing is, living with someone like Bro would definitely be deconstructive. Bro owns a puppet sex-toy business, and their apartment is littered with booby traps full of the things. Bro and Dave often go on the roof to have full-on sword fights, and it is implied that being in the Strider household means you need to constantly be alert. They keep sharp swords in the fridge, throwing stars in the blender, and all manners of weaponry in secret areas. Bro seems to sometimes sneak up on Dave and attack him, and vice-versa.
Obviously this is played for laughs, but being the psychologist-to-be I am, I have to wonder what would happen to Dave if this was serious? Even as comedy, you can tell the effects it has on him. He is obviously emotionally repressed. I like to believe that Bro, being the immature man he is, never quite knew what to do with Dave, and so enforced a strict 'stay cool' law in their house. As in, he discouraged any emotional displays, as he had no idea what to do when they happened. So Dave would have grown up with morals that told him to ignore his feelings and keep cool.
As anyone who is familiar with emotional repression knows, those feelings have to escape in some other form. I believe this is how he picked up rapping; a way to release his emotions while still 'keeping cool'. But that could only go so far. This is where the puppets come in. Dave grew up in a household that had no limits to sexualizing anything. I'm sure Bro encouraged any sexual activities, probably to the embarassment of Dave at first, who probably grew used to it after a while. So, the obvious outlet open to him would be sex. Especially at 13, he's probably going through puberty, and that would not only give him lots more emotions that need to escape, but also an increasingly perfect oppurtunity for release. As the years go by, he will probably find himself engaging in sexual activities more and more.
However, then the whole Sburb thing happened, so who knows what kind of psychological effect that could have on him. He has definitely grown closer to his friends, and the death of Bro probably cracked his shell, too. With the influence of all these major events, it's likely that he will opt to take a different path than the one he was heading down. He will probably open up more to others, allowing for a healthier route for his feelings to take.
And that doesn't cover what extra problems the Sburb events will have on him. Time travel is obviouslly going to leave some marks on him. Seeing yourself dead a hundred times over can do a lot to you, I'm sure. It must be difficult for him, having to keep track of what happened in the past and make sure that in the future he goes back and completes the loop. I'm sure it would feel like an extreme burden for him, making sure his timeline stays stitched together, trying to avoid dead ends, always expecting to find himself dead somewhere. I'm sure that would make him feel angry and scared. And this would just lead to more cracking of his shell.
Another thing he would have to struggle with is possibly being jealous over John. Now, this isn't a problem he has in canon, but it is implied as a possibility. We don't get to see much behind his poker face, after all. But I believe he may have a bit of envy of the other boy's God Tier status. Obviously, Bro's influence would have made him want to always be on top. He would definitely be uncomfortable, knowing the person he thought of as his most equal was higher than him. It would awaken many feelings in him. He would have grown up feeling like Bro was the best, and he came in second. That was the way it always was for him. Now that Bro is dead, and John is higher than him, I'm sure that would cause some anger over his brother's death to be misdirected towards John. And that, in turn, would have made himconfused and upset at himself for hating his best friend.
Tl;dr: Dave has lots of problems.