I think a lot of her issues with Jenna, Isobel, and John like we see in this scene are projection of some very legitimate anger at Miranda and Grayson for keeping so much from her about herself as the doppelganger and the world being so much more dangerous than she knew.
Ooooh, this is interesting! I don't fully agree with your reading (because, as far as I recall, Elena found out that her family knew about doppelgangers only after Jenna, Isobel and John were all dead), but of course you're right: she is angry with all of them for keeping the supernatural from her. There's actually a very nice parallel between the "realistic" and the "supernatural" here, Elena holding a grudge for her family keeping the supernatural a secret is directly link with Elena holding a grudge for her family not telling her she was adopted.
I think at least a part of her thinks that MAKING things work with Stefan is how to develop/show her strength. And that's a really toxic thing a lot of young women experience, empowerfulized channeling of their personal strength into romantic relationships, however bad it is for them.
YES. Elena views holding on to Stefan as a mission, a test she has to pass. If she prioritizes herself -- she failed.
Like, Stefan doesn't hate Katherine because of some passive observation of the "real her," he hates Katherine because she abused him.
It's true for Stefan, but I don't think it's true for what Elena knows about Stefan. If you look at the scene of him telling her about Katherine in 1x06, he frames his story very much as "I hated her because she was a monster, I was terrified the second I discovered what she was". And then he repeatedly says: "You're nothing like her, you're the opposite of everything she were". Stefan's attitude to Katherine isn't about her identity, but he makes it about identity when he talks to Elena, to simplify things. I don't think Stefan can even separate deeds from identity, which in its most extreme form leads to him breaking himself up into The Ripper and Stefan Proper. For Elena, the problem is more subtle, I think. From s1, she subconsciously believes that she's not better than Damon (that's why she can understand him), but she also builds in this Good Girl persona Stefan believes in. At the same time, she has this deep fear of not being real, being just a copy of a copy. In 4x06, she manages to integrate herself, she makes peace with every part of herself, which leads her to say "This is who I am now" in 4x07. The Katherine issue (= being a copy) remains, and it explodes after Elena flips the switch, which leads to her desire to kill Katherine in 4x21. Elena wants to self-destruct, she has too much of Elena on her hands, but she can't kill herself (the fight with Bonnie proved to her that she's actually afraid to die), and she can't switch her emotions off again (the people around her won't allow it). So she decides to kill herself by proxy -- to kill a part of herself by killing Katherine.
Ooooh, this is interesting! I don't fully agree with your reading (because, as far as I recall, Elena found out that her family knew about doppelgangers only after Jenna, Isobel and John were all dead), but of course you're right: she is angry with all of them for keeping the supernatural from her. There's actually a very nice parallel between the "realistic" and the "supernatural" here, Elena holding a grudge for her family keeping the supernatural a secret is directly link with Elena holding a grudge for her family not telling her she was adopted.
I think at least a part of her thinks that MAKING things work with Stefan is how to develop/show her strength. And that's a really toxic thing a lot of young women experience, empowerfulized channeling of their personal strength into romantic relationships, however bad it is for them.
YES. Elena views holding on to Stefan as a mission, a test she has to pass. If she prioritizes herself -- she failed.
Like, Stefan doesn't hate Katherine because of some passive observation of the "real her," he hates Katherine because she abused him.
It's true for Stefan, but I don't think it's true for what Elena knows about Stefan. If you look at the scene of him telling her about Katherine in 1x06, he frames his story very much as "I hated her because she was a monster, I was terrified the second I discovered what she was". And then he repeatedly says: "You're nothing like her, you're the opposite of everything she were". Stefan's attitude to Katherine isn't about her identity, but he makes it about identity when he talks to Elena, to simplify things. I don't think Stefan can even separate deeds from identity, which in its most extreme form leads to him breaking himself up into The Ripper and Stefan Proper. For Elena, the problem is more subtle, I think. From s1, she subconsciously believes that she's not better than Damon (that's why she can understand him), but she also builds in this Good Girl persona Stefan believes in. At the same time, she has this deep fear of not being real, being just a copy of a copy. In 4x06, she manages to integrate herself, she makes peace with every part of herself, which leads her to say "This is who I am now" in 4x07. The Katherine issue (= being a copy) remains, and it explodes after Elena flips the switch, which leads to her desire to kill Katherine in 4x21. Elena wants to self-destruct, she has too much of Elena on her hands, but she can't kill herself (the fight with Bonnie proved to her that she's actually afraid to die), and she can't switch her emotions off again (the people around her won't allow it). So she decides to kill herself by proxy -- to kill a part of herself by killing Katherine.
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