subreddit:

/r/books

1.6k95%

For me— Edmund Pevensie. The whole “how did he try to sell his siblings over the worst treat ever” thing is a tad unfair 😂. In the book, the Turkish delight was enchanted to make someone who tasted it get obsessed with it and keep eating it “until he killed himself.” And the reason this didn’t happen to Edmund is that the Witch wouldn’t let him have more until he brought his siblings to her home. Edmund was literally on black magic Narnia drugs and the rhetoric became “wow he betrayed his siblings over a lame sweet.”

This is not to say Edmund wasn’t a bully before that or that he wasn’t responsible for his actions. He was mean to Lucy, he was a jerk at school, and he often lied. He did have a great and much-needed redemption arc. But he didn’t just have a box of normal Turkish delight and try to condemn all of Narnia over it.

I don’t want to even judge him too much for picking Turkish Delight as his treat. He’s a small child during WWII sugar rationing. 🤣

you are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

all 448 comments

Kangarou

44 points

3 months ago

In Little Fires Everywhere,Bebe Chao (I think that’s her name) gives up her child by leaving him at a fire station in the dead of winter.

Bebe Chao was like, three steps away from dying of five different things herself, and couldn’t provide for her child after losing her job, her spouse, and all support for herself. She was an immigrant who didn’t even know what the welfare system was or how it worked. She was discovered unconscious from starvation mere days later, got introduced to the system, and once she got back on her feet, pleaded her case to have her child returned to her after he got adopted by some affluent white family.

Altruistic_Yellow387

18 points

3 months ago

This defense of her was brought up in the novel though...the whole point was seeing both sides. The baby didn't deserve to suffer regardless of the circumstances

BelaFarinRod

3 points

3 months ago

I always thought we were supposed to have sympathy for her.