Specific character questions?

[Cat]

Do you have a question about a specific IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS character? I'd be happy to give you an answer.

[[deleted user]]

I would love more insight on Aunt Eva. Sometimes she was great and other times she acted like a pathetic, simpering, little girl, unwilling to believe anything wrong of the man of her affections. Believing any nasty thing HE said about Mary Shelley. It was really scary that one second she sees both herself and Mary Shelley on the same maturity level, and the next thing you know Aunt Eva is accusing Mary Shelly of being some promiscuous girl with lust addled brains, when in reality, that is she. I often wanted to slap her, and by the end I was OK with her, but by no means did I LIKE her.

[Cat]

Readers seem to have a love/hate relationship with Aunt Eva more than any other character. I've always seen her as a woman who's pushed to the edge, and the world isn't necessarily bringing out the best in her. She was widowed at age 26, she had to give up her job as a translator to avoid admitting she spoke German, and she's forced into taking care of a headstrong teenage girl only ten years younger than her...in the middle of a terrifying flu pandemic and a war. As Mary Shelley's dad said in his letter to M.S., "When faced with the worst horrors the world has to offer, a person either cracks and succumbs to the ugliness, or they salvage the inner core of who they are and fight to right wrongs." Aunt Eva definitely succumbs to the paranoia and gullibility of this time period, as so many people did in 1918, but I believe she also continuously battles to keep a firm grip on who she was originally.

*A somewhat spoilery part of the answer* I hope that by the time we reach Aunt Eva's final scenes in the book, readers who hate her (and some have said they want her to die), can see her calming down and learning how to cope with life a little better. After all, she's a woman who's capable of booting out a man who's over six feet tall when he was hurting her niece. I truly believe she needs M.S., and M.S. needs her...to balance each other out and protect each other.

[[deleted user]]

Thank you for this answer! I was probably too harsh on her considering her situation. I have a tendency to judge the character's actions regardless of what environment they are in. *sheepish look* I'm working on that... Also, even if a character is more likable at the end I tend to stick with my first opinion of them. Otherwise it feels like I am betraying my earlier self's opinion, and I am WAY too stubborn to admit I didn't get the character at first. Yea.... Working on THAT too. Thanks for showing me another side of Aunt Eva, I will now definitely have a more open minded approach to her the next time I read it!

[Cat]

Thanks, Wilhelmina. You're free to be harsh on Aunt Eva if you still choose. :) Even Mary Shelley isn't always thrilled about her behavior.