I have enjoyed reading a lot of the criticism directed at Cassie's character here, because it's something I never thought particularly deeply about when reading the books, and Cassie has always sat fairly firmly in the middle of my personal ranking of the Animorphs, below Tobias, Ax and Jake but above Rachel and Marco, so I don't have strong feelings about her either way. But I don't like the character-bashing, and it doesn't add anything to the discussion; it only closes down lines of argument by making it somehow not ok to admit that you like Cassie (or any other character that happens to be the focus of the hatred).
Cassie is flawed because she attempts to adhere too strictly to an over-idealistic system of personal morals which she also applies inconsistently, making a strong stand on certain points, or on certain occasions, and then not on others. She's also (on average) 14 or 15 years old - this doesn't make her a bad person, this just makes her a TEENAGER, and a very well-depicted one too. What I appreciate about Cassie is that while she doesn't have all the answers and she does make some major mistakes, she does ask the right questions. And while I certainly don't dislike Rachel and Marco, their flaws worry me much more.
I also hold a somewhat controversial point of view by absolutely loving #19. I think it's one of the stand-out books of the series. I simply don't understand the whole furore about Cassie leaving the Animorphs - it seems fairly obvious she would have returned in a short time anyway, even if she'd never met Karen, and also, well, do not a number of the other Animorphs seriously consider leaving the fight? The obvious examples are Marco in #5 (he makes it quite clear he's going to leave, and actually that book could have been plotted in such a way that he does leave, then returns once finding out his mum is V1) and Rachel in #7, but you could even stretch it slightly to include Tobias in #3 and Jake in MM#4. That leaves Ax with the shining moral record - but then wasn't he always considering heading back to the Andalites?
As for the rest of #19, Cassie makes some very major mistakes, which do highlight the flaws I mentioned above. But she is nothing short of heroic in her final decision to become a caterpillar nothlit. If she'd backed out at this point, people really would be much more justified in calling her a hypocrite - but she didn't. I think this is pretty much her finest moment.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2010-06-05 04:59 pm (UTC)I have enjoyed reading a lot of the criticism directed at Cassie's character here, because it's something I never thought particularly deeply about when reading the books, and Cassie has always sat fairly firmly in the middle of my personal ranking of the Animorphs, below Tobias, Ax and Jake but above Rachel and Marco, so I don't have strong feelings about her either way. But I don't like the character-bashing, and it doesn't add anything to the discussion; it only closes down lines of argument by making it somehow not ok to admit that you like Cassie (or any other character that happens to be the focus of the hatred).
Cassie is flawed because she attempts to adhere too strictly to an over-idealistic system of personal morals which she also applies inconsistently, making a strong stand on certain points, or on certain occasions, and then not on others. She's also (on average) 14 or 15 years old - this doesn't make her a bad person, this just makes her a TEENAGER, and a very well-depicted one too. What I appreciate about Cassie is that while she doesn't have all the answers and she does make some major mistakes, she does ask the right questions. And while I certainly don't dislike Rachel and Marco, their flaws worry me much more.
I also hold a somewhat controversial point of view by absolutely loving #19. I think it's one of the stand-out books of the series. I simply don't understand the whole furore about Cassie leaving the Animorphs - it seems fairly obvious she would have returned in a short time anyway, even if she'd never met Karen, and also, well, do not a number of the other Animorphs seriously consider leaving the fight? The obvious examples are Marco in #5 (he makes it quite clear he's going to leave, and actually that book could have been plotted in such a way that he does leave, then returns once finding out his mum is V1) and Rachel in #7, but you could even stretch it slightly to include Tobias in #3 and Jake in MM#4. That leaves Ax with the shining moral record - but then wasn't he always considering heading back to the Andalites?
As for the rest of #19, Cassie makes some very major mistakes, which do highlight the flaws I mentioned above. But she is nothing short of heroic in her final decision to become a caterpillar nothlit. If she'd backed out at this point, people really would be much more justified in calling her a hypocrite - but she didn't. I think this is pretty much her finest moment.