Chapter 18: I love your writing. The amazing thing about your writing is that the characters aren't flat like most fanfic shows, but are deep and complex. They have reasons why they act the way they do. Their emotions and hardships mirror those of people in the real world. I actually know people like Minhee who are always nice, mysterious people who avoid others like Jungkook, and people who have a good heart but sometimes can be noisy and annoying like Jackson. I'm not native and I might have chosen the wrong words in my previous deleted comment so let me retype it here... What I mean is that I don't get why Minhee is so determined to make Jungkook her first friend despite his constant attempts to push her away. The choice is all in her tiny hand, so why must Jungkook who clearly refuses to believe in her existence? If she only wants to try to make "first friend" like she said in her definition of theory? It's not like there's no Jackson, Sungyeol, or any other students like single ladies club who are friendly to her. Idk but it appears to me that she chose and is trying to befriend him because he reminds her of her own self, that she thinks he’s as lonely as herself and still doesn't know how to make friends...? Idk the reason why Minhee tried to make him her first friend in the first place keeps bugging me after reading her definition of theory... Is she really that angelic kind of person, or is she trying to make herself feel "better" by knowing in her heart that he would only become more miserable if she didn’t step up and reach her hand for him? That she’s staying by his side out of pity?

 

 

 

mistressdean Nov 30, 2015 23:19:51   

 

I'm genuinely pleased you raised these questions instead of just accepting everything as they are on the surface, so I'll respond to the best of my abilities. This is actually a fun and interesting discussion and I hope you'll enjoy it with me :)

Personally, one of the most difficult parts about writing is getting to know my characters. No matter what, there will continued to be more to reveal and more to question. I question and self-reflect every day when I write, and although Minhee is made out to be an angel who only wants to be nice, I'm not naive to believe she's doing it entirely for someone else's benefit. Sometimes, people do nice things because it makes themselves feel better. I'm not saying that she's intentionally feeding her ego or trying to be super likable and supportive, but she does nice things for many reasons:

1) I believe her acts of kindness stemmed from her insecurity. She is, after all, a timid person. Being nice makes up for what she lacks. Now, nice is as much a personality trait as it is an action in the moment. Like I said, I don't believe anyone can just be nice, but you can ACT nice. However, neither do I believe anyone can just be a mean person. A person isn't solely white and black. There are shades of gray in between too.
(I just want to say that when she volunteered to be a mascot, it wasn't out of kindness but guilt.)

 

2) Minhee is aspired to be a better person because of the people around her. From what I'm getting from your comment "It's not like there's no Jackson, Sungyeol, or any other students like single ladies club who are friendly to her. etc," I'm uncertain about what you're implying, so I'll simply address my assumptions. By choosing to befriend a person who pushed her away doesn't mean Minhee disregarded the friendly tactics/approaches of her other friends. As a matter of fact, she embraced their friendliness and it's what she wanted to do for Jungkook. If she chose to remain friends with only those who were nice to her, then what does it say about her character? That she's not willing to be friends with anyone who doesn't fall to her feet? That she won't make room for honesty and cynicism just because it isn't easy? Meeting Jungkook helped Minhee become more open-minded about friends. Even though Minhee is a coward at times, I believe she is brave when it matters most.

 

3) Minhee is not someone who pities. She is an empathetic person. To clarify, I'll give you the definitions.

Pity/Sympathy: feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune.
Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

What people generally do is IDENTIFY sorrow, but rarely do they UNDERSTAND or RELATE to sorrow. Most of all, those who does the pitying aren't usually the ones to take action, which is why I think pity is an empty expression. Too easily, "pity" is used in the wrong sense and it's definitely not a word I would use to describe the growing friendship between Minhee and Jungkook.
So if anyone is pitying Jungkook. I think it be would because a reader is projecting their own pity.
Minhee has empathized since the beginning.
There is the time when a female student confessed her feelings to Jungkook and he was brutally honest to her. Minhee spoke out about it because she could relate to the girl's reaction. Minhee had been on that end before; the end of Jungkook's blunt treatment. Even when she knew he was right, she didn't find his behavior entirely acceptable.
The most specific and important one: the time she helped Jungkook (the notebook loan), which was mainly out of empathy. Recall every interaction in Chapter 14 013 (the earphone chapter), including the conversation when Minhee asked about the definition assignments and she agreed with his perception.

 

She then acknowledged the perception which she suspected Jungkook had of himself— he felt his grades was the extent of his value at school. On the other hand, she felt that her value was the Minkook otp. Without it, no one would care about her just how no one would care about him if it wasn't for his brains. She knew the struggle of appearances, of people asking and expecting things from you, of wanting nothing but understanding. She didn't need explanations or excuses and she wanted Jungkook to believe her. Hence, the notebook and her offer of friendship.

Just keep in mind that Minhee doesn't see Jungkook the way we do. We, the readers/outsiders, get to read his definitions and point of view. Because of this, we get to sort of see his misery and the sad— and sometimes dark— undertones of his words. Minhee has witnessed little cracks here and there, but not enough to know that Jungkook is more troubled than he lets on. If we removed everything Jungkook had shown us and everything Taehyung had shown us and we only took into account what Minhee knew about his family and genius reputation, then we would see him as nothing more than a teenager with problems just like every other teenager in the world. Nobody knows he has a big and serious secret, but we do.

I know it's confusing, but it's a strategy I have to use when I write from Minhee's unsuspecting point of view. It's quite difficult at times, knowing what I know. Haha.


I hope this clears things up :) I don't do well with explanations, as I do want and encourage my readers to interpret and dig deeper for themselves. When I write, I don't like to spell out every single thing and neither do I want my characters to always do the same. Therefore, I tend to be confusing when I, both, show and tell.

 

 

Which leads me back to the point of the definitions. I found it would be more effective to have Minhee "tell a story" about herself. Her definition of theory was an enlightenment. She recognized that she was an insecure and cowardly person because she was used to people reaching out to her first. As she pointed out, Jackson, Sungyeol, Red, and the others in the Single Ladies befriended her first. She didn't make a single friend through HER OWN efforts, which was why she wanted to make Jungkook the "first friend" through her own efforts. So why Jungkook? It wasn't because he would be a challenge or any other shallow reason, for that matter. It was because she empathized with him. This definition is where I wanted readers to make connections if they already hadn't. (A reviewer made the connection earlier on, several chapters before, and I was glad for it.) If you can recall in the previous firsts chapters, Jungkook pointed out one or two times that he only had friends because of his cousin Taehyung and he hadn't truly consider Jackson or Sungyeol as his friends. On a level, Minhee was the same when it came to Lizzy, who is like family to her. She had friends through Lizzy and only Lizzy. So yes, Minhee could relate to him on the subject of not knowing how to make friends and it's why she fixated on him as her "first friend." However, loneliness would not be the ground of their friendship because Minhee didn't seek out Jungkook because they were both lonely and in need of companionship. In the present, they do have their MOMENTS of loneliness, but that can easily be rectified by their friends (Minhee by Jackson and Sungyeol, the ones who make her laugh and feel welcomed. Jungkook by Taehyung who has time to come over for movies and just to talk).

Take note that Minhee spoke in past tense in her definition of "theory" and she compared Jungkook to her past-self, the one who didn't know how to approach others and waited for others to come to her. She wanted to be different from the past and it was one of the reasons which fueled her to become a good friend to Jungkook. (Now, I'm just going around in circles.) In conclusion, she did not choose him out of pity or loneliness nor of obligation. She had no obligation to him, yet she gave him the notebook because he depended on it and that was enough.

She undeniably and happily chose him out of her own free will.

I have a feeling she would chose him over and over again.



(Whoa, this is a long reply. There is a character limit, so I had to split my comment replies.)
If you have any more questions or anything you like to discuss, please feel free to do so :)

 

Last but not least, thank you so much for your love and praises <3 It is immensely appreciated!