#i am in love with gansey

[the-moon-will-mourn]

now i haven't finished the dream thieves yet (i'm like,,, 7 chapters away from finishing) and i think this may contain spoilers???? but i'm not too sure yet. i'm basically gonna word vomit. i'm sorry for not using any quotes, i wish i could but i only have the ebook version and a very limited storage space on my phone where i can only have ~two books downloaded

like a normal person, i enjoy listening to video essays, see what creators want to explain to their audience and leave with a certain view, try to come to my own arguments about certain points in the videos, see if i can apply some points to other aspects of my life etc etc. (this was the type of shi that helped me with my eng lit essays rip i miss alevels) and like a normal british citizen i looked up stuff about classism in the uk. in the end, i found a video essay about classism in general and how the ultra rich try to mimic being poor to get away from their hard issues that comes with being rich (which, frankly, is probably a lot less compared to someone who is working class).

recently, i was talking to my friend about specifics in the book about certain characters and i remember we went onto the convo of making music playlists for the characters. they said "it's gonna be hard for adam [...] cuz his whole thing is about being unknowable" and it always struck me with how unknowable he truly is when reading his character because his character is intrinsically linked to his working class background. (context: i'm a middle class child of immigrants who built themselves in the uk)

it's very clear the kind of social commentary stiefvater wanted to make using adam's character with how isolating and alienating it can be coming from a working class background trying to assimilate yourself into a society of those protected and privileged enough to not have any problems with accessing opportunities. how class is a huge obstacle between interpersonal relationships and feeling safe enough to be vulnerable with your issues with being working class. how difference in class can cause one-sided shame because of the meritocratic society we're living in. how, no matter how much money you earn or how many connections you can make, your attachment to your working class identity can be enough reason to aim for something supernaturally larger than yourself.

it's evident that other characters overlook adam's social class because he's a "self-made man" (or smth) and mainly because he's their friend: adam. however, when we get a chapter in his pov, class is a driving factor in how he interacts and views everyone. we can see the privilege gansey and ronan have for being able to not even consider class as an intimidating aspect about themselves to a normal person, but it's everything to adam in the sense that he feels like his earned money doesn't give him access to a similar respect.

now that i truly think about it, it was a good idea for adam not to join them in monmouth manufacturing because it just feels like they're... mocking him in an indirect way? they have the ability to choose to live in a nice place and instead chose to live in a random, run-down building because it seemed aesthetic. adam was forced to live in a rundown trailer because that's all they could have afforded. i know gansey had good intentions for wanting adam to join them, but everything that he likes as an aesthetic (monmouth manufacturing, the run-down camaro, eating mint leaves instead of gum) can seem like he's flaunting the fact he can choose that lifestyle without any consequences.

back to the point of the meritocratic society (which we usually assume in books that take place in a similar world as our own) creating shame because of their class: the assumption that because someone has worked hard to earn what they have gives them a right to be proud. but this is the opposite for adam as he fights with the fact that he could have maybe be seen as even more equal to gansey if he had just been born with wealth.

we can frame it as, maybe, despite gansey's desire to appear working class, it only broadens the distance between him and adam. it only worsens adam's difficult relationship with his class shame despite probably wanting to be more relatable or even laid-back.

when reading the second book after his sacrifice, i was confused as to why adam was so un-adam-like. i mean, in the first book i didn't really understand him because of his huge insistance that his class makes him inherently inferior to everyone he surrounds himself with and i don't see class as an issue myself.

however, his sacrifice basically was watering the seed of ambition that was planted when he decided to aim for aglionby. it becamse clearer to me how much this opportunity to be superior, even if it's supernatural and terrifying, is important for him understanding in what he thinks he lacks. by those thoughts of what he lacks, he thought that this chance to be cabeswater's channel could be a way to compensate for his inferior social class. or something.

anyways, thank you for coming to my ted talk. this is not proofread, and my sister keeps nagging at me to shower. also i simp for gansey do not think this is me trying mischaracterising him i'm just trying to understand the theme of class in this series and having gansey as a figure to compare to is literally integral.

[flogisto]

i will never know a heartbreak greater than reading the prologue of the raven king and discovering that gansey knew the whole time

[squash1]

the raven cycle is looking at the lines in your hands, the lines in your grandmother’s hands and seeing tree roots, seeing rivers, seeing the veins of leaves. interconnected. separate, but together.

[ronandreams]

character aesthetics: blue sargent and richard gansey

impossibly, blue realized that this other blue was crying because she loved gansey. and that the reason gansey touched her like that, his fingers so careful with her, was because he knew that her kiss could kill him. okay, i'm ready. gansey's voice caught, just a little. blue, kiss me.

[millionsknives]

hey maggie wtf was all this

[funkyboxofinterests]

I think my DNA was altered by this book. 11/10 would recommend.

[evenstarfalls]

Never forget

[apppleioi]

am i am i am i adam. adam who works to live. to stay alive. physically and mentally. who goes to school. who wants to be and is top of his class. who will do anything to do well in school. who is empowered by knowledge. who perseveres despite not being supported. everyone telling him to rest.

or am i. am i gansey who works to live. to stay alive. physically and mentally. who hates school. who does the minimum because he knows it’s hindering him. who is a scholar anyways. who is restless with knowledge but doesnt care for school. who only goes there cause he always has. cause he has to. cause it’s expected of him. cause he can’t rest.

am i noah? am i dead. am i dying?

[moonssugar]

bllb chapter 12 i cant believe maggie deleted the part where gansey kisses adam goodnight before he leaves

[cabeswaterdrowned]

okay I’m not actually going to publish that poll because I think the results would be boring but it was who of the not explicitly queer trc mcs (so other than Ronan Adam Carmen Hennessy and Jordan) is the least queer / most heterosexual to you, essentially if you had to assign one of them as the token straight even if you do generally hc them as something else who would it be. So the candidates (from most to least queer from my pov) are Gansey Henry Blue Noah Declan and Matthew, if Matthew is counted as a main character I do think he would sweep which makes sense. Part of why I wanted to make this poll was because I was curious if anyone would actually vote Gansey/Henry on that and if they did I could block them over it.

[ravens-and-foxes]

family photo✨

[pixiesnooze]

“if adam was stupid about his pride, gansey was stupid about adam” right. okay.

[squash1]

no thoughts just adam gently wiping each of ronan’s nightwash tears, that are also real tears, from his eyes and showing him the remnants of each tear, as if to say, i see these and you should too.

[threefuckencrowsinaleatherjacket]

So are any of you bumfucks on this godforsaken app gonna talk about how Brazil (Declan McKenna) was written By and For Ronan Lynch or am I gonna have to do it myself let’s do this bitches

Fair warning I’m sorta really bad at analysis according to every English teacher I’ve ever had so this is a lot of me freaking out but I think it turned out ok (this took half a year)

Starting off strong with Cars and Animals (Ronan’s favourite) !! Anyway the vibe I’m getting from this is like. The barns and then the He’s got eyes talks like an angel looks like me part is about the like. Greywaren vs Ronan Lynch dream vs human stuff we see in Greywaren (not super spoilery but it kinda doesn’t make sense unless u read the book lmao)

I could write a whole second post as long as this one just about this line but let me unpack this because ohhh my god. First up the use of religion is so perfect for mister Lynch over here and then. IM THE FACE OF GOD IM MY FATHERS SON IS INSANE FOR HIM IM GOING SO FERAL OVER THIS HE LITERALLY IS GOD AND HES HIS FATHERS SON (“and Ronan was everything that was left: molten eyes and a smile made for war” and also The Scene in TRK where Adam goes into Ronan’s room and thinks Niall is sitting on the bed) THIS IS CANON

He’s Not what u think u see he looks so mean but he just wants his little farm and for his husband to get into heaven when he dies (he’s worried about his agnostic tendencies) jk but this is 100% ab stereotypes and how Ronan doesn’t rly fit into what anyone thinks he is (the whole thing about Adam wanting to be unknowable and realizing Ronan Is Unknowable [poetry chefs kiss])

Can’t eat leather is so self explanatory. The bracelets are RIGHT THERE you can’t fool me Mr mckenna

I’m done. I’m done. I don’t even need to keep explaining this it’s RIGHT THERE AGH

And onto the ecoterrorism

I’m kidding (not really) bc this part always makes me think of literally the Entire Plot of TDT when Ronan is going around destroying capitalism to save dreamers. This IS the servers scene and the underwater pipeline and the Mirrors lady and also the way all of TDT is about self discovery and learning who you are and how to deal with that in a society made to destroy you and how isolating and sad that is (it gets him down 😞) and I can KEEP GOING

And just the way the song is so melancholy and also happy at once hits me so hard cause it feels like what the Barns does when you read the book like it SOUNDS like something Aurora would sing to kid Ronan it’s so homey and sweet but also sad and perfect

And obviously I don’t go through the whole song here but I feel that I’ve made my case sufficiently enough thanks for reading this far I love u mwah

[crimeronan]

luz going from cheerfully tackling and being super touchy-feely and physical with hunter to seeing how badly he responds to touch/affection when he's upset to giving him space while he cries and only hugging him after he takes a breath and lets her close.....

[themurdersquashsong2]

I have officially decided that tumblr is now my own personal skoob bc the actual skoob is all bugged so now all of you are obliged to stand me here 24/7 while I (re)read the raven cycle, sorry people😚😚😚😚😚😚😚😚