#ok but genuinely the simultaneous desire for jo to

[sneakystorms]

Appreciation of little women's genuinely feminist messaging for its time and place of writing vs disgust at the all too obvious lingering sexist undertones vs wanting jo to be the queer icon she was meant to be vs understanding her desire to be able to fall on love without having her independence questioned vs knowledge that her marrying was certainly motivated by the expectations of a sexist audience vs wanting her and Laurie to end up together because you want to see couples who are actual friends and also you want Jo to be with someone who unapologetically likes her gender nonconformity and independence vs appreciating the inclusion of a plotline where a woman refuses a man and isn't demonised for it vs acknowledging the truthfulness of Jo's claim that people who make good friends won't necessarily make good life partners vs agreeing with the moral that childhood must end and change must be accepted vs hating the way every girl's process of maturing conveniently brings her closer to the motherly American housewife ideal vs i love stories where authors aren't coy about their beliefs vs this particular story is so blatant and pushy with its messaging it almost feels insulting vs the messaging itself is a mixed bag vs it's especially frustrating to see the writer vicariously pat herself on the back for writing something neither overly preachy nor amorally sensational vs oh my god this book is so obnoxiously christian. Fight

[hopeshoodie]

Why is your user hopeshoodie? I liked bublybabynails better

LOL I definitely lost a lot of 'brand recognition' or whatever when I changed it, but bubblybabynailpolish was just too long and too obscure. Conversely, I could talk about the hoodie scene for hours.

I'm obsessed with how Noah and Hope interact and treat themselves and each other, in that scene (and the baby scene) specifically.

Ok first of all I love how MC’s only tangentially involved, we hear Noah and Hope arguing off screen, we see people’s reactions to that, but MC isn’t involved until after they’re done arguing. It’s a really organic way to incorporate conflict, because other things like Shannon/Jo fighting or Lottie/Priya fighting it feels like MC is thrust into it and doesn’t have a reason to be involved.

But we get to play the aftermath of the hoodie fight. We get to have both Hope and Noah confide in us about how they’re actually feeling. And how they’re feeling is so nuanced and realistic, I love it. Hope is overwhelmed because she feels beholden to Noah.

Her pride (she told all the girls she didn’t want a short-term fling and clearly has a chip on her shoulder from men not treating her how she deserves)

her fear (about being in the game without a clear couple and clear desire to do well in the game)

her social pressure (everyone keeps reinforcing that Nope is such a good couple and she wants to keep that façade)

her genuine interest in Noah and enjoyment of the domesticity and intimacy he provides

On top of all of that, she later acknowledges she has a temper and it’s clear in the game that she’s having a hard time dealing with the stress of competition and anger at Noah. Instead of productively working on that (which like… who would even be able to do that in the villa), she scolds and yells at Noah. Then when shuts down in reaction to that and leaves the situation, that further incenses her. It’s not right, but it’s real. She’s not a bad person, but chasing Noah down to continue yelling at him is clearly a bad thing to do.

Besides that, they clearly have physical attraction, but Noah fundamentally isn’t what Hope wants. She loves how he’s comfortable in his masculinity and that he dotes on her, but she also wants someone who a bit of austerity to them. Noah’s a librarian who’s into fandoms, he lacks that machismo that she wants. And she wants someone who will match her career driven and social lifestyle, while he’s outspoken about wanting a family and being fine with where his career is. So there’s frustration on her end of wanting Noah (and to a certain extent expecting him) to be this suave, ambitious man that he’s not, but still liking him.

And that’s all been building up, and they have been since day 2. Hope and Noah vacillate wildly from being intensely domestic and intimate, to antagonizing each other, and I think that’s all because they just don’t know each other super well and neither are super satisfied with the relationship.

And Noah's not 100% satisfied in a relationship with Hope either

Noah’s a people pleaser without a backbone, and while he clearly enjoys Hope’s romantic overtures, he doesn’t want to put in the work to address her insecurity or to communicate with her. He's subject to all the same external pressures, but then add on top of that him being so nonconfrontational and he's paralyzed.

She does have a temper, and that clearly puts him off. Instead of communicating that to her or working on it, he pretends it doesn’t happen afterwards and when he’s in the moment he’ll run away or shut down. If his reaction to MC pointing out he’s being unfair to both Priya and Hope is anything to go off on, I imagine there’s quite a bit of gaslighting and blame shifting on his end too.

To a lesser extent than her, he also wants her to be someone different than she is. His “ladylike” comment and surprise at the mean tweets challenges belies that he thinks  and wants Hope to be this bubbly, supportive, decorous woman that would be a good mother and wife.

So these two are simultaneously reckoning with how they might not be happy in this relationship, and it comes to a head in the SHITTIEST way possible. I love their argument.

Hope's overwhelmed and getting upset about things that don't matter (her hoodie string being pulled out). Noah, being a poor interpersonal communicator and only focusing on the small details he can fix, belittles her by saying he'll buy a new one. She interprets that he's calling her shallow (which in a way he is), then retaliates by making a classist comment back at him. As the fight escalates from there, they're both arguing about things other than what they're actually saying and separate from the other's grievances.

I'm just obsessed with the scene of MC talking to Hope afterward. She has such clarify and self possession that she's unable to have in moments of heated emotion, and I love how she lays out everything that's bothering her to me, her bestie, but can't do it for Noah. It really shows that MC/Hope have built this mutually supportive and open communication that Noah/Hope have not fostered together.

And then Noah being a doofus and fixing the string is v cute and misguided, and I love that they're both working towards fixing it, even when they're not together.

Hope and Noah are the most interesting part of LITG, idc what anyone says. They're just so fundamentally wrong for each other but try so hard despite it, and make each other miserable in the process.