#the unknowable adam parrish

[macdaddylex]

i saw someone on twitter say that adam’s parents probably chose the name adam because it was one of the first names in a baby name book. so excuse me while i go claw my eyeballs out. 

[unwoundjelly]

alex dimitrov / maggie stiefvater / dorothea lasky

[declanscunt]

ADAM PARRISH — UNKNOWABLE

call down the hawk — m. stiefvater // boygenius rolling stone interview (2023) // blue lily lily blue — m. stiefvater // not strong enough — boygenius // greywaren — m. stiefvater // not strong enough — boygenius // greywaren — m. stiefvater // bruce springsteen talking onstage before performing i’m on fire (1985) // greywaren — m. stiefvater

[parcai]

adam parrish is so snazzy bc instead of being all weepy or too tough girlboss he's just embarrassed + ashamed abt the way his childhood was + always actively trying 2 hide himself, + i think that is much more realistic than either of the other 2 aforementioned ya book options

[cappychino]

Staring into my headlights for Adam Parrish today

[macaulaytwins]

Adam Parrish if the books were in 2024: my freak is unmatchable

[bi4bisamjess]

i am insane I am insane I call it the database it's never done there's always more I have 8 million words worth of fic logged

[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.

[iammistressofmyfate]

Just thinking about the fact that Adam Parrish has a type

[ladyhavilliard]

Have you even lived if you have never fallen in love with adam parrish?

[idkimtiredanddumb]

Neil is so real for just lying all the time like same. I open my mouth and who knows what’s coming out next certainly not me but that’s the fun of it all if u can lie and it’s not hurting anyone why would u tell the truth

[thursdayg1rl]

love when adam is a creepy little cunt in trc fics. i love when hes a bitch. i love when he fights with people over nothing. i love when he acts like hes unknowable. i love when he would do anything to succeed. do you understand

[worthlessandembarrasing]

Had a revelation about how Gatsby coded Adam actually is, especially in TDT

[randomsnakes69]

Blue Lily, Lily Blue, Maggie Steifvater/ Nobody, Mitski/ En rosas, Jose royo

[alexiaugustin]

i love how aware adam is of the narrative he is a part of in trc and how he chooses to change it because just being gansey’s best friend is not a satisfying conclusion to him so he steals gansey’s car and makes gansey’s sacrifice at the end of trb to steal gansey’s spot as the main character in the narrative and then puts much emphasis on the fact that he will only continue being a part of this story if he and gansey are equals. and then in the dreamer trilogy he’s introduced as the sidekick all over again, it’s all “hey this is adam parrish, he’s ronan’s boyfriend” but this time he is absolutely chill with that. he’s like hell yeah im the cunning mysterious and cunty boyfriend of the main character. i read government documents on my bf’s eco terrorism during my free time when i’m not busy building a fake version of myself for harvard. i hope that nobody gets why ronan is so obsessed with me❤️

[clownshire]

I used to think I was Adam Parrish, unknowable.

Turns out, just like Adam, people figured me out pretty quickly. I'm a very easy to read person.