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a small little thought about bunny corcoran because i'm thinking about him right now. i know there's a handful of bunny lovers on this app (myself included), but i find it devastating that, in a way, every interpretation of his character is only that—an interpretation. we will never know who bunny really was because he himself doesn't even know.

there's a line in the book that's really stuck with me, where richard states how the less you know bunny, the more you feel like you do. and that perfectly explains the kind of person bunny is. he doesn't have a defined identity, and so much of him is repressed. he has lived his life the way he thinks he should, not the way he wants. he was never given the choice to pick what he wanted.

that's why he's attached so much of his identity to henry. down to wearing the same glasses he does and changing his major. he wants to be Someone so badly, even if that someone isn't him.

😭😭😭

for the holidays, how do you think the secret history characters would road rage? I think Henry would discreetly eye the driver he’s on the road with and mutter something foul in a different language.

girlhood means wanting to be like henry winter but ending up being a mix of francis abernathy and richard papen

To be honest if I saw Henry Winter on campus and he walked past me I’d mumbled ‘smash’ just so he could gave me a weird look and he’ll think about me for the rest of his day.

Hermes and the Infant Dionysus

Aka Hermes loves his wittle brother very very much

shifting-related excerpt — ☆

— ☆ —

*again, excuse the annotations; I read this a while ago please bear with me O-O<3

wait i literally agree w all this omfg

Do you think Henry and Camilla were actually in love?

the question of all questions has finally found its way into my inbox. i don't know how long this will be, but just know that i could write a novel-length essay supporting my opinion. here's a shortened version.

i've spent a long time entertaining this thought, specifically as someone who is undeniably (and evidently) attracted to henry in more ways than one. when i initially read the book for the first time in 2019, i obviously picked up on the clues donna tartt scarcely dispersed throughout the length of the novel (with the glass shard scene posing a final confirmation of her intentions for the two characters), and i must say, out of my naive and obnoxiously teenaged simplicity of perception, i did accept their (strangely established) love and even root for it; especially during henry's last scene — the actual, outspoken confession and the secret whisper — and camilla's consecutive rejection of richard's proposal with the claim she still loved henry.

however, i have matured now, read the book a few more times, and found reason to change my viewpoint completely. no, i no longer believe they were in love per se — let me elaborate. before i do, however, i have to put a TW for incest on here. it is unavoidable when talking of henry and camilla. therefore, beware. lots of mentions of incest-related trauma and the consequences thereof.

the realization that i disbelieve in their love being romantic struck me upon my first reread, because i somehow suppressed the actual outrage of camilla and charles' incestual relationship. of course, i remembered them to be romantically involved with one another, but having read the book anew at a slightly older age, i started comprehending the sheer extent of the trauma that may originate from something like that. there is an undeniable possibility of it having started as a form of abuse instead of something purely consensual (which incest very, very rarely is), and that has led me to believe that camilla, at least in future years to come, would no longer be attracted to men both romantically as well as sexually. this may very well be a response to her trauma.

here, of course, it can be argued that it was all consensual and would thus not result in trauma, but i wholeheartedly disagree with that. incest, being taboo and socially unacceptable for very plausible reasons, would generate trauma regardless of the degree of willingness the participating parties portray. that is, of course, given the parties are aware of the taboo aspect of it in the first place, which charles and camilla obviously were. however much i believe it did not, in fact, start as something consensual (once again — it very rarely does), i understand where one might be coming from with claims that it did, as this is all fiction and we simply have no possibility of knowing for sure.

to cut this tangent short — i believe camilla would develop into a lesbian based on her incest-related trauma and would therefore simply mistake her "love" for henry for devotion to his authoritative and mystifying charms and leadership skills. she would believe to be in love with him because she would simply be unaware of her sexuality just yet, given she was still participating in incestuous activity with her twin brother, and would instead seek solace in the company of another man who she does not have a familial bond with. after all, even she and francis had a small little thing (a kiss from what i can remember), and he himself is openly queer.

as for henry, this is where things get a little more complex. i sort of deride his attraction to camilla, however real it may have been, as she is, after all, the only girl in their circle. of course, i keep thinking, of course everyone will be going after her. that poor thing — not even safe from her own brother.

from henry's point of view, i think he just projected the conventionally instilled idea of finding a partner to settle down onto the first intelligent woman he came across who matched his quite specific interests. and this is not to say that camilla cannot be loved for any other reason, but i simply, honestly and truthfully, find it hard to believe that henry would ever genuinely love someone. i know that we all like to believe that he has a soft side, but i more often than not don't. he does, after all, portray antisocial and even psychopathic tendencies. and people suffering from personality disorders like that are unlikely to ever perceive authentic emotions. i think his supposed love for camilla is a result of a conventional belief being applied to encountering someone who is so similar to you interest-wise that you initially feel like they are the one. he may have felt subconsciously "forced" to find a life partner, as that is the traditional standard for humanity that even his deviant mindset cannot undo.

this is what i honestly think. trauma-induced, misinterpreted, misplaced feelings for an authoritative figure juxtaposed with a misapplied, subconscious manifestation of a conventional belief. perhaps platonic love, but certainly not romantic; strong — yes, may as well, but not romantic or, for that matter, sexual (once again, due to trauma).

i do hope this communicates my position on the matter well. thank you for asking. i enjoyed gathering my thoughts and phrasing them in conclusive sentences at last.

he definitely made 10000000 burners to like the tweet btw

Hhow many times do u guys think Henry grabbed Bunny by the back of the neck when he was m.isbehaving

found tsh roleplayers on twitter from 2014 on a random night. i felt like discovering a treasure chest...

this is my favorite one so far. i still think about this tweet every day.