For womenlovefest: Sansa Stark, Day 1

[slumber]

aka, Why Sansa Stark?



I just picked up Game of Thrones.

Well, that's a bit of a lie-- I just finished reading Game of Thrones, and that took me a few weeks to get through. I finished watching the series a few weeks ago as well, and now I can't wait to get through the rest of the series.

I'm not involved in the ASOIAF fandom as much as others may be, but I get the feeling that Sansa Stark probably gets the short end of the fandom love, at least for the first book, and especially when compared to Arya Stark.

I get it. Hell, I love Arya too. I liked her faster than I liked Sansa. Sansa, after all, is the perfect sister, the one who knows her manners and who wants to be the princess, whereas Arya is the adventurous one, the tomboy who never fit in, who bucks tradition because she wants to fight more than sew. Sansa is the delicate flower, and fandom rarely has good feelings towards damsels in distress.

But I can't help feeling drawn to Sansa Stark all the same.

It's hard to sympathize with her when from the beginning, it seems as though she's perfect. She does needlework well, she's gorgeous, she picks on poor Arya, and she can't help swooning over the cock prince when he comes to visit. She cares more about clothes and frivolous things, almost, than she does her own sister.

But she's also only eleven years old. It wasn't mentioned all that much in the TV series, but Sansa Stark is just like any young girl-- she refers to the songs all the time, in her head, tales of dashing princes and fair maidens and she's besotted with the idea of living her own tale. Who among us haven't once wished we could live out the stories we're told ourselves? Sansa doesn't want adventure. She wants romance, and she painfully tries to build her story around that ideal. It's clear to anyone else with a sensible head that Joffrey's nothing but a whiny brat, but of course Sansa's eleven years old-- she refuses to see that because she'd like for her prince to be as the songs sing about. It's hard to blame her when you know she's blinded by infatuation.

Sansa Stark is just a girl like any other. And like many girls, she's got a lot of growing up left to do. I think this is the part that I'm most interested in seeing. Without reading ahead I'm fairly certain of Arya's fate-- she will fight, she will be skilled, she'll make friends and have adventures (however hard the journey). It's great, and I look forward to reading about that too, because I love her spunk and personality as well, but Sansa's own journey isn't quite as clear to me. The Lannisters have her with them, basically have her as their prisoner. What ends up happening to her, I think, depends on how she develops as a person too, and not knowing the exact outcome for that makes her all that much more interesting.

Comments

[cleverthylacine]

Sansa gets a TON of hate. I don't want to spoil you for later books, but I agree with you that she is very much the young lady she was brought up to be, and that she is completely unprepared for the situation she finds herself in as a result of that. It makes me sad that people in the fandom do not view her more compassionately. She's just a kid--a kid whose body and future are being used as a bargaining chip, though she's naive enough to think she's having a romance--and she is wholly out of her depth. And even though it's a fantasy series, that's a kind of life that many of our foremothers lived. For Arya, everything that goes wrong is a sort of mixed blessing, because while she loses a lot of her privilege and access to her family's resources, she gains a kind of freedom she would never have been permitted if her family hadn't fallen on hard times and she had had to grow up and get married. Sansa is tamer, and like a bird raised in a cage, she's never even dreamed of being free, without a husband or guardian to protect her--so she's facing her situation without ever even having imagined herself having to make decisions, whereas Arya had at least had fantasies about a different kind of life.

(I think that Sansa is supposed to be older than 11 in the TV show--partially due to squick, I'm sure, and the fact that there are different rules about showing young people in sexual situations on TV than there are in books. I know that's why they aged Daenerys up--she was 14 in the books and she is definitely not 14 on the show. But even if Sansa's 15 or 16, she's still very young and very sheltered. Sure, she's silly and privileged and impractical--and none of those things deserve the kind of hell she has to go through.)

[slumber]

I just want to +1 everything you said. Thanks for commenting! :D You're the one who claimed Bella Swan, aren't you?

[cleverthylacine]

I am, although I haven't posted for Day 3 yet due to a ferocious toothache. I <3 all the ladies in Twilight. and thanks!

[antheia.livejournal.com]

You hit the way I've been feeling about her on the head.

[slumber.livejournal.com]

:D I'm glad I'm not the only one.

[antheia.livejournal.com]

Definitely not! She's a pre-pubescent girl who's basically getting flack for being like a lot of us were at that age.

[hockeysaurus.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, that is an interesting approach. Definitely makes sense, I think besides not being in her head in the TV series she also seems older than 11, you know? I've only seen the series and read half the first book so maybe when I finish this'll make even more sense.

I'm excited to read the rest of these from you. :D

[slumber.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they upped the ages because in the ASOIAF universe, girls can start marrying as soon as they get their period. :| Probably that would have met with some controversy if that was portrayed on TV, LOL. But even if you think of her as a teen, well-- I believed some pretty stupid crap at that age too. :P

Hahaha, I don't even really know what to write for all seven days, tbh. I just had ~feelings~ that I wanted to get written down. :| But thanks! And you should totes see the rest of the series now! :D

[coffee-n-cocoa.livejournal.com]

One of the other characters (I think it was Septa Mordane), said that courtesy was a lady's armor, and it's through Sansa that we see how that's done. While she's not a favorite character of mine, I don't hate her either. I understand her motivations, and you detailed it well.

She's actually how I picture what young Catelyn Tully must have been like, before she married Ned.

[slumber.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that is a great line. I should write about that for one of the next entries :D But it's true, I think it's a lot harder for her because she's actually among enemies now, and she's scared and doesn't know what to do. Even Robb had his mother's wisdom to guide him through war, but how does she navigate the court? I WANT TO KNOW. :P

Ooh, yes.

[can-dle.livejournal.com]

Sansa is a young girl who must grow up - that's why it's easy to understand her. From fairy tales to cruel world. I think you will like tha way of Sansa - however, it's really awful sometimes.

[slumber.livejournal.com]

I hear a lot of terrible things happen to her too. I want to see how she handles them, but I think she's going to be able to hold her own. Thanks for commenting! :)

[crescent-gaia.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with everything you wrote. Also, I felt that Sensa started to get the short end of the stick as well in the book and I started to hate Arya when that happened. Especially with Lady...well, I just hate that part.

Thanks for writing this though! I was looking about in womenlovefest as I just finished Game of Thrones a few days ago and wanting more love for the character.