Yay! A return to Apostolic Way! And Jill! I've always been very fond of Jill, and your take on her adds so much more to work with. I didn't realize until they were on their way back to Russell House how great of an opportunity Jill's background is to provide a new way of looking at the Russell Household.
I love the "keep up morale" aspect of appearance, and the possible implications for Susan. There is so much more to appearance and attractiveness than the way it's often presented as either "ignore it and try to downplay it" or "be objectified and/or invite objectification" (for women, anyway- the politics of men's appearance is quite different but also under-examined, I think).
I think this worked very well and was not just a huge info dump. We learned a lot about Jill throughout, and also Eustace and Polly. It's interesting to see Eustace as the experienced one, and the beginnings of the very competent if still occasionally dragonish adult he could have become (I do want to get back to that AU...) If I have any criticism, it's that for someone who doesn't already know of your Jill's ethnic background, it's all rather mysterious until quite far into the chapter. I can't decide if it's mysterious-interesting or mysterious-confusing because I know already.
I do love Eustace's challenging attitude towards Polly (and everyone) over it, and his assertion that if they're all really Narnian than it won't matter at all. Absolutely perfect!
no subject
I love the "keep up morale" aspect of appearance, and the possible implications for Susan. There is so much more to appearance and attractiveness than the way it's often presented as either "ignore it and try to downplay it" or "be objectified and/or invite objectification" (for women, anyway- the politics of men's appearance is quite different but also under-examined, I think).
I think this worked very well and was not just a huge info dump. We learned a lot about Jill throughout, and also Eustace and Polly. It's interesting to see Eustace as the experienced one, and the beginnings of the very competent if still occasionally dragonish adult he could have become (I do want to get back to that AU...) If I have any criticism, it's that for someone who doesn't already know of your Jill's ethnic background, it's all rather mysterious until quite far into the chapter. I can't decide if it's mysterious-interesting or mysterious-confusing because I know already.
I do love Eustace's challenging attitude towards Polly (and everyone) over it, and his assertion that if they're all really Narnian than it won't matter at all. Absolutely perfect!