Why do people dislike Cassie?

[Chad32]

You're right. Tobias' crush doesn't really even compare to the love between Peter and Eva, but Peter still did the responsible thing.

[DinosaurNothlit]

(I'm going to ignore the fact that this is totally off-topic and jump in anyway)

I, actually, think that Rachel needed to die.  She would have been miserable after the war, when the weight of everything she'd done would come crashing down on her far worse than what happened to Jake.  She was trapped in a vicious cycle during the war, forced to play the 'tough girl' to hide her fear and insecurity, and the more scared she got the tougher she had to act, even though I think what she was the most scared of was herself.  When that rug was finally pulled out from under her, she would have fallen a LONG way.  Perhaps she would have resorted to mercenary work to keep the cycle going, but barring that I honestly think there's a good chance she may have committed suicide.  I really liked Rachel too, so it makes me wince inwardly a little to say that, but I just think she could not possibly have survived the transition from her war-time self to her peace-time self.

Not to mention, Rachel's survival would have been the worst possible fate for Tobias, as well.  Tobias's last excuse for staying a hawk was the war, and if Rachel survived, he would have trapped himself as a human for her.  I believe this would have been a mistake.  Tobias was miserable as a human before the war, and he would be miserable again afterward, Rachel or not (and if she committed suicide like I predicted, that would have been a double-whammy for the poor dude).  You saw what happened, in Megamorphs #4, when Tobias was denied the opportunity to be a hawk.  He handed his life over to the Yeerks because he just hated it so much.  Part of that had to do with his uncle and all that, but not all of it, I think.  I think he just felt like he had no control of his life as a human, and a hawk's life was the only kind of life simple enough and yet in some way rewarding enough for him to be (something close to) happy.

[Chad32]

There's always something to get into for conflict. Police work, military work, fighting terrorists, or a list of other things.

Tobias going back to Human to live with his mother and make a life with Rachel wouldn't be bad. There's no reason for him to be miserable afterwards. I could see him becoming a pilot to get his flying ability back.

I could see them all coming out ok eventually. I don't see why other people can't. They're all young. They have a lot of life left to move on.

[SuperBlue]

I love how I'm one of the few that think Rachel would have been just fine after the war. I could see her losing it if she were alone and the war was the only thing keeping her going, like Tobias. But out of all the Animorphs, she seemed to have the most people to help her through the transition from war to peace(that is if she needed help) Jake might still be all depressed and sh** cuz Tom died and thousands of Yeerks died by his hands, but Rachel has parents, siblings, a boyfriend, Cassie. at least one, if not all, of them has the power to get Rachel out of whatever funk she might be in now that the war is over. Plus if she still needed that adrenaline kick:

There's always something to get into for conflict. Police work, military work, fighting terrorists, or a list of other things

As for Cassie (see how I brought the topic back ) I still don't understand how she coped with the end of the war so well. Her best friend died, her boyfriend was resposible for the deaths of his cousin, brother, and countless others (Hell, he even sacrificed handicapped children), in three years her little fairy tale view of the world was completely shattered and yet.......she still hadn't changed? Either she has some kind of inner turmoil that she's suppressing or she's not human

[DinosaurNothlit]

I can't see Rachel getting into the military.  You have to be disciplined, and follow orders without question.  Rachel could just barely follow orders from Jake, who was someone she respected probably more than anyone else.  On the other hand, of course, the military might have seen her as an experienced veteran and cut her some slack because of that.  Still, too much insubordination, and she would have been kicked out.  Police work might have been more forgiving, but too tame.

However, the fact that she has a whole support network of people who care about her is something I hadn't really considered, and a very good point.  Yeah, that would definitely help to keep her from committing suicide, at least.

Still, most of them didn't really understand the depth of what she went through in the war, so I'm not sure to what extent they'd be able to help her to get past it.  The war was a totally different experience for Rachel (and maybe, to a lesser extent, for Jake) than it was to the other Animorphs.  The other Animorphs just lived through through the war.  Rachel lived, through the war.

As for Tobias, I don't see his mother picking up where she left off and raising him.  She had a chance to be a good mother in the later books after they'd been reunited, and she didn't really seem to jump at the chance.  Other than saving his life that one time, she seemed mostly to ignore him.  Who knows if she even looked for him after he disappeared after the war?  She sure didn't look for him when he disappeared the first time.

To get back on topic, I totally agree with Blue about Cassie.  There's no way that someone has to go through all that, having started out as a good person who knows right from wrong without fail, and comes out the end as that same good person with the same strong moral compass.  KA tried to portray Cassie as something 'greater than human,' I think, but it only ended up coming off as idealistic and unrealistic.

[Chad32]

I don't know if she was even aware that he was gone in the beginning. I'm sure she was legally disallowed from seeing him, since he didn't even know where she lived. I was thinking more of them taking care of each other, rather than her raising him.

[Toc']

Her incredible morphing was capitalized-upon quite a few times, and the bird-to-girl-to-whale scheme was used TWICE, once in Meg.1, the other in the book with Aldrea... but on both occasions it was treated like it was a brand-new idea, not like it was recycled from past successful uses.

If only... It was actually used THREE times (at least), you forgot Buffaman... Everyone wishes they could forget Buffaman, so... congrats I guess. As for me, I'm more like Erek, my memory cannot forget such a horrible moment.


I think the main reason why people disliked Cassie is her hyper moralization which most of the time nobody cares about, especially not a 10 yo. That felt frustrating and dumb. She did spend a whole book feeling guilty for killing a bug and talking about that baby skunk she was trying to save after the mum died because of her and she felt guilty for that too... Who cares about a random skunk when so many serious things happen near by (you know, people being enslaved, killed, etc...) ?
She did hesitate morphing dolphins and apes on moral grounds as well.
I guess she was mostly a frustrating character because of her misplaced moral views nobody cared to understand because they were so... off.

[onnicarda]

I think the main reason why people disliked Cassie is her hyper moralization which most of the time nobody cares about, especially not a 10 yo. That felt frustrating and dumb. She did spend a whole book feeling guilty for killing a bug and talking about that baby skunk she was trying to save after the mum died because of her and she felt guilty for that too... Who cares about a random skunk when so many serious things happen near by (you know, people being enslaved, killed, etc...) ?
She did hesitate morphing dolphins and apes on moral grounds as well.
I guess she was mostly a frustrating character because of her misplaced moral views nobody cared to understand because they were so... off.

Yes, I suppose Cassie always focused on things that were microscopic problems compared the the bigger issue. However, some people can sympathize with her views. I think she represents the minority who greatly emphasize on these moral issues. Cassie deeply treasured life (though her moralizing may have seemed annoying) and she was not afraid to stick to her beliefs.

[wildweathel]

I guess she was mostly a frustrating character because of her misplaced moral views nobody cared to understand because they were so... off.

I liked all that moralizing growing up.  I thought I could understand where she's coming from, which was nice, because I couldn't understand where my moralizing comes from. 

Now, uh, not so much.  She's so deliriously self-deceived.  About the only thing right about her characterization is that she manages to build such an impenetrable wall of self-righteousness that, yes, I can believe that she brushed off the entire war.

[AniDragon]

So... just a question that came to me. Does anyone else think that Cassie would have made more sense as a Buddhist? I have a Buddhist friend, and it seems like a lot of what I hear from her reminds me of Cassie. I think her moral struggles might have been more interesting to read if this was something religious to her. Now, I do think KAA made a good decision in mostly leaving religion out of the books, but it might be interesting to write into a fanfic.

[Grace]

Cassie started out my 3rd favourite character, 2nd in book 4(Squirrels!) then down to 4th after that.

After around book 7, when marco stopped sucking, Cassie became my 6th favourite, jake was my 5th(Boring cliche captian leader guys aren't fun). marco(brilliant plans), Ax(cinnamon buns!) and Rachel(Who doesn't love a good psycho?) were my favourites from that point onwards, with Tobias occaisionally being cooler than marco for a few books.

In the book with the dapsen logging company, when cassie almost got stuck because she FELL ASLEEP, "convinced" jake to forgiver her, then seriously SPRAYED HIS PET DOG in return for his poor judgement. At that point, I seriously wished somebody would drop-kick her stupid creature halfway across the forest.

...and get eaten by a rat. who might be Giants David.

[ko ko]

my problem with cassie is that she is, over the course of the entire series, a static character. i don't hate her and my dislike is only mild as there are some things i like about her, but she just doesn't really hold my interest. cassie as a person doesn't seem to have all that much depth to me. sure, she sees connections every so often, but really, to me, she stays the same. she questions all that she is and her answer is that nothing has changed, only some of the people. no matter how much she questions her morals, she always sticks by them and she pretty much is always right. the connections that she sees remain in line with her morals. she never discovers anything about herself. it's like she is emotionally untouched yet constantly talks about emotion. for me, her moralizing isn't what's frustrating, it's her lack of personal progress.