Why do people dislike Cassie?

[SuperBlue]

As one of the few who actually likes Cassie, I can see why others hate her. All of the other Animorphs seemed to grow and develop as the war progressed, losing their childlike view of the world. But Cassie seemed to keep that naivety which made her all the more unrealistic and really annoying at times. As a child she went through so much traumatizing and emotionally scarring events that most adults wont ever go through and probably wouldn't be able to handle. But somehow it all left her virtually unchanged. Sure she's had some awesome moments like going polar bear on some guy that called her the N word, or when she realized Visser 3's plan to take away free will was a bunch of bullcrap, or when she saved the Anis from David with her whale morph.  But those don't make up for her mistakes like that incident with the morphing cube or the whole buffahuman fiasco. And while we're on the subject of her mistakes, did anybody else find it unrealistic how the mistakes she makes ends up somehow benefiting the Anis later on? But Cassie's morals and childlike nature comes nowhere close in annoyance to Tobias' whining, but that's a subject for another day.

[MegaJ]

Cassie's cool.

I kinda blame the ghost-writers for why she's disliked. They merely took her more obvious traits (Team Mom, Empath) and embellished them. Under the Applegrant books, she's a much more nuanced character. Re-reading The Secret opened my eyes a bit, she's a character who's constantly fighting within herself this perfect idyllic world and standards and rules that she has and the things she has to do for the war. From #9-#19 kinda works as a arc for her. When the ghostwrites took over, they just took the simply route of "Well, since war is bad and Cassie is all about peace, she has to be right." Except she isn't. In the last book, her decision saved humanity, but doomed Tom and Rachel and possibly other planets. Just imagine if a ghost-writer wrote that...

[visser101]

can't really blame the goast writers for that sure they kinda froze the characters but KAA did the last books of the series. even removing everything between 25 and 49 Cassie is a charmed character that makes things far harder then it needs to be

[onnicarda]

As one of the few who actually likes Cassie, I can see why others hate her. All of the other Animorphs seemed to grow and develop as the war progressed, losing their childlike view of the world. But Cassie seemed to keep that naivety which made her all the more unrealistic and really annoying at times. As a child she went through so much traumatizing and emotionally scarring events that most adults wont ever go through and probably wouldn't be able to handle. But somehow it all left her virtually unchanged. Sure she's had some awesome moments like going polar bear on some guy that called her the N word, or when she realized Visser 3's plan to take away free will was a bunch of bullcrap, or when she saved the Anis from David with her whale morph.  But those don't make up for her mistakes like that incident with the morphing cube or the whole buffahuman fiasco. And while we're on the subject of her mistakes, did anybody else find it unrealistic how the mistakes she makes ends up somehow benefiting the Anis later on? But Cassie's morals and childlike nature comes nowhere close in annoyance to Tobias' whining, but that's a subject for another day.

I totally agree. She made a lot of stupid mistakes, jeopardizing the Animorphs many times (though I do like her). It was SO unrealistic! For example, letting Tom escape with the morphing cube was foolish. Many things could have went wrong. Oh, and letting herself be controlled by Aftran.

[MegaJ]

can't really blame the goast writers for that sure they kinda froze the characters but KAA did the last books of the series. even removing everything between 25 and 49 Cassie is a charmed character that makes things far harder then it needs to be

KA didn't do the last ones expect 53 and 54.

All of the other Animorphs seemed to grow and develop as the war progressed, losing their childlike view of the world. But Cassie seemed to keep that naivety which made her all the more unrealistic and really annoying at times.

Someone (I think on the LJ community) pointed out that this wasn't so unrealistic and was more survival-instinct. And look how the war turned out, while Cassie was the most naive and sanctimonious, that instinct to stay true to her beliefs leads to her being the only one who actually has a life after the war. Rachel's dead, Jake's depressed, Tobias's depressed, Marco's life is shallow. Only Ax and she really came out of it.

[onnicarda]

Yeah, she did learn to adjust to a normal life after the war.

[DinosaurNothlit]

See, the end of the series was actually what frustrated me most about Cassie's character.  I mean, the fact that she suffered almost no psychological aftereffects whatsoever?  That was bull****.  After all she's been through, all the moralistic ideals she's been forced to give up, and all the thoroughly horrific things she's been forced to do, she should have been the very FIRST person to have a nervous breakdown.

I like to think of the scene in book #50, where Cassie basically tells her parents to 'grow up', because this is a war and people die, and they need to just suck it up and get over it.  Cassie.  Is telling this to her parents.  Does anybody else even recognize the significance of that scene?  Cassie's parents, the role models that she should have followed had she been a normal kid, were more innocent and naive than she was.  She had to explain to them that people die and there's nothing they can do.  That scene was probably one of my favorite Cassie moments, one of the few times she actually seemed to be developing as a character, but then of course the whole thing gets forgotten and she goes right back to being goody goody Cassie who can do no wrong.

Anyway, my point was, I don't care how 'pure' her soul was after the war or whatever, there is no way that crap like that doesn't just completely screw up your brain.  You do not get to explain to your parents the ramifications of war at that age and then be a psychologically healthy and happy person.  Especially not if you are Cassie.  That isn't how it works, no matter how much we might want it to be.

Thus, my own personal theory is that Cassie is simply so deep in denial about everything that she isn't acknowledging that the war ever happened in the first place.  Which is why, I believe, she could not be with Jake, because Jake was still stuck in a war that she couldn't even bring herself to face.

[MegaJ]

That scene was probably one of my favorite Cassie moments, one of the few times she actually seemed to be developing as a character, but then of course the whole thing gets forgotten and she goes right back to being goody goody Cassie who can do no wrong.

Cassie was forced to make comprises towards the end of the series, but even still there were things she absolutely refused to do, like let Jake kill Tom or bomb the Yeerk pool (something she was pretty much had to do to atone). And for that scene, I saw that as Cassie recognizing her moralizing traits in her parents and yelling at them and towards the end when her father confronts her on the Auxiliary Animorph thing, she realizes just how far she's gone.

I don't it's too unrealistic that she came out of it okay. By putting a limit on what she had to do and clinging to her views, there were certain lines she wouldn't cross that the others would. I still can't believe people think that the her actions in 50 ending up making her a Mary Sue -- she still got Rachel and Tom killed. I saw that as a clear message that even the most peaceful actions can have consequences.

[DinosaurNothlit]

Granted, we recognize that Cassie's actions are responsible for Tom and Rachel's deaths, but nowhere in the series is that actually acknowledged.  The thought never even enters Cassie's mind that it might have been her fault, and Jake quite obviously believes the full responsibility of those deaths lies with him.  So, as far as I'm concerned, that does not really count as a blemish on Cassie's record.

And for another thing, she actually does do most or all of the things she says she refuses to.  She has taken innocent lives.  Not Tom's, perhaps, but she has taken human lives before (most of them morph-capable, towards the end of the series), and I fail to see the difference there.

For the record, Cassie may tell herself her hands are clean of any wholesale slaughter of Yeerks, but keep in mind that when Jake flushed the 17,000, Cassie did nothing to stop him.  She even tried to justify it to Erek later by pointing out that "We needed a diversion."  A freaking diversion?  Might as well have admitted that life isn't so sacred after all.  Admittedly not as bad as flushing them herself, but darn close.  She's guilty by inaction, given how easily she could have persuaded Jake to spare all those lives.

By the way, please note that I'm not saying that any of these things make Cassie some kind of monster.  In fact, I think that most people in a war would make the same justifications and rationalizations as she does.  I know I would.  It's the only thing you can do to stay anywhere near sane.

All I'm saying is that this kind of stuff deeply and brutally messes with your mind long after it's over.  And it's made worse, not better, if you're a decent person to start out with.  It's the decent people that are twisted and broken by wars, while the hardened psychopaths are hardly affected at all.  Not fair, but it's true.

In the end, I love Cassie as a person, but hate her as a character.  I like the things she stands for, and if I knew her in real life I would feel honored to be around her.  But as a character she comes off as too good to be true, and thus totally unbelievable.

[TobiasMasonPark]

      That, and her narrations were, with some exceptions, dull.

[onnicarda]

In the end, I love Cassie as a person, but hate her as a character.  I like the things she stands for, and if I knew her in real life I would feel honored to be around her.  But as a character she comes off as too good to be true, and thus totally unbelievable.

It may seem impossible for such a person to exist.

[Chad32]

I really don't like how the level of post war suffering the characters went through seems directly proportional to how willing they were to fight in the war. Real life just doesn't work that way. My friend really wanted to be in the military. He went through two tours of duty, and it wasn't just on the weekends. Now he's training new recruits, not going through post traumatic stress disorder.

The two most willing to fight were Rachel and Ax. One died at the very end, and the other got assimilated. The two least willing were Marco and Cassie. One seemingly came out just fine and is leading a constructive life, while the other leads the high life but is in need of a trip to Hawaii or something. That can't be coincidental.

[onnicarda]

I really don't like how the level of post war suffering the characters went through seems directly proportional to how willing they were to fight in the war. Real life just doesn't work that way. My friend really wanted to be in the military. He went through two tours of duty, and it wasn't just on the weekends. Now he's training new recruits, not going through post traumatic stress disorder.
 

In the beginning, Jake did not want to fight. He only chose to be the leader to save Tom, to protect his family. Later, he was forced to kill Tom (and sacrifice Rachel, his cousin) to win the war. This decision and a couple others unhinged him. Being the true leader he was, he sunk into depression.

[Chad32]

I didn't have much problem with what happened to jake. He went through depression for a few years because of all the crap piled on him, but eventually started pulling out of it and doing something constructive.

I mainly have a beef for the excuse of why Rachel had to die. If KAA wanted to show Rachel was completely gone, she shouldn't have approved Rachel saying no to Crayak, or having one of her last thoughts be about shopping.

Tobias left after Rachel died as if he lost everything, which he didn't. Peter lost the one he loved too, but he didn't abandon Marco afterwards.

[SuperBlue]

That's different. Peter's a grown man with a child to take care of. Tobias is a teenage boy that just watched the first one to ever love him die (quite brutally BTW) Their situations are similar but not even close to being the same.