Hi all!
This week I'm talking about Mute again! It's only a few months until its available, and I thought I would discuss the main character.
Her treatment throughout the book is based off of mine when I was in school. Although Audra's is a lot worse. She doesn't verbally speak a line of dialogue throughout the book, which is intentional. Her anxiety is so bad that she can only communicate through text message. Even within her own family, she barely speaks.
Because of the fact that she can't speak, the other characters treat her differently. They turn on her quite easily, and see her as below them. This is especially prevalent with two of her lecturers. One threatens to fail her if she doesn't speak, while the other is passive aggressive towards her. Neither offer to make her feel more comfortable in their classes, or allow her to defend herself. One lecturer, Yang, manipulates her into believing he's on her side. He helps her when the other lecturers are nasty, and punishes students who bully her. However, his motives for doing this aren't the best.
When she does try to stand up for herself the other characters instantly shut her down. They try to make her feel bad for lashing out, and try to justify their behaviour that their lives are worth something while hers isn't. This obviously takes a toll on Audra, who for the first time believed that she was starting to make friends. As the book goes on, she starts losing faith in everyone around her. A few times she tries to prove herself as useful, but the others don't care. Her own thoughts make her feel worse and worse, and she even considers if she deserves this reaction from them. They are deliberately making her anxiety worse, which just makes them more frustrated with her.
That's why she cares about Solaris so much. As a cat, he doesn't care if she speaks or not. She's helping him try to defeat the wendigo, which is more than good enough in his eyes. I used to rely heavily on my cat, Rocky, when I got home from school as I felt like he was the only one who wouldn't judge me. He'd sit on my lap and purr away without a care in the world, which would also ease my feelings of helplessness and inadequacy. You could say that Solaris is based off Rocky, apart from tracking down a cannibalistic wendigo!
This is an uncomfortable topic to talk about as it resonates with me so strongly. I hope you enjoyed reading, and now feel you have a better insight into Audra's actions and feelings. See you next week.
