Carol, in spite of often doing nerdy things and showing a fondness for them when they are introduced, doesn’t think of herself as a nerd. She tends to set herself apart from others in a way that’s similar to Thomas, but from another angle. She was sociable in school, outgoing, pretty, and confident. Which is not to say that Thomas is a troll, but he saw himself as inferior, or othered, from the opposing side. I wonder if that sort of thinking has faded in modern times since all the nerd crap is now mainstream and captured by other parties, and in many cases, former enemies. Leaving school, in my experience, only equalizes people to a point. There are certain statuses that keep some people firmly set apart from others. On some level Carol thinks of herself as better than many of the people she works with. Maybe not in a hostile way, but in a way that make her instinctually act as their better. Someone they should always obey. The thing is she doesn’t think about it. She just acts how she acts without introspection whereas Thomas is always introspecting to the point of constant internal conflict. While he speaks like he thinks of himself as better than others sometimes it’s not something he simply accepts, or internalizes. He couches everything in a joke because he isn’t sure what he believes from moment to moment. Ironically Carol might call him out for acting superior, but he doesn’t truly feel that way, while she does and accepts it as a truth she doesn’t even need to spend energy pondering. In these ways they are somewhat mirrors of each other, yet also sort of complementarity in a way that Thomas and Nina wouldn’t be if they were in a relationship. Although Thomas and Nina would be a very loving and supportive couple Nina would tend to coddle Thomas. Carol challenges him because it’s in her nature to challenge things. Nina might be competitive, but she would simply accept Thomas as he is all the time. Neither of those fates are bad. Thomas might achieve something on his own eventually with Nina, just on with his own motivation. In fact, overall he might be happier just being left to his own devices and never really challenged. At the same time his nature to stagnate would rub off on Nina over time. With Carol he evens her out a bit, but she remains feisty. Of the two pairings, Carol and Thomas will grow the most as humans with each other overall. Although if I was gifted with time enough I would have liked exploring an alternate version of the story where the pairings were inverted. Carol and Ed would be a wild dynamic. Carol isn’t really Ed’s type though. Thomas is more compatible with any female because the things he likes aren’t generally as specific. Ed is more likely to be drawn to athletic types specifically. It would take longer for him to fall in love with Alex, for example, but he still could potentially.

Anyway, no time to be wondering about what ifs. It’s already 16 minutes past posting time, so I will post. I hope your week gets off to a pleasant start and trends that way. Hopefully I’ll see you on Wednesday for more amazing Failure action! Until then, don’t whiz on the electric fence.

Posts authored by Jackie

2684 The Nerd Paradox.