Stockholm Syndrome

[madclairvoyant.livejournal.com]

I am really sorry that I have been posting continuously, but I am an obssessive fan. I was just thinking about this syndrome. People often say that Gen possibly suffers from this because he falls in love with his captor/torturer; he sympathises with her and paints her in a positive light of Helen, or in the very least, defends her when Helen is angry at her actions. This is similar to the behaviour of the victims in the kidnapping the incident that gives this syndrome its name. Because of the perceived 'kindness' or any convoluted justification, the victims refused to testify against their kidnappers after they were rescued. In this case, because of what Gen has observed of Irene, and the conclusions he has come to regarding her, he does not blame her, and still loves her. But if this statement stands, which many think it does and find the relationship disturbing, then does Irene not suffer from the same issue? (Of course, neither seem quite sane to me, but that is beside the point.) Gen kidnaps her in a very literal way, intent on dragging her back to Eddis, though she does not seem to seriously begrudge him for it. And she seems to realise she loves him only after the incident. Arguably, she loved him even before the spectacular mess begin, but the again, so did Gen. Do any of you agree?

Comments

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

I agree witht he general consensus that they were in love *before* that unfortunate hand incident. I also wanted to point out that the theme in general isn't too terribly uncommon - think of Greek mythology and you'll find Hades and Persephone, think of Disney and you'll find Beauty and the Beast. Of course, there was no amputation involved in those relationships, as Irene points out, most relationships don't survive amputation.