Linda, of course, assumes Marcie the Hispanic girl who wants to be a cop is the bad influence versus the white boys who have led Sal into a life of crime. Funny fact, in Yonkers after it was forcibly desegragted–as depicted in HBO’s Show me a Hero– a spike of crime occurred with young white kids dragging black kids into drugs as well as violence. The families hadn’t expected the affluent Caucasians to be dangerous and didn’t have the pull to get their kids out of problems like their families did.
Linda, of course, probably thought Sal was the bad influence on them after this.
I hate this. Always this.
I hate how much I hear about it in America compared to here in Australia.
Cos I know it happens. but idk, smaller population, less internet mass, easier to shhhh.
When I lived in the UK, some English (and yes, I specifically mean English) white dudes just LOVED to tell me how much they didn’t have racism in the UK and how they were so glad they were better than the U.S. When I had the energy, I would tell them that their friends of color in the UK just weren’t telling them anything and that might be because they’re part of the problem.
White guy in the UK here, and this is frustratingly spot on. I have not seen overt white on black racism of any kind since secondary/high school. Even then, it felt insanely minor. There would be positive discrimination with one African kid (everyone saw his as awesome, even if they didn’t know him) and that was it. It honestly has the feel that we are a country without racism.
The sad truth about this though is that we have some kind of weird filter that causes us not to treat prejudice against Muslims as ‘not counting’. Again though, this isn’t massively overt prejudice except the stuff that shows up in the news. Most of it is groups in pubs joking quietly to themselves. There’s also a lot of discrimination against eastern Europeans, the classic ‘here to steal our jobs’ crap. People seem to think that if no one’s screaming the n word at a black man then there can’t be any racism, or if there is it’s so minor and covert that it’s not really raising a fuss about.
I was reading up on Jewish immigration to the Japanese Empire during WW2. There was an incident in a jewish ghetto in Shanghai involving a visiting SS officer trying to convince the Japanese general controlling the city to hand over the Jews living there. The Jewish leaders visited the Japanese general and pleaded their case, at the end of which the general asked why the Germans hated them so much.
Keep in mind, this is the same empire who famously slaughtered the chinese by the millions, injected them with disease, vivisected and experimented on them, deliberately smuggled opium into products like cigarettes to foster addiction and thus impair Chinese ability to mobilize a resistance, etc, etc. Racism lives everywhere. But its a form of fear and projection- the weakest things you perceive about your town or your state or your country all get piled on the group you hate, and often tale spun of so-so factuality and sanity to justify your projections. So WHO gets hated can depend as much on the underlying darkness and anxiety and history of where you are. But its always a safe bet to assume that some small group among the many is loathed and pushed aside for one stupid justification or another. Cause, god help us all, that’s what humans do when they fail to be self-aware.
Mind you, that might have just accelerated it. Sal has always been anti-authoritarian (can’t imagine why) with the medical situation in America a real monster much bigger than one rich liberal racist white woman. Sal would do anything for Marcie and the desperation was always there.
Even if Sal knew the game, she wouldn’t have been able to get a $65k charge down to an amount where that $700 would have made a difference. Linda just accelerated this.
Inreresting enough that she’s allowed to do that. Legally I mean. In my country, kids aren’t allowed to spend so much money without parental permission.
No, I mean, here, a child isn’t allowed to spend that much money. At all. Except when parents allow it. It’s called the pocket money paragraph. Basically, children are allowed to spend amounts of money that are in pocket money range. Everything above that needs parental permission.
Isn’t it just so that parents can nullify contracts for more money (because minors don’t know what they are doing), so usually parental consent is sought?
No, our law says that the contract is nullified by default if it’s too much money unless the parents agree. Your parents can decide afterwards to agree to the contract by not enforcing the nullification and giving consent but generally, you better make sure beforehand that the parents agree if you want to make a contract with a minor. Also, minors generally are forbidden to spend your money if your parents forbid it.
Basically, this whole thing would be impossible in my country. But on the other hand, since our health system is a whole lot less broken, nothing of this would have been that bad in the first place..
To my understanding, in US a child (under 18 years of age) is not able to legally enter ANY contract of any monetary value – or, rather, cannot be held responsible of ANY contract they might have managed to enter (unless the parent agrees, or the person, after turning 18, agrees to be bound by that contract).
In my own country a child can legally use the money they have earned themselves (doing chores, delivering advertisements, raking leaves etc).
In any case, not everyone asks. If a minor comes to a shop wanting to buy a top notch computer AND shows the money, not everyone asks the right questions. Same should be the thing here .. if Sal’s ready to rob gas stations, she won’t be troubled by the rule of not “minors not being allowed to” pay off bills that need paying off.
When I was stabbed in New York, I got a bill from an ambulance company for $400. When did it go up so high? (I was gonna send the bill to my insurance company, but then I got another from another ambulance company, so I threw them both in the trash.)
$700 with the possibility of more to come. Plainly not enough more. But maybe Sal could have ended up knowing she had done all she could in the face of unfair system, and maybe helping Marcie in some smaller way, without feeling the need to break the law. If she also had some real parental guidance, who could say?
Showing her that working within the rules means accomplishing exactly nothing, on the other hand, made this inevitable.
I stand by the statement that if Linda had gone the other way, had actively helped Sal with the fundraising by networking with her connections (Anthony) they may have been able to get a good deal closer to paying off the whole thing. But no, she had to be racist garbage.
She’d already met up with Asher. She was already staying out suspiciously late at night. She had what seems like a lot of cash for a 13 year old.
Was she already doing this before Linda took her money?
I dunno, I would have managed to save up about $850 by the time I was 13, through the simple acts of not spending any of my own money and doing every apparently legal odd job that came my way, if my parents and more disingenuous brother had not whittled the money down by stealing from me on frequent occasion. By the time I was 14, I would’ve saved up another $900, and actually managed to save $500… mostly by virtue of splitting the money between a few dozen places.
Thinking about Sal’s situation more, it probably would’ve worked out better had she been giving the money to Marcie for safe keeping, or maybe even keeping Marcie’s parent(s) in the loop on the Marcie surgery fund – who knows, maybe with their powers combined, they would’ve been able to at least fund enough of it to either cover the insurance copay or take out a loan to cover the shortfall.
She apparently did give some of it to Marcie – in the earlier scene in the hospital. “Here’s all of my allowance. I’ll get more.” doesn’t really impy “I’ve already got a few hundred stashed.”
Theoretically she could have, but she didn’t have any known reason to save up before now. I suppose she could have been accumulating it since, though that sounds like a lot for a 12-13 year old in a few months. You’re right that it would have worked out better to pass it off to Marcie or her parents.
Still, BBCC’s right. She said earlier that it was 2 robberies and this really does read like her first time involved.
All of the above yes, up until event recently america has…had a very clear we’ve moved past racism and etc. mind set among certain circles who believed and peddled the idea that we’ve grown out of “that” phase and are better then that. Fast forward to now and it’s quite clear that band-aid has been ripped off hard.
Mind you, Linda stole money from a children’s charity. She seems to be like Walky in that she doesn’t realize Go Fund Me isn’t a direct donation into their pocket. It’s a contract that the money would go into Marcie’s surgery fund.
Oh absolutely. I assume Linda put it in the family fund and used it to buy herself a pedicure. After all, it’s not like the money wasn’t Sal’s and thus hers as her guardian.
Although, according to gofundme’s website, Sal’s too young to organize a campaign. You have to be 18. So it seems like she lied about her age, bare minimum. Although I would think the money would be wired to go to the Diazes, since it doesn’t sound like Sal has a bank account since she was keeping the money in the box. And regardless, as carms said, the money doesn’t come in actual bills, it’s in bank transfers as far as I can tell.
It’s possible the Diazes were set up as the actual owners or whatever and Sal was just helping/had the idea/whatever. We don’t know yet what Marcie’s parents think about any of this.
I want to see Malaya meet Linda. Oh, how I want to see Malaya meet Linda.
Sure, we got her and Mrs. Bean way back, but if Malaya’s half as good at reading people as she thinks she is she’ll ping in a second that any affectation Sal has is from growing up under the thumb of this bongo, and she genuinely likes Marcie. I am absolutely in favor of Malaya using her dismissive, argumentative powers for good. And we know Linda would hate her instantly, she’s brown and refuses to take anyone’s shit quietly. GLORIOUS.
I think the bigger deal with Carla is that even if Linda sucks up to the supremely influential white girl, Carla won’t stand for Sal trying to contort herself for someone awful.
Fun fact: In that fic I posted last night (back when Sal was actually going to go to dinner), I was seriously considering doing one of those 5 times something happened things with Carla being one of the ones Sal went to dinner with.
My way of brainstorming that went much like this.
Carla: If they’re dicks, I’m faking a headache.
Me: What? NO. Carla, come on, that’s not where this story is gonna go. We’re doing drama here. You’re meeting Sal’s parents.
Carla: Fine – if her parents are dicks, I’m faking a headache.
I agree with Willis. Carla’s a drama killer because she refuses to take any shit. It’s both admirable as a reader and INTENSELY frustrating as a writer. 😛
Carla would last all of twenty minutes, tops, before remembering that Incredibly Important Thing she has to do.
*Cut to Carla’s checklist. I have to assume ‘Do whatever the hell you want, you motherfucking goddess’ is just the last thing on her list every day because it’s got to be hugely motivating.*
Are we all not glad Sally is not associating with hoodlums such as Marcie, Linda? I am sure this is a much more preferable turn of events, Linda. Aren’t we happy, Linda?
There is a lingering question as to why Asher is associated with Sal at all. As you said Sal seems at minimum indifferent to this guy so why is she hanging with him besides maybe a screw you to Linda. Especially considering he owns the actual “bad influence” title Linda is so keen to pin on Marcie. Who are you Asher?! And why are you wearing shades at night like a tool!
…I just realized how ironic it would be if Linda introduced Sal to Asher as an alternative to hanging out with Marcie. Although maybe that’s too big a coincidence.
He met her earlier at a convenience store (I assume) is near her house (since Walky wanted to buy huge drinks and chips there). I figured he went to school with her or was from her neighbourhood. That was just an assumption though. Good catch.
I’m assuming the sunglasses are some attempt at making him harder to identify, and that maybe he was one of the people directly interacting with the cashier?
Otherwise he doesn’t wear sunglasses during his one day strip but does wear them during his one night strip. Which would be weird.
As requested, Asher lets Sal off at Chuck-E-Cheese.
She starts playing skeeball to cope with the frustration, and lo and behold, she’s a natural! Soon a crowd is gathering, watching her sink ball after ball, claiming they haven’t seen skills like this in years.
After running out of tokens, it’s late, and she feels guilty for even spending a little of her money on such a frivolous activity, vowing to never do so again. But the elderly janitor witness her throwing her tickets to the ground and addresses her; he was once a skeeball champ, and will coach her.
Sal asks why she should do such a thing. The man points to the prize desk where this is a sign. One Free Operation: 12,000,000,000 tickets.
After several training montages and inspiring musical numbers, Sal wins the big skeeball tournament and gets Marcie her operation. She tries to thank the janitor, but he’s nowhere in sight, and she’s told there WAS no janitor.
Well, looks like somebody spent so much effort trying to convince her daughter that her best friend was a no-good thug that now she chooses the company of actual thugs over her mother! Ace job, Linda.
Also it really, really says something that Sal is willing to commit crimes to help Marcie. Not sure exactly what, but something that makes me worried about them in the present. I’m pretty sure it’s not just spite.
It shows that she is without a doubt willing to go through he’ll for her but that in it of its self is self destructive and a tad bit obsessive, it’s little bit of a mixed bag so much so I bet Marcie take on all this amounts to the statement ” I love you buddy, but some times I don’t know what am I going to do with you.”
Anyway, good old self fulfilling prophecies just got to love them.
Marcie seems to generally handle Sal’s codependency (is that the right word? Not sure it is, but can’t think of a better word) pretty well. I wonder how she took/takes the news that Sal A: robbed a convenience store to get money for her medical bills, B: was caught, and C: was being moved to a boarding school far away as punishment.
Yeah, I just have no idea how much Marcie would end up knowing in the immediate aftermath about other people, but the stabbing would make it clear she scared someone enough to make them retaliate like that even if she doesn’t know the specifics until later.
Now, now. Sal is… well, she’s a GOOD student. A very good student. Good family. Very promising future. It doesn’t seem like her at all. Just because there are claims she did something it’s no reason to… to shine a SPOTLIGHT here. There’s a lot at risk.
Not to mention try to manipulate her to feel bad for being angry and upset and confuse the issue as being ‘an act of love’. It’s like a triple layer shit cake.
Well damn, I guess she really WAS hanging with bad company lol. In all seriousness though, Sal the criminal is badass. I can see why she’d go this far, after her $700 was taken. She has heart, but she’s definitely reckless. Mom’s fault for pushing her I suppose. For a parent who has so much to say about her daughter, Linda sure sucks at supervising her.
This is going to go so so badly. Sal, honey, no. This is…this is not a good idea.
That said, if it’s a few thousand dollars and 4 people here, that should bring it up to almost the amount she had. I can see why that could be tempting. Although…yeah, this is going to be bad.
Seconding this! I feel like I need to promise that I’m not trying to blindly bandwagon your “art is good” comments, BBCC, but I basically always have to agree! And honestly I’d say the whole flashback sequence is really good- there’s the visually telegraphed change in Sal, the strong It’s Walky! vibe in the strip where Sal and Walky interact, and just… so many expressions. It’s all wonderfully emotive and drawn really on-point! Go Willis!
I’ve noticed the art’s been REALLY REALLY great lately, at least since Amber and Walky hooked up. I think it’s partly the expressiveness, but he’s been doing a bang up job with the lighting and shading lately too. Walky looked very handsome when he and Amber were on the roof and Sal looks very well drawn here.
Yeah, the parts of that last confrontation with Linda in the dark waiting and turning out the light again to leave Sal in the dark were fantastic, shading- and lighting-wise. Really evocative of the mood and I don’t think we’ve ever seen a flashback in that dark blue before. The art’s always been getting better but this latest stuff is particularly great. (Also note the profiles in this second panel, different nose shapes that aren’t super dramatically different.)
She said she only helped rob one and got caught at the second. I’m guessing this is the first. There’s almost no way she wasn’t charged as an accessory.
And then Carla brings Billie into the loop with ‘I know you’re angry with me, but how would you like to put the Fear of Kickass Ladies in Mary? ‘Cause she’s trying to blackmail a friend over bigoted shit again and Sal and I think you’d like to help with this.’
Meanwhile Carla’s rallying the entire Greek Chorus of Queer Ladies in the Hall to their side. Mary shall never again know a moment’s peace in the dorm, because suddenly everyone’s loudly humming the 1812 Overture all the goddamn time.
Congrats Linda, your child is now a criminal and you have no one to blame but yourself. But I know that she’ll still blame Marcie, seeing as how Linda is incapable of worthwhile self-reflection. I expect Sal wants to be dropped off at Marcie’s to give her the money? Also, what are the odds that Marcie refuses to take the money knowing where it is from?
If cops come looking at Marcie’s for the money, you will get her into more trouble Sal. I completely understand why you are doing this, but you haven’t thought this through at all. Also, seeing her with the knife is a nice foreshadowing, but is still a bit sad knowing how it will end.
I expect Sal wants to be dropped off at Marcie’s to give her the money?
Nope, she want’s to be dropped off at the convenience store – which she wants to rob alone.
Sal was the lookout. Sal was the lookout. And they told her to keep the knife.
This shouldn’t surprise me in the slightest, but damn. Every level that second robbery could’ve been a bad idea on, it is.
Yeah there’s gonna be more of a reason than the possible surgery and making the money back alone. (Still guessing that Marcie and/or her family will refuse the money – if you’re already dealing with the crappy racist system and crappy racist society, the last thing you need is a sudden influx of money that can be traced back to a crime – and that coupled with more Shitty Walkerton Parent Theater will prompt Sal’s boneheaded plan.)
Also, guessing Unidentified Smoking Taller One might be Asher’s brother? Seems as good a guess as any.
Her share doesn’t look like much, considering the few thousand dollars most likely will have come in small bills. So does she now go and use that knife to do it n her own?
Now I think Robin can finally have her redemption arc when she reforms Indiana Health Care to save Marcie’s voice! All because of a young woman’s tweet.
We don’t see any sign of these kids when Sal gets arrested so it’s possible that they kinda ditched her to be caught once the cops showed up. And Sal probably didn’t snitch about the identities of Asher and his friends so they might have slapped responsibility of the robbery onto her as an accomplice and obstruction of justice. This is just my best guess based off of everything we’ve seen though so I could be wrong!
In addition to the robbery we see with Amber and Ethan, that is! Especially since it was worded before that Sal ‘robbed two convenience stores’ and now we’ve seen the first. So no matter what she technically did, responsibility for it technically still got attached to her.
I just checked to confirm since I already had that flashback sequence pulled up in another tab – she’s wearing the same clothes (at least from about the chest up, I can’t see if it’s as short here as it is there,) though that’s clearly her current default outfit since she had the jacket and tank top combo yesterday. But her hair’s also the same level of curly (which someone noted downtheead is being used to subtly mark the passage of time) and pulled back the same way, or so close any differences can be a slight shift in how her bangs are being drawn or how things look from different angles.
Yeah, changing my guess: This is early in the night, she’s getting dropped off at a second convenience store because she came up with this terrible plan on a whim, she needs long enough to work up the nerve Blaine arrives well after the getaway truck had left, and the second hold up is imminent. Would not be surprised to be wrong tomorrow, but it would make sense for them to be back to back.
It’s actually clearer that her hair’s pulled back the way it is in the flashback strip than here – the dark background and lack of clear shots makes it a little hard to read.
And no, last strips she had big curls. Her hair was kind of wavey and ruffed. This strip, she has smaller curls. We’re getting nearer the FLOOF-look she naturally has.
Sal’s asking to be let off, so my guess is that she did the second robbery (the one with Amber and Ethan) on her own. She got her share, and realized that she’d get more money faster if she didn’t have to split it with the other three.
Honestly, given:
– Sal is the lookout here, which appears to have been ‘stay in the truck bed’ and not ‘scope out the store’,
– The establishing shot of the gas station just before the holdup (December 19, 2013 – Translator) shows that Blaine’s is the only vehicle there,
– Sal is clearly alone during the second holdup (hence why the cashier was so obviously unthreatened by a single kid with a knife against bulletproof glass,) and clearly scared out of her mind – you don’t put the 13-year-old lookout on Main Threat duty with no practice and better options,
– There are clearly multiple people leaving the store, meaning their MO was not ‘single terrified child with inadequate weapon and almost certainly no training,’
– Sal specifically says she helped with the first robbery and the second one didn’t work – no indication she had help with the second, and there seemed to be more implied responsibility for it as well,
– Sal’s just casually told to keep the knife and given her share, no sense this was anything but a one-off (flimsier than the rest, but here we are,)
All of this says to me that the second robbery was Sal’s plan alone and the rest of these people were completely uninvolved. There’s other indication too but it’s all on the subtle level like that last point.
It’s possible the place she wants dropped off is the fated gas station. After all, a few thousand split four ways doesn’t go near as far as a few thousand she doesn’t have to split at all and he just made it look easy.
Sal’s hair gets progressively curlier the more she defies her mom. I’m really thankful for this subtle visual cue so we know about how much time has passed since the ambulance.
My hope is that Linda sends Sal the money when she’s in boarding school as spending money. Not use her money for tuition, not use it for medical bills, just allow Sal to spend it on herself. Like, not that it isn’t still shity but at least Sal would get her money back.
Well her conscience concerning stolen goods definitely has shrunk.
Also, another time jump. Her hair changed a lot. This isn’t an immediate reaction to yesterday’s strip but the result of a slow development. Makes more sense to me. Her morals needed time to be eroded.
Currently, due to shifting timescale? 2013, the same year the original robbery flashback sequence was shown. (At that time, the robberies took place in 2008.)
Actual years don’t matter because things keep changing around them. In early strips Amber and Danny had Nintendo DSis, which changed to 3DSes within the year when the latter system released. A few years later the 3DS was established enough technology that Sal could buy one used off Amazon with a single gift card (and I doubt Linda gave her more than $50.) Now the system’s basically considered on its last legs despite Nintendo continuing to port a handful of titles to it, and maybe in a year or two we’ll see Amber and Danny primarily use the Switch for portable gaming as well as it being the console in Danny’s room (which would have been a Wii when the strip started and probably quietly changed to a Wii U in between.) Though I really can see Sal’s 3DS being retcon-proof and that affecting what Amber and Danny use, it’s easier to take on the go, harder for something to happen, and Sal doesn’t have the dedicated gaming interest to stay up on the latest system or the money to really burn on a pretty casual hobby for her. At least until the 3DS formally ceases production. (I’m not sure if there was ever a visual upgrade from original 3DSes to New or XL ones, but if doesn’t matter much there either way.) And that’s just one of the more obvious progressions of time – once Pokémon Go came out, Amber and Danny both took it up in strip and it was mentioned that its existence and release
provided Amber with an easy alibi for AG-related activities, and it still comes up occasionally. In three years, it’ll have been released the same year as the holdup. (There’s also stuff like Joe saying his behavior was ‘presidential’ in late 2016/early 2017, which wouldn’t have worked before then.)
Sliding timescale: Don’t think too much about it! When this comic started I was a year younger than the protagonists, and I graduated college three years ago.
The Switch factor is pretty interesting actually since Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee is coming out soon and I don’t see Amber passing that up. She could be getting a hardware upgrade sooner than we think. There might even be a storyline about it.
Yeah, I’m certain Amber’s upgrade is either imminent or already occurred offscreen (good old metamorphosing Wii Us! If it weren’t for Windwaker HD being such a huge improvement on the GameCube version mechanically I might wish they were real.) The question is whether Switches will replace the handhelds and not just the consoles, since it does both.
Depends on how late it is. If it’s close by and/or the same chain, though, I’d expect the next gas station will get some kind of message to be on guard if Sal doesn’t hit it tonight.
That said, she was in the truck and it’s clearly late – I’m not sure if there would be cameras in various parts outside the station, and if so they probably deliberately parked somewhere relatively out of view. The others were inside and would probably be tracked down later, but especially if Sal is going right to the second robbery all she needs to do is hide the knife.
Amazing what stealing your child’s HARD EARNED money can do to them.
At least I assume the old money was hard earned. I don’t think it was ever specified.
Loving the stpories, the artwork and everything! i am a little confused tho: how do people know linda is prejudiced against marcie because of her race???
I don’t think it’s been explicitly stated that Linda is a racist, but she’s been shown giving Walky preferential treatment assumingly for having straighter hair. Also…..
This strip doesn’t paint Linda in a very good light. But hey you don’t necessarily have to be racist to think a child is a vagrant. We at least know she doesn’t like Marcie.
Uh, making an assumption that a five year old is going to knock over a convenience store when she gets older because she’s hanging out on some playground equipment without her parent is kind of racist, because there’s no justification for it at all. Neither is her disliking Marcie from age 5, again, with no justification for it at all.
Sal yelling in Walky’s face their parents are racist was one thing. The fact we see her treating Walky better helped, as did Charles insulting Sal’s hair to her face. Plus calling Marcie very racially charged dogwhistles like hoodlum, when we know Marcie’s generally chill and well behaved (for the most part). Plus her assuming and blaming behaviour like smoking on her (Marcie didn’t smoke yet; Linda did though). Plus things like vagrant and implying she’d grow up to be a criminal (“knocking over convenience stores to get mommy’s attention,” eh, Linda?)
Part subtext, part what we can gather from her treatment of Sal, part a whole lot of language with racist connotations. It’s important to note that Linda hated Marcie and the first moment she and Sal interacted, when Marcie was five, and made disparaging comments about how she would ‘knock up a convenience store for her mother’s attention’ eventually – dramatic irony, but also way out of line given Marcie’s only wrongdoing was climbing up to the top of the playground equipment and Marcie’s caregiver may have just had the same brief slip of attention that Linda had that allowed Sal to wander over there.
Then there’s the Leland flashback strips, where the principal refuses to do anything about Leland hurting another kid because she doesn’t attend the school and therefore might be *scare chords* illegal and Leland has a bright future anyway. Linda never says a word during all this. We don’t actually know one way or the other whether Marcie or her parents are documented or not – Sal says at the DeSanto rally that the people there would deport Marcie’s parents given the chance, but current times have clearly established that voting base doesn’t give a shit about the actual legal status of someone’s residence so much as their skin tone. (I’ll note that in the first flashback, tiny Marcie and Sal have like a minute of conversation. Linda comes in and curses at her daughter to get away after Marcie declares the structure ‘Casa de Marcie’. Maybe coincidence of timing, but I don’t trust Linda a lick.)
Then we have the last two days’ strips. Linda dismisses Marcie as a hoodlum based off things like who she lives with (something the 13-year-old has absolutely no control over!) and goes to great lengths to keep Sal from contacting Marcie. Marcie didn’t rob a convenience store, and actually doesn’t like Sal fighting even on her behalf. It’s a recurring point of tension in their relationship, and the reason they’re currently fighting.
On top of this, Sal definitely believes her parents treated her differently from a Walky because of how they were racially read from a very early age. We have indication this is accurate from Charles’s awful comment Freshman Family Weekend about how pretty Sal’s hair looks straight and her extremely conflicted feelings on the subject after an hours-long appointment. (And we know Charles knows how long they take because she straightened it while living at home.) There’s also Linda choosing baby Walky to get the video spot over Sal – on its own the strip could have been something innocent, but it ends a storyline where Walky starts realizing Sal has a point and the pattern of established behavior is that Walky is the Good Child and Sal is the Bad One, well predating this flashback sequence. (See also how Linda curses at her five-year-old for trying to climb up a slide, but Walky in that last confrontation years later got a ‘Quiet, David’ for something more intrusive and less expected as normal child behavior.)
Linda has avoided saying she dislikes Marcie because she’s Hispanic or treats Sal worse because she reads more obviously black, but we have a lot of indications both these things are true.
I feel like there’s got to be a good cigarette or chocolate pun name to pair him with Asher, but my google-fu is insufficient to find any. But I do like the name Stuart…
So, a thought just occurred to me. Linda violated Sal’s boundaries, the integrity of her stuff, any feelings of security in her house, and dismissed her feelings pretty decisively.
No wonder present Sal is so defensive about her boundaries, including defying the Magical Charisma Iguana.
Yeah, Joyce is coming off even worse because that space is supposed to be for Sal and her roommate. (And roommates generally shouldn’t hover over someone’s bed while they’re sleeping unless it’s like ‘I can’t tell if you’re breathing’ or something that dramatic.) Carla and the grabbing and following, too – no wonder Sal’s having this whole flashback. Even if she hasn’t put the pieces together with Ethan yet, it’s probably digging up uncomfortable memories.
Yesterday’s strip prompted me to muse on why a racist might marry a member of a race she’s bigoted against. A hypothesis: the sort of mind that stereotypes and pigeonholes an entire group based on superficial features (and easily discards all but the most overwhelming evidence that their assumptions might be untrue) might also be just as capable of mentally editing the race out of someone they actually know (so their prejudices aren’t threatened by this person not fitting them). In the bigot’s mind, they only “have a black friend” when trying to counter accusations of racism – the rest of the time, that person’s just a friend, and the bigot could never be friends with a *insert racist slur here*, so the friend clearly mustn’t be black.
Of course, this’s much easier if the “black friend” is non-confrontational enough to never remark on the casual racism they’re likely frequently exposed to.
So, what of Linda and Charles? My guess is that Linda Walkerton has such a controlling personality that she naturally gravitated toward the most easily dominated person she knew, and Charles’s already passive personality (a likely requirement for coping with his circle of “friends”) had probably been enhanced by the frequent pressure to resist saying anything whenever anyone he knew belittled someone for their skin colour.
It’s possible, also, that Linda’s concern for her family’s reputation might be in part due to others’ reactions to her marriage: I suspect she may live in one of those communities where it’s important not to be seen as (explicitly) racist, yet equally (if subtly) important not to be too accepting; this would likely cause the Walkertons to be judged more harshly than their peers.
Please remember that everything in this post is mere speculation by someone who’s too ill to think clearly; I welcome any corrections or counterarguments.
On the subject of questionably supported reasoning: I get the impression that Linda unconsciously thinks of race as a character flaw that can be compensated for with enough effort, and therefore she’s especially hard on her daughter because Sal has so much blackness to “make up for”. By contrast, Charles and David are more forgivable because they exhibit the greatest virtue Linda can imagine: going along with whatever she says without argument.
Anyway, this’s long enough. Think I’ll go back to bed.
My theory in all of this is that Linda’s poor parenting is not due from racism at all. Her unequal and awful treatment to Sal stems from just plain narcissism and controlling tendencies.
In my experience, I usually don’t see a lot of nuance in racist thinking. Because of that, I find it hard to believe she treats her children different because of race.
But let’s look at the narcissism and controlling angle. Linda most likely had a set template for how she wanted any child of her to act. She wanted them to be good little princes and princesses and do whatever she said. This would make Linda look like a “good mother” and make the family look good in Linda’s mind. Sal never fit into that template. Sal had way too much individuality to ever fit into that template. Walky had no problems acting that part, causing him to become the became the “good child”.
Enter Billie. Billie, being spoiled by her parents was raised right into the little princess role. She fit in so well with Linda’s mindset and was essentially raised as their daughter. Linda starts to resent Sal as here Billie is, the daughter she always wanted. Why couldn’t her flesh and blood daughter act like this?
Marcie fits into this because she comes from a family that is not well off by any means. Linda wouldn’t want her classy family to associate with someone of Marcie’s family’s status.
In the end these are all theories. I’m not saying Linda is or isn’t racist. I’m saying her awful behavior comes from trying to pigeon hole her kids into a set behavior pattern and resenting them when they dare show some individuality.
Mm, no, you kind of are saying that Linda isn’t racist. And I said this in a comment chain yesterday that’s since been deleted but: Linda’s racism is text. This isn’t something that the commenters have conjured out of thin air from analyzing the comic too much. This is something that has been brought up by Sal, Walky, and Billie. I really doubt Willis would bother to have Billie say of her relationship to the Walkertons “I’m the reasonably white-passing daughter they always wanted” and then turn around and go “Just kidding guys! Sal was crazy and misread everything, her parents totally aren’t racist!”
And that’s kind of what you are saying right now.
Racist people always have justifications for their beliefs, and they always have people out there, ready to give them the benefit of the doubt and argue that they’re not racist. They’re just prejudiced in other ways, but oh no, certainly not racism. And there are racist people out there who don’t think they are racist by any means. After all, it’s not racist to believe in stereotypes, right? Stereotypes had to have had a basis in something, right?
Not all bigotry and prejudice is obvious and loud in how hateful it is. Many bigots get a free pass because of how “respectable” and “polite” they seem. They seem like nice people, so surely they can’t have hateful opinions. And not all bigoted beliefs are at the same level of intensity. Linda doesn’t have to be ready to join the KKK to be racist. She’s racist by having negative assumptions and opinions of individuals based on little to no evidence, and deciding that they’ll be hoodlums that won’t amount to anything since they were five.
History is full of racist men and women who marry African Americans. Just because you look down on them doesn’t mean you’re not willing to sleep with them.
GET OUT is a horror movie about whites who believe blacks are physically superior but mentally inferior.
Somewhat different. Much of sexism is tied to gender roles: Women are supposed to be married to and subservient to men.
In that case it’s more clear why sexists would marry and be perfectly happy as long as the woman sticks to her proper role.
As the daughter of a racist woman who is married to a black man, it’s because they act white enough that they don’t register as black to them at all. She hates anyone who isn’t white (even though she herself is not actually white, she was adopted by white people) and anytime my step-father “acts black” it immediately causes a horrible argument.
“You’re barely black to me!” Is a phrase used often in the town where I live.
Honestly, I see a lot of my mother in Linda.
I don’t hold as much against Charles as I do against Linda. I’ve seen what happens when a well-respected man of color stands up for what he believes in. He gets labeled “angry” and loses all credibility. That’s what happened to my step-father and caused us to have to move. And in a controlling relationship like what his and Linda’s probably is, going against the grain probably ends in her hurling abuse at him too. I would not be surprised if he’s wearing a mask that’s become him just to survive.
But I’m probably just projecting my family onto the characters.
If I’m remembering correctly, Charles is mixed-race himself. I can see it really likely he internalized a lot and that impacts both his relationship with Linda and with Sal. (Hence things like the ‘you look so pretty with straight hair’ comment.)
Let her off at a pawn shop, where she will pawn the knife for enough money for Marcie’s surgery, and we will split off into a wonderful new timeline where everyone is happy?
I think that this sub-arc is really mostly about how Linda’s mishandling of the whole situation forced Sal down her bad path. If she and Charles had bothered to understand Sal’s feelings and maybe even tried to support her in her attempt to help Marcie, Sal would never have been forced by her own sense of responsibility to criminal actions to help her friend.
I’m pretty sure that this is going to turn out allegorical or something or another.
Pretty much. Linda’s racism aside, it’s not wrong to want to keep your children out of trouble (and smoking and hanging out with criminals DO count as trouble), but her mistake was that she never once tried to actually connect with Sal as a person, to find out why she’s doing the things she’s doing, and to understand her motivations and goals. All she saw was a daughter that needed to be corrected.
As a very broad thing, yeah, wanting your kids to stay out of trouble isn’t wrong. But Linda was completely mistaken in her assumption as to what kind of trouble Sal was exposed to and who it was that brought trouble, instead attributing it all to Marcie. Which is fundamentally rooted in her racism. If she knew about Asher and his friends, would she be calling them a bad influence on Sal, or would she assume Sal is the bad influence, because Sal’s always been “unruly”?
And the ultimate irony to the last strip: Marcie was never the bad influence. Sal had had fights FOR Marcie, and had Linda taken the time to be a parent instead of an authority, Sal could’ve found more constructive ways to channel the anger she feels when her friends are hurt and authority does nothing. Instead Linda’s actions proved what Sal had been thinking all along, that she’s in this alone, no adult is going to help her, and the only way to make it right is to get money for Marcie’s surgery, all else be damned.
Either he was ahead of the rest of the group and then slowed down just as he got to the truck, or he has strange powers we cannot hope to comprehend.
I’m definitely going with the latter.
Congratulations, Linda, your racism sent your daughter into a life of crime. With ‘nice white boys’ who are probably the sort of people you thought would make good friends for her.
I couldn’t bear to read the comments yesterday. Please tell me people aren’t still defending Linda.
So because of Linda being a xenophobe and a bad mother Sal became so pessimistic that she become a young criminal even before college and traumatized an already anxious Amber to become a psychopath. Good job breaking everything, Linda.
I can’t get over how tired and cynical and beaten down Sal looks in panel two, then how her face smooths out in panel five into consideration and a sort of false hope that we know will never be fulfilled. It’s painful and well drawn. Good job, Willis.
i don’t really know where else to put this since i can’t find a contact email and your tumblr askbox is closed, but willis if you see this: first i should probably apologize for the unconstructive screaming i did in the comments yesterday. second, and i know this is probably stupid to ask as at the end of the day you can’t trigger tag/warn for everything, but. yesterday’s comic triggered me really hard to the point of accidental self harm and while this comic is important to me, i also. can’t afford to have this happen often? i hope you can at least think about it, i love dumbing of age with all my heart.
Someone else kindly responded to this, who was unregistered, so that I’d see their unmoderated comment and follow up the response chain to you.
Oh no! I’m so sorry. I hope that you are okay.
The strong reactions to Linda kinda blindsided me. I thought I was playing her relatively low-key, compared to some of the other parents, but, goofy me, in hindsight I realize that lower-key can reach more relateable moments. Probably not a lot of dads pull out rifles on campus, after all, but Linda is hitting the realism a little too closely, I suppose.
Again, my apologies, and I’ll keep this in mind going forward.
(My Tumblr box shouldn’t be closed! I get messages there every day. I wonder what’s up with that. …oh, I suppose if you’re anonymous or unregistered, it might tell you it’s closed. I have anons turned off.)
oh, i see what i did wrong on tumblr, i hit the little plus dialogue button like i’m used to doing on mobile, instead of the ask me anything link. sorry about that! and thank you so much for your understanding and consideration. i’ll be more careful about when relative to my day i check the updates going forward. i really appreciate what you do, always.
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“I need a candy bar”
“…and minutes for this new phone you gave me!”
That phone’s pretty sharp
Newest model, they don’t make em like they used to to
Linda, of course, assumes Marcie the Hispanic girl who wants to be a cop is the bad influence versus the white boys who have led Sal into a life of crime. Funny fact, in Yonkers after it was forcibly desegragted–as depicted in HBO’s Show me a Hero– a spike of crime occurred with young white kids dragging black kids into drugs as well as violence. The families hadn’t expected the affluent Caucasians to be dangerous and didn’t have the pull to get their kids out of problems like their families did.
Linda, of course, probably thought Sal was the bad influence on them after this.
I hate this. Always this.
I hate how much I hear about it in America compared to here in Australia.
Cos I know it happens. but idk, smaller population, less internet mass, easier to shhhh.
Same in the UK, we’ll hear about the US and be like “At least we’re not that bad… right?”
When I lived in the UK, some English (and yes, I specifically mean English) white dudes just LOVED to tell me how much they didn’t have racism in the UK and how they were so glad they were better than the U.S. When I had the energy, I would tell them that their friends of color in the UK just weren’t telling them anything and that might be because they’re part of the problem.
White guy in the UK here, and this is frustratingly spot on. I have not seen overt white on black racism of any kind since secondary/high school. Even then, it felt insanely minor. There would be positive discrimination with one African kid (everyone saw his as awesome, even if they didn’t know him) and that was it. It honestly has the feel that we are a country without racism.
The sad truth about this though is that we have some kind of weird filter that causes us not to treat prejudice against Muslims as ‘not counting’. Again though, this isn’t massively overt prejudice except the stuff that shows up in the news. Most of it is groups in pubs joking quietly to themselves. There’s also a lot of discrimination against eastern Europeans, the classic ‘here to steal our jobs’ crap. People seem to think that if no one’s screaming the n word at a black man then there can’t be any racism, or if there is it’s so minor and covert that it’s not really raising a fuss about.
I was reading up on Jewish immigration to the Japanese Empire during WW2. There was an incident in a jewish ghetto in Shanghai involving a visiting SS officer trying to convince the Japanese general controlling the city to hand over the Jews living there. The Jewish leaders visited the Japanese general and pleaded their case, at the end of which the general asked why the Germans hated them so much.
Keep in mind, this is the same empire who famously slaughtered the chinese by the millions, injected them with disease, vivisected and experimented on them, deliberately smuggled opium into products like cigarettes to foster addiction and thus impair Chinese ability to mobilize a resistance, etc, etc. Racism lives everywhere. But its a form of fear and projection- the weakest things you perceive about your town or your state or your country all get piled on the group you hate, and often tale spun of so-so factuality and sanity to justify your projections. So WHO gets hated can depend as much on the underlying darkness and anxiety and history of where you are. But its always a safe bet to assume that some small group among the many is loathed and pushed aside for one stupid justification or another. Cause, god help us all, that’s what humans do when they fail to be self-aware.
A life a crime she would have not fell into if she didn’t unjustly take away her shoebox money because of said bad influence assumptions.
Mind you, that might have just accelerated it. Sal has always been anti-authoritarian (can’t imagine why) with the medical situation in America a real monster much bigger than one rich liberal racist white woman. Sal would do anything for Marcie and the desperation was always there.
Even if Sal knew the game, she wouldn’t have been able to get a $65k charge down to an amount where that $700 would have made a difference. Linda just accelerated this.
That $700 was almost half the ambulance ride. Even if it couldn’t cover full medical costs and surgery, it wasn’t nothing.
Inreresting enough that she’s allowed to do that. Legally I mean. In my country, kids aren’t allowed to spend so much money without parental permission.
She’s not actually allowed to set up a gofundme. You have to be 18. Of course, it’s probably not LITERALLY gofundme, but even so.
No, I mean, here, a child isn’t allowed to spend that much money. At all. Except when parents allow it. It’s called the pocket money paragraph. Basically, children are allowed to spend amounts of money that are in pocket money range. Everything above that needs parental permission.
Isn’t it just so that parents can nullify contracts for more money (because minors don’t know what they are doing), so usually parental consent is sought?
No, our law says that the contract is nullified by default if it’s too much money unless the parents agree. Your parents can decide afterwards to agree to the contract by not enforcing the nullification and giving consent but generally, you better make sure beforehand that the parents agree if you want to make a contract with a minor. Also, minors generally are forbidden to spend your money if your parents forbid it.
Basically, this whole thing would be impossible in my country. But on the other hand, since our health system is a whole lot less broken, nothing of this would have been that bad in the first place..
To my understanding, in US a child (under 18 years of age) is not able to legally enter ANY contract of any monetary value – or, rather, cannot be held responsible of ANY contract they might have managed to enter (unless the parent agrees, or the person, after turning 18, agrees to be bound by that contract).
In my own country a child can legally use the money they have earned themselves (doing chores, delivering advertisements, raking leaves etc).
In any case, not everyone asks. If a minor comes to a shop wanting to buy a top notch computer AND shows the money, not everyone asks the right questions. Same should be the thing here .. if Sal’s ready to rob gas stations, she won’t be troubled by the rule of not “minors not being allowed to” pay off bills that need paying off.
Except Sal wouldn’t be spending the money. She’d be giving it to the Diaz’s to cover the existing medical bills and eventually the surgery itself.
Any actual contract would be between the hospital and the Diaz’s, not Sal.
I mean, with fairness, we’re not allowed to rob convenience stores in the United States, either, yet here we are.
Sal totally would’ve just given Marcie’s family a pile of cash in a shoebox. The hospital wouldn’t know where Marcie’s family got the cash.
When I was stabbed in New York, I got a bill from an ambulance company for $400. When did it go up so high? (I was gonna send the bill to my insurance company, but then I got another from another ambulance company, so I threw them both in the trash.)
The trash is where medical bills belong.
It’s $98 where I live and free if it was because of an accident (paid by ACC).
It was $900 where I went to college…for a few miles’ ride and a poorly-placed IV.
Depends on the area, the hospital and the ambulance company.
$700 with the possibility of more to come. Plainly not enough more. But maybe Sal could have ended up knowing she had done all she could in the face of unfair system, and maybe helping Marcie in some smaller way, without feeling the need to break the law. If she also had some real parental guidance, who could say?
Showing her that working within the rules means accomplishing exactly nothing, on the other hand, made this inevitable.
I stand by the statement that if Linda had gone the other way, had actively helped Sal with the fundraising by networking with her connections (Anthony) they may have been able to get a good deal closer to paying off the whole thing. But no, she had to be racist garbage.
Is that true though?
She’d already met up with Asher. She was already staying out suspiciously late at night. She had what seems like a lot of cash for a 13 year old.
Was she already doing this before Linda took her money?
No. Sal’s said before she’s only robbed two stores and we’ve now seen both of them.
I dunno, I would have managed to save up about $850 by the time I was 13, through the simple acts of not spending any of my own money and doing every apparently legal odd job that came my way, if my parents and more disingenuous brother had not whittled the money down by stealing from me on frequent occasion. By the time I was 14, I would’ve saved up another $900, and actually managed to save $500… mostly by virtue of splitting the money between a few dozen places.
Thinking about Sal’s situation more, it probably would’ve worked out better had she been giving the money to Marcie for safe keeping, or maybe even keeping Marcie’s parent(s) in the loop on the Marcie surgery fund – who knows, maybe with their powers combined, they would’ve been able to at least fund enough of it to either cover the insurance copay or take out a loan to cover the shortfall.
She apparently did give some of it to Marcie – in the earlier scene in the hospital. “Here’s all of my allowance. I’ll get more.” doesn’t really impy “I’ve already got a few hundred stashed.”
Theoretically she could have, but she didn’t have any known reason to save up before now. I suppose she could have been accumulating it since, though that sounds like a lot for a 12-13 year old in a few months. You’re right that it would have worked out better to pass it off to Marcie or her parents.
Still, BBCC’s right. She said earlier that it was 2 robberies and this really does read like her first time involved.
It’s definitely the first, we’ve seen the second
Sorry that happened to you. It sounds bad enough to have your brother steal from you but your parents steeling from you sounds horrible.
Looked up Show Me a Hero, and okay, now I gotta binge that whole thing soon.
All of the above yes, up until event recently america has…had a very clear we’ve moved past racism and etc. mind set among certain circles who believed and peddled the idea that we’ve grown out of “that” phase and are better then that. Fast forward to now and it’s quite clear that band-aid has been ripped off hard.
Look what you did, Linda. This is your fault.
tomorrow, cut to walky snoring
With a bag of cookies.
Of course she got him cookies.
Bought with Sal’s shoebox money, of course.
In the bathtub. Naked.
She came all the way from America
On a Blind Date With Destiny–“Mean To Me” by Crowded House
… and it looks like she’s ordered the lobster. – The Shoveler
*Plays several covers of “I Fought the Law” on the hacked muzak*
Mind you, Linda stole money from a children’s charity. She seems to be like Walky in that she doesn’t realize Go Fund Me isn’t a direct donation into their pocket. It’s a contract that the money would go into Marcie’s surgery fund.
To be fair, that child was a hoodlum.
That makes taking the money right. Right?
Oh absolutely. I assume Linda put it in the family fund and used it to buy herself a pedicure. After all, it’s not like the money wasn’t Sal’s and thus hers as her guardian.
And a mother-of-the-year T-shirt
RIGHT, LINDA?
the gofundme was definitely not the same as the shoebox- gofundme is digital money, no-one’s sending physical bills. That was Sal’s own money
It was still earmarked for Marcie, but I suspect you’re right and that was whatever Sal’s been scraping together since the accident.
I assume the Go Fund Me failed but she got the 250.
Gofundme’s don’t have a time limit. They can go on until the organizer removes the campaign or turn off donations.
Source: Gofundme’s FAQ. https://www.gofundme.com/questions
Although, according to gofundme’s website, Sal’s too young to organize a campaign. You have to be 18. So it seems like she lied about her age, bare minimum. Although I would think the money would be wired to go to the Diazes, since it doesn’t sound like Sal has a bank account since she was keeping the money in the box. And regardless, as carms said, the money doesn’t come in actual bills, it’s in bank transfers as far as I can tell.
It’s possible the Diazes were set up as the actual owners or whatever and Sal was just helping/had the idea/whatever. We don’t know yet what Marcie’s parents think about any of this.
That’s true, although in that case, I don’t know why Walky would ask if Sal got to keep the donated money.
Feel like that’s just Walky being Walky right there. Annoying and not really thinking it through.
Could be worse. She could be hanging out with Marcie.
Right. And just to think – this very moment Sal could have used hard earned savings to help a injured child. This is much better.
ISN’T IT, LINDA?
I wonder if Linda would hate Sal’s current group. Would her (probable) transphobia outweigh the fact Carla is stupid rich?
I want to see Malaya meet Linda. Oh, how I want to see Malaya meet Linda.
Sure, we got her and Mrs. Bean way back, but if Malaya’s half as good at reading people as she thinks she is she’ll ping in a second that any affectation Sal has is from growing up under the thumb of this bongo, and she genuinely likes Marcie. I am absolutely in favor of Malaya using her dismissive, argumentative powers for good. And we know Linda would hate her instantly, she’s brown and refuses to take anyone’s shit quietly. GLORIOUS.
I think the bigger deal with Carla is that even if Linda sucks up to the supremely influential white girl, Carla won’t stand for Sal trying to contort herself for someone awful.
Fun fact: In that fic I posted last night (back when Sal was actually going to go to dinner), I was seriously considering doing one of those 5 times something happened things with Carla being one of the ones Sal went to dinner with.
My way of brainstorming that went much like this.
Carla: If they’re dicks, I’m faking a headache.
Me: What? NO. Carla, come on, that’s not where this story is gonna go. We’re doing drama here. You’re meeting Sal’s parents.
Carla: Fine – if her parents are dicks, I’m faking a headache.
I agree with Willis. Carla’s a drama killer because she refuses to take any shit. It’s both admirable as a reader and INTENSELY frustrating as a writer. 😛
Carla would last all of twenty minutes, tops, before remembering that Incredibly Important Thing she has to do.
*Cut to Carla’s checklist. I have to assume ‘Do whatever the hell you want, you motherfucking goddess’ is just the last thing on her list every day because it’s got to be hugely motivating.*
Yeah, the Walkertons would barely be getting started before Carla has a very convenient migraine. 😛
aw shit
Are we all not glad Sally is not associating with hoodlums such as Marcie, Linda? I am sure this is a much more preferable turn of events, Linda. Aren’t we happy, Linda?
To be fair, Linda was right that Sal was hanging around Hoodlums. It’s just not Marcie.
She didn’t even seem to like Asher very much last strip.
Y’know, ’til she needed to get money for Marcie and piss off her parents.
There is a lingering question as to why Asher is associated with Sal at all. As you said Sal seems at minimum indifferent to this guy so why is she hanging with him besides maybe a screw you to Linda. Especially considering he owns the actual “bad influence” title Linda is so keen to pin on Marcie. Who are you Asher?! And why are you wearing shades at night like a tool!
…I just realized how ironic it would be if Linda introduced Sal to Asher as an alternative to hanging out with Marcie. Although maybe that’s too big a coincidence.
He met her earlier at a convenience store (I assume) is near her house (since Walky wanted to buy huge drinks and chips there). I figured he went to school with her or was from her neighbourhood. That was just an assumption though. Good catch.
I’m assuming the sunglasses are some attempt at making him harder to identify, and that maybe he was one of the people directly interacting with the cashier?
Otherwise he doesn’t wear sunglasses during his one day strip but does wear them during his one night strip. Which would be weird.
And such a stellar job she did as a parent, nudging Sal in the right direction.
Sadly, Sal has always hated authority (can’t imagine why) so every step away from Linda was always a step towards anarchy. Which is good neutral.
And unfortunately, Sal gives Linda her excuse to write her off.
Fun fact: Jason was right in assuming that Sal was hanging around thugs and hoodlums!
And therefore we know the missing tag names: Blade Dog and Destroyer!
As requested, Asher lets Sal off at Chuck-E-Cheese.
She starts playing skeeball to cope with the frustration, and lo and behold, she’s a natural! Soon a crowd is gathering, watching her sink ball after ball, claiming they haven’t seen skills like this in years.
After running out of tokens, it’s late, and she feels guilty for even spending a little of her money on such a frivolous activity, vowing to never do so again. But the elderly janitor witness her throwing her tickets to the ground and addresses her; he was once a skeeball champ, and will coach her.
Sal asks why she should do such a thing. The man points to the prize desk where this is a sign. One Free Operation: 12,000,000,000 tickets.
After several training montages and inspiring musical numbers, Sal wins the big skeeball tournament and gets Marcie her operation. She tries to thank the janitor, but he’s nowhere in sight, and she’s told there WAS no janitor.
And that’s how Ronnie had a role in DoA.
Make it happen Willis
Marcie takes a vow of silence in solidarity with those who are left crippled by America’s shitty healthcare.
Later, Sal robs a convenience store for largely unrelated reasons.
Well, looks like somebody spent so much effort trying to convince her daughter that her best friend was a no-good thug that now she chooses the company of actual thugs over her mother! Ace job, Linda.
Also it really, really says something that Sal is willing to commit crimes to help Marcie. Not sure exactly what, but something that makes me worried about them in the present. I’m pretty sure it’s not just spite.
It shows that she is without a doubt willing to go through he’ll for her but that in it of its self is self destructive and a tad bit obsessive, it’s little bit of a mixed bag so much so I bet Marcie take on all this amounts to the statement ” I love you buddy, but some times I don’t know what am I going to do with you.”
Anyway, good old self fulfilling prophecies just got to love them.
Marcie seems to generally handle Sal’s codependency (is that the right word? Not sure it is, but can’t think of a better word) pretty well. I wonder how she took/takes the news that Sal A: robbed a convenience store to get money for her medical bills, B: was caught, and C: was being moved to a boarding school far away as punishment.
And that in the process, Sal got stabbed and ended up going through the disability-as-a-result-of-traumatic-injury experience as well.
+5 insightful.
Not mentioning several traumatised people, at least one of them mentally scarred for life.
Yeah, I just have no idea how much Marcie would end up knowing in the immediate aftermath about other people, but the stabbing would make it clear she scared someone enough to make them retaliate like that even if she doesn’t know the specifics until later.
Sal’s mistake was acting alone, there’s at least four people working in tandem here
Working in a group means splitting the take.
Now, now. Sal is… well, she’s a GOOD student. A very good student. Good family. Very promising future. It doesn’t seem like her at all. Just because there are claims she did something it’s no reason to… to shine a SPOTLIGHT here. There’s a lot at risk.
Right, Linda?
I thought to be a good student from good families with very a promising future in the US you had to be *checks notes* white.
Otherwise, you’re a *checks notes* hoodlum.
I assume Linda wrote those notes.
I can’t tell – the send-off has no name, only “I love you. Now get some sleep.”
Man, that shit sounds even MORE dismissive when it isn’t separated in two different speech bubbles.
Not to mention try to manipulate her to feel bad for being angry and upset and confuse the issue as being ‘an act of love’. It’s like a triple layer shit cake.
Sadly, no.
She just read a copy. They’re old and widely distributed.
Well damn, I guess she really WAS hanging with bad company lol. In all seriousness though, Sal the criminal is badass. I can see why she’d go this far, after her $700 was taken. She has heart, but she’s definitely reckless. Mom’s fault for pushing her I suppose. For a parent who has so much to say about her daughter, Linda sure sucks at supervising her.
This is going to go so so badly. Sal, honey, no. This is…this is not a good idea.
That said, if it’s a few thousand dollars and 4 people here, that should bring it up to almost the amount she had. I can see why that could be tempting. Although…yeah, this is going to be bad.
That said, the art since Sal got home and fought with Linda? Outstanding. I know I’ve said that a few times but it’s true. Willis, you’re doing great.
Seconding this! I feel like I need to promise that I’m not trying to blindly bandwagon your “art is good” comments, BBCC, but I basically always have to agree! And honestly I’d say the whole flashback sequence is really good- there’s the visually telegraphed change in Sal, the strong It’s Walky! vibe in the strip where Sal and Walky interact, and just… so many expressions. It’s all wonderfully emotive and drawn really on-point! Go Willis!
I’ve noticed the art’s been REALLY REALLY great lately, at least since Amber and Walky hooked up. I think it’s partly the expressiveness, but he’s been doing a bang up job with the lighting and shading lately too. Walky looked very handsome when he and Amber were on the roof and Sal looks very well drawn here.
Yeah, the parts of that last confrontation with Linda in the dark waiting and turning out the light again to leave Sal in the dark were fantastic, shading- and lighting-wise. Really evocative of the mood and I don’t think we’ve ever seen a flashback in that dark blue before. The art’s always been getting better but this latest stuff is particularly great. (Also note the profiles in this second panel, different nose shapes that aren’t super dramatically different.)
Though she was lookout and probably junior partner. Not an even split. Closer to a couple hundred bucks, I’d guess.
So I guess this was the first robbery? And she’s about to do the second and get caught? Or does this not count, since she was just on lookout?
She said she only helped rob one and got caught at the second. I’m guessing this is the first. There’s almost no way she wasn’t charged as an accessory.
Caught during the second one and rolled over on the gang for the first as a plea deal? Could explain the lack of actual jail (or even juvie) time.
I doubt it, unless there was some sort of reprisal. Sal likes to say a lot she’s not a narc. Or could be she got something from not ratting them out?
Willis is awful to his characters. I respect him for it.
So, when is Mary going to call ICE on Marcie? Next month?
Marcie doesn’t live on campus and has only periodically been in the same building as Mary, which ought to keep her off the radar.
Anyway, why would Mary go straight to calling authorities when she can blackmail someone first?
She’d probably go after Ruth first.
“Give me what I want, or I expose Marcie!”
“Who the hell is Marcie?”
“I dunno, she’s friends with Sal.”
*slaps a dick onto Mary’s face again*
Oh god help Mary if she goes after Marcie, because I guarantee Sal, Malaya and Carla will NOT.
And then Carla brings Billie into the loop with ‘I know you’re angry with me, but how would you like to put the Fear of Kickass Ladies in Mary? ‘Cause she’s trying to blackmail a friend over bigoted shit again and Sal and I think you’d like to help with this.’
Meanwhile Carla’s rallying the entire Greek Chorus of Queer Ladies in the Hall to their side. Mary shall never again know a moment’s peace in the dorm, because suddenly everyone’s loudly humming the 1812 Overture all the goddamn time.
This is why you double check your comments before posting. Carla’s a master of multitasking anyway. (She’s also building portable air cannons.)
Mary should TOTALLY go after Marcie.
*bets every last penny on Sal*
Why do you want Sal to go to jail for murder? 😛
Lois McMaster Bujold has said that she asks herself, “What’s the worst thing that could happen to this character now?”
Her stories are generally happy / turn out well for all involved. But her characters do have the darnedest adventures!
They do indeed! 😀
Congrats Linda, your child is now a criminal and you have no one to blame but yourself. But I know that she’ll still blame Marcie, seeing as how Linda is incapable of worthwhile self-reflection. I expect Sal wants to be dropped off at Marcie’s to give her the money? Also, what are the odds that Marcie refuses to take the money knowing where it is from?
If cops come looking at Marcie’s for the money, you will get her into more trouble Sal. I completely understand why you are doing this, but you haven’t thought this through at all. Also, seeing her with the knife is a nice foreshadowing, but is still a bit sad knowing how it will end.
Linda always knew her daughter was a bad seed. This just confirms it.
If only she had some respectable white male friends.
Like that Ryan boy who is a pastor’s son.
I expect Sal wants to be dropped off at Marcie’s to give her the money?
Nope, she want’s to be dropped off at the convenience store – which she wants to rob alone.
Sal was the lookout. Sal was the lookout. And they told her to keep the knife.
This shouldn’t surprise me in the slightest, but damn. Every level that second robbery could’ve been a bad idea on, it is.
Yeah there’s gonna be more of a reason than the possible surgery and making the money back alone. (Still guessing that Marcie and/or her family will refuse the money – if you’re already dealing with the crappy racist system and crappy racist society, the last thing you need is a sudden influx of money that can be traced back to a crime – and that coupled with more Shitty Walkerton Parent Theater will prompt Sal’s boneheaded plan.)
Also, guessing Unidentified Smoking Taller One might be Asher’s brother? Seems as good a guess as any.
Her share doesn’t look like much, considering the few thousand dollars most likely will have come in small bills. So does she now go and use that knife to do it n her own?
Well… ah… uh… thi- this is just before she goes to rob the place where Amber and Ethan are isn’t it?
The robbery was overnight, and that sure looks like the bowie knife…
And it was very likely the convenience store we’ve seen her at before in this flashback.
Now I think Robin can finally have her redemption arc when she reforms Indiana Health Care to save Marcie’s voice! All because of a young woman’s tweet.
Wait did Robin…ever pull out of the race?
Nope.
Did robin ever leave that curb? Is she dead?
She’s posing on that curb waiting for someone to paint her like Monet’s haystack: Once every season.
Was this the first robbery Sal has on her record? If she was only the lookout, not sure how complicit they could have made her.
Well, it’s the part where she threatens Ethan with a knife that showed her.
We don’t see any sign of these kids when Sal gets arrested so it’s possible that they kinda ditched her to be caught once the cops showed up. And Sal probably didn’t snitch about the identities of Asher and his friends so they might have slapped responsibility of the robbery onto her as an accomplice and obstruction of justice. This is just my best guess based off of everything we’ve seen though so I could be wrong!
In addition to the robbery we see with Amber and Ethan, that is! Especially since it was worded before that Sal ‘robbed two convenience stores’ and now we’ve seen the first. So no matter what she technically did, responsibility for it technically still got attached to her.
I just checked to confirm since I already had that flashback sequence pulled up in another tab – she’s wearing the same clothes (at least from about the chest up, I can’t see if it’s as short here as it is there,) though that’s clearly her current default outfit since she had the jacket and tank top combo yesterday. But her hair’s also the same level of curly (which someone noted downtheead is being used to subtly mark the passage of time) and pulled back the same way, or so close any differences can be a slight shift in how her bangs are being drawn or how things look from different angles.
Yeah, changing my guess: This is early in the night, she’s getting dropped off at a second convenience store because she came up with this terrible plan on a whim, she needs long enough to work up the nerve Blaine arrives well after the getaway truck had left, and the second hold up is imminent. Would not be surprised to be wrong tomorrow, but it would make sense for them to be back to back.
Didn’t she have short hair in the robbery flashback? Either she cuts her hair right now by herself or there’ll be another time jump..
Nope. It’s pulled back. Like it is now.
It’s actually clearer that her hair’s pulled back the way it is in the flashback strip than here – the dark background and lack of clear shots makes it a little hard to read.
And no, last strips she had big curls. Her hair was kind of wavey and ruffed. This strip, she has smaller curls. We’re getting nearer the FLOOF-look she naturally has.
I meant ‘same level of curly as it is in the second robbery strip’, not ‘same level of curly as last strip.’
Sal’s asking to be let off, so my guess is that she did the second robbery (the one with Amber and Ethan) on her own. She got her share, and realized that she’d get more money faster if she didn’t have to split it with the other three.
Honestly, given:
– Sal is the lookout here, which appears to have been ‘stay in the truck bed’ and not ‘scope out the store’,
– The establishing shot of the gas station just before the holdup (December 19, 2013 – Translator) shows that Blaine’s is the only vehicle there,
– Sal is clearly alone during the second holdup (hence why the cashier was so obviously unthreatened by a single kid with a knife against bulletproof glass,) and clearly scared out of her mind – you don’t put the 13-year-old lookout on Main Threat duty with no practice and better options,
– There are clearly multiple people leaving the store, meaning their MO was not ‘single terrified child with inadequate weapon and almost certainly no training,’
– Sal specifically says she helped with the first robbery and the second one didn’t work – no indication she had help with the second, and there seemed to be more implied responsibility for it as well,
– Sal’s just casually told to keep the knife and given her share, no sense this was anything but a one-off (flimsier than the rest, but here we are,)
All of this says to me that the second robbery was Sal’s plan alone and the rest of these people were completely uninvolved. There’s other indication too but it’s all on the subtle level like that last point.
It’s possible the place she wants dropped off is the fated gas station. After all, a few thousand split four ways doesn’t go near as far as a few thousand she doesn’t have to split at all and he just made it look easy.
Sal’s hair gets progressively curlier the more she defies her mom. I’m really thankful for this subtle visual cue so we know about how much time has passed since the ambulance.
Oh no. What if Linda spends Sal’s money on her hand?
I’m thinking it will go into her therapy and rehabilitation. At Marcie’s insistence.
Or on a private Catholic girl’s school down south to set her straight!
My hope is that Linda sends Sal the money when she’s in boarding school as spending money. Not use her money for tuition, not use it for medical bills, just allow Sal to spend it on herself. Like, not that it isn’t still shity but at least Sal would get her money back.
If she does, I bet she sends it in the form of gift cards.
Helllllooooooooo, “healthier friendships”!!!
What, this is way healthier! Look, they made a couple thousand dollars in like, 20 minnutes!
A healthy wallet is the definition of friendhip!
That’s called “teamwork”, kids.
Well her conscience concerning stolen goods definitely has shrunk.
Also, another time jump. Her hair changed a lot. This isn’t an immediate reaction to yesterday’s strip but the result of a slow development. Makes more sense to me. Her morals needed time to be eroded.
Didn’t change that much. It spikes a little differently and she’s got it tied up.
What year does this flashback take place and when it all hits the fan who is society going to blame?
It’s a sliding timeline sooo…probably Obama if Sal is thirteen here. But hey in a few more years it will be Trump’s fault!
Currently, due to shifting timescale? 2013, the same year the original robbery flashback sequence was shown. (At that time, the robberies took place in 2008.)
Actual years don’t matter because things keep changing around them. In early strips Amber and Danny had Nintendo DSis, which changed to 3DSes within the year when the latter system released. A few years later the 3DS was established enough technology that Sal could buy one used off Amazon with a single gift card (and I doubt Linda gave her more than $50.) Now the system’s basically considered on its last legs despite Nintendo continuing to port a handful of titles to it, and maybe in a year or two we’ll see Amber and Danny primarily use the Switch for portable gaming as well as it being the console in Danny’s room (which would have been a Wii when the strip started and probably quietly changed to a Wii U in between.) Though I really can see Sal’s 3DS being retcon-proof and that affecting what Amber and Danny use, it’s easier to take on the go, harder for something to happen, and Sal doesn’t have the dedicated gaming interest to stay up on the latest system or the money to really burn on a pretty casual hobby for her. At least until the 3DS formally ceases production. (I’m not sure if there was ever a visual upgrade from original 3DSes to New or XL ones, but if doesn’t matter much there either way.) And that’s just one of the more obvious progressions of time – once Pokémon Go came out, Amber and Danny both took it up in strip and it was mentioned that its existence and release
provided Amber with an easy alibi for AG-related activities, and it still comes up occasionally. In three years, it’ll have been released the same year as the holdup. (There’s also stuff like Joe saying his behavior was ‘presidential’ in late 2016/early 2017, which wouldn’t have worked before then.)
Sliding timescale: Don’t think too much about it! When this comic started I was a year younger than the protagonists, and I graduated college three years ago.
2013 is also about a year after Trayvon Martin was murdered.
So y’know, Sal’s in THAT world now.
Just makes Linda’s behavior all the better, huh.
Willis retcons it to have the cops and Blaine shoot her 97 times and get off Scott free
The Switch factor is pretty interesting actually since Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee is coming out soon and I don’t see Amber passing that up. She could be getting a hardware upgrade sooner than we think. There might even be a storyline about it.
Yeah, I’m certain Amber’s upgrade is either imminent or already occurred offscreen (good old metamorphosing Wii Us! If it weren’t for Windwaker HD being such a huge improvement on the GameCube version mechanically I might wish they were real.) The question is whether Switches will replace the handhelds and not just the consoles, since it does both.
My idea of sliding timescale for this flashback has to do with how much more common security cams would be at the stores on 2013 v. 2008.
And in Evansville c. 2013 how soon does a robbery at a convenience store make the news on TV? (What time is is anyway, except after midnite?)
Depends on how late it is. If it’s close by and/or the same chain, though, I’d expect the next gas station will get some kind of message to be on guard if Sal doesn’t hit it tonight.
That said, she was in the truck and it’s clearly late – I’m not sure if there would be cameras in various parts outside the station, and if so they probably deliberately parked somewhere relatively out of view. The others were inside and would probably be tracked down later, but especially if Sal is going right to the second robbery all she needs to do is hide the knife.
Which reminds me, we never actually saw how that robbery played out did we?
We went straight from Ethan as hostage to Sal being cuffed by the cops outside (and Blaine goading Amber into attacking her.)
Cops just show up at the right moment?
Personally, I blame the parents
Amazing what stealing your child’s HARD EARNED money can do to them.
At least I assume the old money was hard earned. I don’t think it was ever specified.
Mother of the Year she ain’t
Loving the stpories, the artwork and everything! i am a little confused tho: how do people know linda is prejudiced against marcie because of her race???
I don’t think it’s been explicitly stated that Linda is a racist, but she’s been shown giving Walky preferential treatment assumingly for having straighter hair. Also…..
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/castlemarcie/
This strip doesn’t paint Linda in a very good light. But hey you don’t necessarily have to be racist to think a child is a vagrant. We at least know she doesn’t like Marcie.
I think that strip (demanding sal get down before she gets hurt) is the closest Linda has come to being a decent parent
Uh, making an assumption that a five year old is going to knock over a convenience store when she gets older because she’s hanging out on some playground equipment without her parent is kind of racist, because there’s no justification for it at all. Neither is her disliking Marcie from age 5, again, with no justification for it at all.
There’s also this: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/03-when-god-closes-the-door/ginger/ Which is pretty clear text that the Walkertons have biases.
But hey you don’t necessarily have to be racist to think a child is a vagrant.
Actually, you kinda do. That’s a really oddly specific accusation to pin against a child.
Sal yelling in Walky’s face their parents are racist was one thing. The fact we see her treating Walky better helped, as did Charles insulting Sal’s hair to her face. Plus calling Marcie very racially charged dogwhistles like hoodlum, when we know Marcie’s generally chill and well behaved (for the most part). Plus her assuming and blaming behaviour like smoking on her (Marcie didn’t smoke yet; Linda did though). Plus things like vagrant and implying she’d grow up to be a criminal (“knocking over convenience stores to get mommy’s attention,” eh, Linda?)
Part subtext, part what we can gather from her treatment of Sal, part a whole lot of language with racist connotations. It’s important to note that Linda hated Marcie and the first moment she and Sal interacted, when Marcie was five, and made disparaging comments about how she would ‘knock up a convenience store for her mother’s attention’ eventually – dramatic irony, but also way out of line given Marcie’s only wrongdoing was climbing up to the top of the playground equipment and Marcie’s caregiver may have just had the same brief slip of attention that Linda had that allowed Sal to wander over there.
Then there’s the Leland flashback strips, where the principal refuses to do anything about Leland hurting another kid because she doesn’t attend the school and therefore might be *scare chords* illegal and Leland has a bright future anyway. Linda never says a word during all this. We don’t actually know one way or the other whether Marcie or her parents are documented or not – Sal says at the DeSanto rally that the people there would deport Marcie’s parents given the chance, but current times have clearly established that voting base doesn’t give a shit about the actual legal status of someone’s residence so much as their skin tone. (I’ll note that in the first flashback, tiny Marcie and Sal have like a minute of conversation. Linda comes in and curses at her daughter to get away after Marcie declares the structure ‘Casa de Marcie’. Maybe coincidence of timing, but I don’t trust Linda a lick.)
Then we have the last two days’ strips. Linda dismisses Marcie as a hoodlum based off things like who she lives with (something the 13-year-old has absolutely no control over!) and goes to great lengths to keep Sal from contacting Marcie. Marcie didn’t rob a convenience store, and actually doesn’t like Sal fighting even on her behalf. It’s a recurring point of tension in their relationship, and the reason they’re currently fighting.
On top of this, Sal definitely believes her parents treated her differently from a Walky because of how they were racially read from a very early age. We have indication this is accurate from Charles’s awful comment Freshman Family Weekend about how pretty Sal’s hair looks straight and her extremely conflicted feelings on the subject after an hours-long appointment. (And we know Charles knows how long they take because she straightened it while living at home.) There’s also Linda choosing baby Walky to get the video spot over Sal – on its own the strip could have been something innocent, but it ends a storyline where Walky starts realizing Sal has a point and the pattern of established behavior is that Walky is the Good Child and Sal is the Bad One, well predating this flashback sequence. (See also how Linda curses at her five-year-old for trying to climb up a slide, but Walky in that last confrontation years later got a ‘Quiet, David’ for something more intrusive and less expected as normal child behavior.)
Linda has avoided saying she dislikes Marcie because she’s Hispanic or treats Sal worse because she reads more obviously black, but we have a lot of indications both these things are true.
Thanks all for the discussion 🙂
So Asher’s the guy with the sunglasses in panel 2. Who’s the other guy? I think he needs a name.
Let’s call him Stuart.
How about White Asshole #3?
There have been far too many assholes in this trip for him to only be white asshole number 3.
I feel like there’s got to be a good cigarette or chocolate pun name to pair him with Asher, but my google-fu is insufficient to find any. But I do like the name Stuart…
Godspeed, nameless dude who counts bills
Something tells me that Sal has got entirely the wrong impression about just how easy this is all supposed to be.
So, a thought just occurred to me. Linda violated Sal’s boundaries, the integrity of her stuff, any feelings of security in her house, and dismissed her feelings pretty decisively.
No wonder present Sal is so defensive about her boundaries, including defying the Magical Charisma Iguana.
Yeah, Joyce is coming off even worse because that space is supposed to be for Sal and her roommate. (And roommates generally shouldn’t hover over someone’s bed while they’re sleeping unless it’s like ‘I can’t tell if you’re breathing’ or something that dramatic.) Carla and the grabbing and following, too – no wonder Sal’s having this whole flashback. Even if she hasn’t put the pieces together with Ethan yet, it’s probably digging up uncomfortable memories.
I wonder, is it possible to physically beat the racism out of a person?
There’s nothing to wonder. Doesn’t work.
It definitely works if you do it enough.
…of course, it means that you’ve beaten the life out of them, too.
Still didn’t work. The racism is still in them. And you ‘ve become a monster, just like the one you killed.
Nah, you’re a different kind of monster than the one you killed.
Thank you.
Well, you may end up a murderer, but at least you’re not a racist.
I don’t think so but maybe we should run another test just be sure. For science.
Ow, the edge.
Miss me with that dismissive bullshit.
Congratulations, Mrs. Walkerton. You successfully raised a hoodlum, without any help from Marcie.
Oh Sal
Yesterday’s strip prompted me to muse on why a racist might marry a member of a race she’s bigoted against. A hypothesis: the sort of mind that stereotypes and pigeonholes an entire group based on superficial features (and easily discards all but the most overwhelming evidence that their assumptions might be untrue) might also be just as capable of mentally editing the race out of someone they actually know (so their prejudices aren’t threatened by this person not fitting them). In the bigot’s mind, they only “have a black friend” when trying to counter accusations of racism – the rest of the time, that person’s just a friend, and the bigot could never be friends with a *insert racist slur here*, so the friend clearly mustn’t be black.
Of course, this’s much easier if the “black friend” is non-confrontational enough to never remark on the casual racism they’re likely frequently exposed to.
So, what of Linda and Charles? My guess is that Linda Walkerton has such a controlling personality that she naturally gravitated toward the most easily dominated person she knew, and Charles’s already passive personality (a likely requirement for coping with his circle of “friends”) had probably been enhanced by the frequent pressure to resist saying anything whenever anyone he knew belittled someone for their skin colour.
It’s possible, also, that Linda’s concern for her family’s reputation might be in part due to others’ reactions to her marriage: I suspect she may live in one of those communities where it’s important not to be seen as (explicitly) racist, yet equally (if subtly) important not to be too accepting; this would likely cause the Walkertons to be judged more harshly than their peers.
Please remember that everything in this post is mere speculation by someone who’s too ill to think clearly; I welcome any corrections or counterarguments.
On the subject of questionably supported reasoning: I get the impression that Linda unconsciously thinks of race as a character flaw that can be compensated for with enough effort, and therefore she’s especially hard on her daughter because Sal has so much blackness to “make up for”. By contrast, Charles and David are more forgivable because they exhibit the greatest virtue Linda can imagine: going along with whatever she says without argument.
Anyway, this’s long enough. Think I’ll go back to bed.
My theory in all of this is that Linda’s poor parenting is not due from racism at all. Her unequal and awful treatment to Sal stems from just plain narcissism and controlling tendencies.
In my experience, I usually don’t see a lot of nuance in racist thinking. Because of that, I find it hard to believe she treats her children different because of race.
But let’s look at the narcissism and controlling angle. Linda most likely had a set template for how she wanted any child of her to act. She wanted them to be good little princes and princesses and do whatever she said. This would make Linda look like a “good mother” and make the family look good in Linda’s mind. Sal never fit into that template. Sal had way too much individuality to ever fit into that template. Walky had no problems acting that part, causing him to become the became the “good child”.
Enter Billie. Billie, being spoiled by her parents was raised right into the little princess role. She fit in so well with Linda’s mindset and was essentially raised as their daughter. Linda starts to resent Sal as here Billie is, the daughter she always wanted. Why couldn’t her flesh and blood daughter act like this?
Marcie fits into this because she comes from a family that is not well off by any means. Linda wouldn’t want her classy family to associate with someone of Marcie’s family’s status.
In the end these are all theories. I’m not saying Linda is or isn’t racist. I’m saying her awful behavior comes from trying to pigeon hole her kids into a set behavior pattern and resenting them when they dare show some individuality.
I see a whole lot of nuance in racist thinking. And a whole lot of justification and excuses for why it’s not really racism.
Unless of course one doesn’t recognize any racism that doesn’t come with a nice obvious white hood. At that level there’s no nuance, certainly.
Mm, no, you kind of are saying that Linda isn’t racist. And I said this in a comment chain yesterday that’s since been deleted but: Linda’s racism is text. This isn’t something that the commenters have conjured out of thin air from analyzing the comic too much. This is something that has been brought up by Sal, Walky, and Billie. I really doubt Willis would bother to have Billie say of her relationship to the Walkertons “I’m the reasonably white-passing daughter they always wanted” and then turn around and go “Just kidding guys! Sal was crazy and misread everything, her parents totally aren’t racist!”
And that’s kind of what you are saying right now.
Racist people always have justifications for their beliefs, and they always have people out there, ready to give them the benefit of the doubt and argue that they’re not racist. They’re just prejudiced in other ways, but oh no, certainly not racism. And there are racist people out there who don’t think they are racist by any means. After all, it’s not racist to believe in stereotypes, right? Stereotypes had to have had a basis in something, right?
Not all bigotry and prejudice is obvious and loud in how hateful it is. Many bigots get a free pass because of how “respectable” and “polite” they seem. They seem like nice people, so surely they can’t have hateful opinions. And not all bigoted beliefs are at the same level of intensity. Linda doesn’t have to be ready to join the KKK to be racist. She’s racist by having negative assumptions and opinions of individuals based on little to no evidence, and deciding that they’ll be hoodlums that won’t amount to anything since they were five.
History is full of racist men and women who marry African Americans. Just because you look down on them doesn’t mean you’re not willing to sleep with them.
GET OUT is a horror movie about whites who believe blacks are physically superior but mentally inferior.
Same reason why sexist men marry women – lots of denial, cognitive dissonance, and plenty of rationalizing their bigotry.
Oh, yeah, and ‘you’re an exception, you’re not a BAD Insert X Group here’.
yeah, like when guys are like “women amirite?” and then remember I’m there and tack on “oh but not *you*”. it’s not uncommon.
Of course, that’s a level of sexism that does reverse, unlike most kinds. I’ve been on the receiving end of that as a guy any number of times.
Somewhat different. Much of sexism is tied to gender roles: Women are supposed to be married to and subservient to men.
In that case it’s more clear why sexists would marry and be perfectly happy as long as the woman sticks to her proper role.
Racists in biracial marriages need more denial.
Very true. A lot of ‘Well, my WIFE’S a good woman’ bs as well.
As the daughter of a racist woman who is married to a black man, it’s because they act white enough that they don’t register as black to them at all. She hates anyone who isn’t white (even though she herself is not actually white, she was adopted by white people) and anytime my step-father “acts black” it immediately causes a horrible argument.
“You’re barely black to me!” Is a phrase used often in the town where I live.
Honestly, I see a lot of my mother in Linda.
I don’t hold as much against Charles as I do against Linda. I’ve seen what happens when a well-respected man of color stands up for what he believes in. He gets labeled “angry” and loses all credibility. That’s what happened to my step-father and caused us to have to move. And in a controlling relationship like what his and Linda’s probably is, going against the grain probably ends in her hurling abuse at him too. I would not be surprised if he’s wearing a mask that’s become him just to survive.
But I’m probably just projecting my family onto the characters.
If I’m remembering correctly, Charles is mixed-race himself. I can see it really likely he internalized a lot and that impacts both his relationship with Linda and with Sal. (Hence things like the ‘you look so pretty with straight hair’ comment.)
Yup, Charles is half black.
Let her off at a pawn shop, where she will pawn the knife for enough money for Marcie’s surgery, and we will split off into a wonderful new timeline where everyone is happy?
I think that this sub-arc is really mostly about how Linda’s mishandling of the whole situation forced Sal down her bad path. If she and Charles had bothered to understand Sal’s feelings and maybe even tried to support her in her attempt to help Marcie, Sal would never have been forced by her own sense of responsibility to criminal actions to help her friend.
I’m pretty sure that this is going to turn out allegorical or something or another.
Pretty much. Linda’s racism aside, it’s not wrong to want to keep your children out of trouble (and smoking and hanging out with criminals DO count as trouble), but her mistake was that she never once tried to actually connect with Sal as a person, to find out why she’s doing the things she’s doing, and to understand her motivations and goals. All she saw was a daughter that needed to be corrected.
As a very broad thing, yeah, wanting your kids to stay out of trouble isn’t wrong. But Linda was completely mistaken in her assumption as to what kind of trouble Sal was exposed to and who it was that brought trouble, instead attributing it all to Marcie. Which is fundamentally rooted in her racism. If she knew about Asher and his friends, would she be calling them a bad influence on Sal, or would she assume Sal is the bad influence, because Sal’s always been “unruly”?
And the ultimate irony to the last strip: Marcie was never the bad influence. Sal had had fights FOR Marcie, and had Linda taken the time to be a parent instead of an authority, Sal could’ve found more constructive ways to channel the anger she feels when her friends are hurt and authority does nothing. Instead Linda’s actions proved what Sal had been thinking all along, that she’s in this alone, no adult is going to help her, and the only way to make it right is to get money for Marcie’s surgery, all else be damned.
Y’know, I’m beginning to think this Asher fella might not be totally on the level.
I DO admire unnamed dude’s ability to either walk as fast as everyone else runs, or to run as fast as everyone else while keeping his torso vertical.
Either he was ahead of the rest of the group and then slowed down just as he got to the truck, or he has strange powers we cannot hope to comprehend.
I’m definitely going with the latter.
Both robberies took place on the same night?
Congratulations, Linda, your racism sent your daughter into a life of crime. With ‘nice white boys’ who are probably the sort of people you thought would make good friends for her.
I couldn’t bear to read the comments yesterday. Please tell me people aren’t still defending Linda.
Not really. A couple people wondering if its not elitism over racism, but no straight up ‘Linda’s not a bad mom’ anymore.
Yesterday there were a few, but not today.
The real question is if David will cut away tomorrow to Becky and Dina or Joyce and Dorothy and leave us hanging for weeks our time.
So because of Linda being a xenophobe and a bad mother Sal became so pessimistic that she become a young criminal even before college and traumatized an already anxious Amber to become a psychopath. Good job breaking everything, Linda.
I can’t get over how tired and cynical and beaten down Sal looks in panel two, then how her face smooths out in panel five into consideration and a sort of false hope that we know will never be fulfilled. It’s painful and well drawn. Good job, Willis.
(Heavy sigh and sad face)
i don’t really know where else to put this since i can’t find a contact email and your tumblr askbox is closed, but willis if you see this: first i should probably apologize for the unconstructive screaming i did in the comments yesterday. second, and i know this is probably stupid to ask as at the end of the day you can’t trigger tag/warn for everything, but. yesterday’s comic triggered me really hard to the point of accidental self harm and while this comic is important to me, i also. can’t afford to have this happen often? i hope you can at least think about it, i love dumbing of age with all my heart.
Take care of yourself. It’s okay to need a break or to stop reading.
thanks, i’m gonna be more careful going forward. i really appreciate the kind words <3
Someone else kindly responded to this, who was unregistered, so that I’d see their unmoderated comment and follow up the response chain to you.
Oh no! I’m so sorry. I hope that you are okay.
The strong reactions to Linda kinda blindsided me. I thought I was playing her relatively low-key, compared to some of the other parents, but, goofy me, in hindsight I realize that lower-key can reach more relateable moments. Probably not a lot of dads pull out rifles on campus, after all, but Linda is hitting the realism a little too closely, I suppose.
Again, my apologies, and I’ll keep this in mind going forward.
(My Tumblr box shouldn’t be closed! I get messages there every day. I wonder what’s up with that. …oh, I suppose if you’re anonymous or unregistered, it might tell you it’s closed. I have anons turned off.)
oh, i see what i did wrong on tumblr, i hit the little plus dialogue button like i’m used to doing on mobile, instead of the ask me anything link. sorry about that! and thank you so much for your understanding and consideration. i’ll be more careful about when relative to my day i check the updates going forward. i really appreciate what you do, always.
oh, and i’m doing quite a bit better today, a friend took me out to get some comfort food and watch silly videos and it’s been a huge help.
also thank you so much to whoever left the unregistered reply, i really appreciate it. ;u;
Good to hear it! Tell your friend thanks, from me.
done! :3
Oh God here it comes… beat still my heart…
Do these bozo’s not know security cameras exist?
They are teens, and therefore prone to terrible decision-making and shortsightedness. Gonna bet that Sal wasn’t the only one who ended up caught.
I’m sure that someone’s said this already up here, but I’m guessing that Sal is going to get let off at the second gas station she robbed.
For her this is less about the money and more about sticking it to her mom at this point.