Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-37719459-20181204231525/@comment-35720834-20181205003221

This is a reply I posted a week ago. I want to repost this one since it bothers me that Keefe could potentially be mistakened as sexist. Not sure if I'm doing this right but here goes... (Please let me know if I'm doing it wrong so I can fix it. XD)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Her crush lasted 7 books, but remember that the books only covered between two to three years time. And in the mean time, she also still has feelings for Keefe while supposedly crushing on Fitz. The reason why I consider it a crush is because the moments she shares with Fitz doesn't exactly go any deeper than how good he looks or the fact that they both sleep with a plush toy.

'''Also, Keefe has issues, too. He's incredibly jealous of Fitz and Sophie's relationship, plus he doesn't trust Sophie and is always trying to protect her.''' Keefe is jealous of Fitz, yes, but Fitz is also jealous of Keefe. Keefe have not lashed out at Fitz for being around Sophie all the time, while Fitz, in retrospect, did many times. Being jealous is a common thing when it comes to romance. How the characters feel is one thing but how they act upon those feelings define who they are. For example, Keefe doesn't act possessive of Sophie. In Nightfall, when Keefe just returned from being bedridden for a week, he looked sad when he saw Sophie holding hands with Fitz but that's the most that he's done. In Flashback, he backed away and purposefully let Fitz and Sophie have their moment (also, highly likely due to Alden's request). For Fitz's case, near the end of Nightfall when Keefe asked to tag along with Sophie and Fitz to see Alvar, Fitz commented saying something along the lines of, "I guess I should've known you'd be here." The following text said: there was a strange edge to the words, and Keefe was quick to change the subject, hinting that what Fitz just said was out of jealousy. And it only gets a lot more prominent in book 7. There was a moment when Sophie told Fitz she'd like to talk to Keefe alone about his shattered memory. Fitz stayed around for awhile longer, hugging her and tucking in her hair in front of Keefe despite the many times that Keefe mentioned how uncomfortable this was for him and that he should leave to give them privacy. It was as if Fitz is saying, "she's my girl." It was an unnecessary public display of affection because Sophie already made it clear that her talk with Keefe will be specifically about his memories, which is something that is very personal to him, something very serious and had nothing to do with romance.

As much as I love Keefe, his behavior reminds me a little bit of the sexist pattern men take of "protect the weak women while us strong men take care of problem." Keefe has always believed in Sophie, giving her confidence. In Lodestar, when they met up with Keefe in the selkie scene, Keefe confidently waited for Sophie to come up with a plan, showing full faith that she's always capable. The scene goes something like this: ''"Shouldn't we be trying to come up with an actual plan?" Fitz asked. "Instead of putting all the pressure on Sophie?" "But Foster's always the one who figures it out. You just gotta give that fancy brain of hers a second to work." (Keefe) "That's not true, I..." Sophie's words trailed off as an idea started to take shape. Keefe grinned. "Go ahead, Foster. Amaze us."'' Scenes like this often shows itself again and again. In book 7, when Fitz blamed her for Alvar getting his memories back (page 770), she almost had a nervous breakdown when Keefe helped calmed her down and told her, "You got this."

In book 2, after her near death experience with Limbium... ''One sob slipped through her lips, and once the floodgates were open, there was no stopping it. She waited for Keefe to tease her, but he just scooted closer, lifting her head so it rested on his knee instead of the rocky ground. "Sorry," she mumbled when the crying fit finally passed. "For what?" "I should be braver than this." "Um, I don't know if you realize this, but you're the bravest person I know -- by far. Freak out all you want. If anyone deserves to, it's you."'' If anything, scenes like this shows that he understands her, and knows how amazing she is and how hard she tries, while also realizing how incredibly vulnerable she is and that she is also just a young girl. And, yes, there was time when he wanted to protect her but not out of the idea that "she cannot do it because she is a girl", but more like out of responsiblity to protect everyone that he cares for from his mother's cruelty -- that is his guilt, that is his burden. In Nightfall, he fought King Dimitar (before knowing his mother's plans) because he didn't want Sophie to get hurt. Not because she is a girl, but because she is always on the verge of dying in practically every book, and the fact that it's only natural to try to protect the person that you care for. After his fight with Dimitar and after Sophie practically telling him to stay in bed for one week, she forced him to realize that he's not alone in this fight, and that he should share the burden with the rest of his friends instead of always going off alone and putting himself in the face of danger.

So, no, Keefe is not sexist at all. He's overprotective, much like how Sophie is overprotective of her friends and doesn't want anybody to get hurt but her (which is mentioned in the books).

'''She can never tell when Keefe is joking or not, so that's why she never cries when he tells her she's beautiful. Also, Keefe has always said that in a friendly way, whereas Fitz was saying that romantically.''' While, yes, Sophie always misunderstands Keefe, but he told her before back in Lodestar: ''"Hey, I told you my next plan for sneaking away involved lots of selkie skin." (Keefe) "You did. I just didn't realize you were serious." (Sophie) "I'm always serious, Foster. Especially when you think I'm teasing."'' This clearly tells us that he is very serious about the things he said about her, about how much she amazes him, how much he trusts and believes in her. But that doesn't make him stop wanting to protect her. He never stops her from doing the things she wanted, but he's willing to take the pain that comes with the fights in order to protect her and their friends from harm.