Today I discovered that a couple of TSH characters were based on actual people Donna Tartt knew at Bennington College- amongst them were students Todd O'Neal and Matt Jacobsen, who were the inspiration for Henry and Bunny respectively.
Here's the source
Proud adult (me)
everyday i think about how henry could have put on a whole show of grief at bunny's funeral. he could have read a long-winded speech, hell, he could have even said "this poem was one of bunny's favourites" before he read it. that simple acknowledgement to let everyone at that funeral know he cared.
but he didn't. he read that poem, knowing full well it did not suit whatever 'aesthetic' he and julian had formulated, knowing that he'd be criticised for it. knowing that the only people who knew what it meant, were him, bunny, and the rest of the greek class.
i've seen some people have said that him smearing the dirt across his chest at the funeral was an 'act' of sorts to show how much he was grieving. but i don't think i could disagree more. henry was sick out of his mind at that funeral. i think the funeral wasn't just overwhelming for him mentally and physically, but also emotionally. he had to grieve once, then he had to grieve a second time, knowing that he killed his best friend.
everyday i think about it man. i love these freaks
I confuse people. i have a happy personality and a sad soul. i'm bold but shy. i love deeply but sometimes i feel heartless. i'm healing and hurting at the same time. i'm dedicated to growth, but i self sabotage
my theory on what it could be…
i think that Higuchi’s ability will be called “Takekurabe” (Growing Up/Child’s Play) after her most famous work, and i believe it might have something to do with reincarnation. here’s why…
in this official art she is featured with red spider lilies, which are symbolic of death, but are also thought of as a bridge between heaven & earth…a reminder of the “cyclical nature of life & death”
Takekurabe also explores themes such as how life is fleeting. & also abt being forced into a role that you didn’t want, or wouldn’t have chosen for yourself
(plus potential foreshadowing: in this official art, Higuchi is surrounded by pinwheels— which symbolize childhood, but also the cycle of life, & the buddhist teaching of reincarnation)
back to reincarnation…
after being told that Akutagawa may never wake up, she reached out to him & a glow appeared around her hand— like she was activating an ability— before pulling away bc she remembered that he didn’t want her (or anyone’s) help
but this means that she’s able to give help in this sort of situation
additionally, the fact that she almost always appears in official arts w Akutagawa indicates that she will probably use her ability on him at some point, which makes sense considering his terminal condition
(note the pulse in the background, his bright eyes, & her white suit)
because we have yet to see her use her ability, i’m assuming that she can only use it once, so she’d be giving up her life for Akutagawa’s (a life for a life— his reincarnation)
this would imitate irl Higuchi’s unfortunately short life— with her having died at only 25 years old. it also makes sense to give her such a powerful ability since irl Higuchi is such an important figure in japanese history— japan’s first professional woman writer of modern literature
i wonder if Higuchi’s sister has anything to do with her ability (in bsd she’s unnamed, but her irl sister’s name was Kuniko so that’s what we’ll call her)
according to Higuchi’s bungo episode, despite her literary genius, irl Higuchi was practically useless without her sister
Kuniko was the one who made what Higuchi did possible & kept things functional behind the scenes
so i think it’d be super interesting (& a cool irl reference) if Kuniko was involved in some way with Higuchi’s ability (i also just want to see more of her bc this sister duo is so cute :’))
bonus: when i watched this anime adaptation of Takekurabe, this was the ending scene & i wonder if it was harukawa’s inspiration for this official art 🥹
white lilies represent purity, & since they were off by the side of the road, they might have represented the character’s fleeting purity. white lilies are also used at funerals to represent a soul’s return to purity & its journey to the afterlife… which circles back to the reincarnation theme 👀
I will go bankrupt but eat strawberries
what they don't tell you about making friends is you gotta be a lil annoying. you gotta push past the fear of "what if they don't want to talk to me" and simply ask someone how their day is going, send a meme. you cannot connect to people if you're both just awkwardly waiting for the other to start.
don’t stare at the moon too long or else you’ll remember that nothing in this stupid fucking world makes sense
hi, a lot of you need a perspective reset
the average human lifespan globally is 70+ years
taking the threshold of adulthood as 18, you are likely to spend at least 52 years as a fully grown adult
at the age of 30 you have lived less than one quarter of your adult life (12/52 years)
'middle age' is typically considered to be between 45-65
it is extremely common to switch careers, start new relationships, emigrate, go to college for the first or second time, or make other life-changing decisions in middle age
it's wild that I even have to spell it out, but older adults (60+) still have social lives and hobbies and interests.
you can still date when you get old. you can still fuck. you can still learn new skills, be fashionable, be competitive. you can still gossip, you can still travel, you can still read. you can still transition. you can still come out.
young doesn't mean peaked. you're inexperienced in your 20s! you're still learning and practicing! you're developing social skills and muscle memory that will last decades!
there are a million things to do in the world, and they don't vanish overnight because an imaginary number gets too big
Сегодня мне приснился сон с таким милым парнем, который во мне тоже заинтересован и он болтал со мной о 2000х годах и шептал на ушко историю своей прабабки и все это на глазах моей матери! но мы на неё внимания не обращали, а потом он стал криповатым конечно и в итоге оказался мега ревнивым, но не об этом-