Another of the 3 prompts we elected to our ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fkficfest pool this year is: "It's not what you are, it's what you do with it." ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
greerwatson nominated this one, a paraphrase from Mary Renault, an author whose work she loves.
When I did a Google search on the phrase, I discovered that many authors are credited with similar lines. Among others, Epicetus: "It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it." W.C. Fields: "It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to." Stephenie Meyer: "It's not what you are. It's what you do."
The phrase definitely lends itself to self-help sentiments, to independence, self-determination, free will and free choice rather than destiny or fate. In FK, Nick almost always interprets in favor of his right to choose anew for himself ("what you do"), while Lacroix almost always advocates for implacable destiny ("what you are"). On the other hand, characters like Feliks, Janette, and Schanke seem to tell Nick, in their different ways, that he should judge himself by what he does, not what he is, without changing what he is -- almost, that they think he can have it all, if he comes around to their ways of thinking.
Of course, there's little as daunting as full responsibility. The sentiment could crush a spirit that takes it the wrong way, seeming to declare a life a failure. Take a character like Urs, who has been very fragile at times, and falsely tell her that it is all "what you do with it" -- that she is entirely to blame for the actions of everyone who ever hurt her. Or take Natalie, who is very strong and very independent, and believes in herself, and unfairly confront her with overwhelming blame for, say, not sufficiently preventing, or overcoming, all the losses in her life; what would her sense of independence, of taking responsibility, do with that imposition of unlimited responsibility?
(Hmmm. That is an common trait of Nick and Natalie there, I think. Both tend to take more on themselves than is strictly their fault, and both seem to do it in a spirit of self-reliance that is perhaps a little outsized. There are works, yes; there is also grace...)
What comes to your mind for our FK characters with this prompt? What kinds of directions to you see?
fkficfest pool this year is: "It's not what you are, it's what you do with it." greerwatson nominated this one, a paraphrase from Mary Renault, an author whose work she loves.When I did a Google search on the phrase, I discovered that many authors are credited with similar lines. Among others, Epicetus: "It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it." W.C. Fields: "It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to." Stephenie Meyer: "It's not what you are. It's what you do."
The phrase definitely lends itself to self-help sentiments, to independence, self-determination, free will and free choice rather than destiny or fate. In FK, Nick almost always interprets in favor of his right to choose anew for himself ("what you do"), while Lacroix almost always advocates for implacable destiny ("what you are"). On the other hand, characters like Feliks, Janette, and Schanke seem to tell Nick, in their different ways, that he should judge himself by what he does, not what he is, without changing what he is -- almost, that they think he can have it all, if he comes around to their ways of thinking.
Of course, there's little as daunting as full responsibility. The sentiment could crush a spirit that takes it the wrong way, seeming to declare a life a failure. Take a character like Urs, who has been very fragile at times, and falsely tell her that it is all "what you do with it" -- that she is entirely to blame for the actions of everyone who ever hurt her. Or take Natalie, who is very strong and very independent, and believes in herself, and unfairly confront her with overwhelming blame for, say, not sufficiently preventing, or overcoming, all the losses in her life; what would her sense of independence, of taking responsibility, do with that imposition of unlimited responsibility?
(Hmmm. That is an common trait of Nick and Natalie there, I think. Both tend to take more on themselves than is strictly their fault, and both seem to do it in a spirit of self-reliance that is perhaps a little outsized. There are works, yes; there is also grace...)
What comes to your mind for our FK characters with this prompt? What kinds of directions to you see?
