Date: 01 Sep 2014 18:10 Title: Matters of the Vulcan Heart
It's fascinating to me how his young mind, whose thought processes you track so accurately here, is open enough to consider all points of view, yet immature enough to come to what he will much later find to be an erroneous conclusion. Poor little kid, with all that pressure on him from so many directions. But looking forward into episodes of TOS, you do seem to show that Amanda's lessons sank in--he is always repectful of other cultures' religious systems and beliefs. I love how you traced that thread back to the beginning.
Date: 24 Feb 2014 21:49 Title: Matters of the Vulcan Heart
Not much sleep for Spock that night. I like the way you brought God into the discussion. In my series, I describe the adult Spock as an atheist, which becomes a point of tension between him and his human wife--and later, with his grown daughter. But little by little I am leading him toward an event that will take his life in a whole new direction.
Author's Response:
Thank you, kindly. It really wasn't meant to be about God, though, but diversity. And Amanda was trying to send him a message about his upcoming life choice. Consider this line: "I just want you to realize that in some things, there may be more than one answer, and that each may be right in its own way. That just because we can't explain something, or understand it fully, that doesn't make it wrong by default." Not really disagreeing with Sarek, but trying to make Spock understand that not everything is black and white - especially for him and his unique situation. ;-)
Date: 24 Feb 2014 05:18 Title: Matters of the Vulcan Heart
The one thing that TOS really never adequately covers is Spock's childhood. You're right - how the heck could he do it? It had to have been supremely difficult. It's almost like a divorce, where a child chooses one parent over the other, yet is afraid and the choice of one means the rejection of the other.
I also wonder, like you do, about Spock and Sybok, and about how they interacted. For Sybok to essentially reject the old ways meant that, for Sarek, the urge to convert Spock into a full-time Vulcan was rather strong. Plus Amanda holds back, when she could have probably said something. Or maybe she did, but Spock didn't know about that.
Thoughtful, and thought-provoking, as always.
Author's Response:
OMG! You got is so right! While initially young Spock was consumed with not hurting or disprespecting either parent and their way of life, as his kahs-wan drew ever nearer, it switched to a question of survival - what would he have to do in order to 'fit in' on the world where he was living? IMHO that is what ultimately drove his decision (and what later drove him to Starfleet), especially when it had to be made at such a young age. And we all see where that choice got him.
It might be interesting to do an AU where he is raised on Earth. Would his life choice have been different? Why? Would it have made a difference as to how he was received? Would he have been accepted by his peers, or still faced rejection?