End Chapters Discussion: Claire and Tyler

[Stephanie]

How do you explain Claire’s attraction-repulsion to Tyler? Why do you think Claire sees violet sparks hovering around him the first time she meets him? What makes her eventually realize they are destined to be together?

This thread is appropriate for those who have finished reading the novel. Please be forewarned- there will be spoilers in this section.

[butterflygirl]

I suppose Claire doesn't want to get hurt. She was hurt very badly as a child. She wants to love but doesn't want to be hurt by love. I have no idea for an explanation for the violet sparks! I guess he is giving off some kind of "love" energy. What is your thoughts on the violet sparks? I think Claire realizes when they are destined to be together is after none of her special recipes (to make Tyler forget about her) have worked on Tyler.

[Stephanie]

I was surprised when Bay and Sydney also saw Tyler's violet sparks- he was really shooting off some energy, wasn't he?

I loved how hard Claire tried to cook Tyler out of her life- I wanted to laugh and tell her he'd already eaten an apple and he knew.

[E-Bennet]

I think Claire is not repulsed by Tyler at all, but by the change she feels happening within herself. She's thinks she is weak and can't handle close relationships because of the trauma of her childhood neglect and disconnectedness to anything stable. Even once she found stability she found that loving people only meant you had to painfully let go of them at one point or another. The early years of her life left her hating anything that she couldn't control, anything spontaneous. And so when she started feeling things for Tyler, it appeased her "control appetite" to make him certain foods and to try to control his feelings for her. Which was amusing for me, it's funny when characters try these things that we as the reader know aren't going to get them anywhere. But they never listen to us, do they?

[Stephanie]

Good point - they don't listen to us, do they? I was laughing at Claire a bit when she was cooking for Tyler- as soon as she knew the recipe hadn't worked as planned, she got up and left. Too funny. I knew he was the tenacious sort, and all her hard work was futile.

[suetu]

Actually, one of my favorite things about the Claire/Tyler storyline were the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which Sydney undermined her sister. Never failed to bring a smile!

[hpthatbme]

I love their story line. I think Claire had too much unstablity as a child that she needed to control everything in her life. She found out early on that she couldn't control when people would leave and it rattles her. When Tyler first appears it is almost as if she doesn't trust him, because she felt like she already knew he would be gone shortly there after. As she realized more and more about her feeings for him she couldn't control herself hence the heat and singeing of things. The violet sparks are Tyler's aura submitting the love that he feels, the finding of his purpose and where he should be. I think that the Waverly's are able to see it because of their "uniqueness" since they seem to have almost a magical way about them why wouldn't all of them be able to see it.

[PBuermele]

I suspect that Claire fights her attraction to Tyler because permanent relationships upset the apple cart of life and she may subconsciously fear that marriage could mean moving out of the house and garden she inherited from her grandmother to her husband's house, even if it is only across the street. Once her found where she thought she belonged, she resisted any potential threat to changing that.

The violet sparks may be a foreshadowing of Tyler's eventual inclusion in the Waverly family. Perhaps the Waverly women needed to see some sign that he would be suitable over the long term and violet is both a color - colors are often thought of as the food of emotion - and a flower. And violets do have heart-shaped leaves...

Sarah probably didn't put nearly this much thinking into it :-)

[Sarah_Addison_…]

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PBuermele wrote:
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Sarah probably didn't put nearly this much thinking into it :-)

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It's all so clever...I wish I had!

Sarah

[erinmarks]

I would have to agree with what everyone is saying: She doesn't want to be hurt again. Everyone that she has loved has left her, and she is at her breaking point. One still can't be sure that she won't be hurt again. Perhaps those violet specks are a bad sign. I really don't think so, though. When I read about those sparks, I thought about "The Celestine Prophecy" where all people have a visible aura of light. In that book, for a person to see the aura, they needed to be consious and aware of the world (that is REALLY simply put) but I figured that was the Waverly way of seeing that this outsider belongs with them, because he is attractive to them.