Latest Posts by metalleach - Page 2

how i imagine those partygoers looked at camilla and richard when they left that one party together

what the fuck was that whole thing with Julian teaching that famous princess and apparently he was always weary because of it? what did Henry literally crash out over and break Spike's collarbone over, what was said to provoke such a thing? SO MANY THINGS!!! I think that's the beauty of it all though.

I love how there are so many unsolved mysteries in tsh. What did Henry whisper to Camilla? What exactly happened at the Bacchanal? Who was the man who followed Henry and Bunny in Rome?

Love when Richard randomly lore drops like yes id love to know more about how you showed up high to School everyday at the age of 13 because you thought it would make you cool.

Or how your friends having a lil argument reminds you of when you dad used to hit you. Like fucking hell bro.

“Paintings don’t make me feel”

These pieces:

repeat after me.. camilla macaulay was masc

🗣️🗣️CAMILLA MACAULAY WAS MASC ‼️‼️💥

i am currently rereading the secret history, and in doing so i remember the confusion i first felt when i saw how people interpreted the book.

the entire dark academia aesthetic doesn’t necessarily apply to the book, because to me donna tartt did a wonderful job at showing how almost performative it seemed. from henry and his constant umbrella carrying, to francis’ fake pince-nez, the characters themselves seem to be stuck in a persona. richard, too, finds himself wrapped up in this when he immediately jumps to buying clothes that similarly match their styles despite not having known them for very long at all.

their intelligence, as well, seems exaggerated or even romanticized by a lot of readers, especially when it comes to henry. bunny himself says that he believes francis is equal to henry when it comes to intellect yet henry is put on such a pedestal. so many readers treat the greek class like they have rare, unseen forms of genius. this in itself isn’t true. they are smart, you cannot ignore that, but we see judy poovey repeating what julian would say in lectures, just with less ancient references.

another commonly misinterpreted character is camilla. she is often infantilized. posed up, displayed as feminine, treated as innocent without flaw. so many ignore the fact she was often described as masculine, she was complicit in the murder of two men, and she was also a grown woman who had intercourse with her twin brother.

camilla is a victim, yes. she is a victim of her brothers later abuse as well as the unhealthy view the boys had on her— but camilla is still just as bad as the rest of them. the incest cannot be called consensual as it was not two healthy people making an informed choice, it is something both charles and camilla are both the perpetrators and the victims of. they are orphans, isolated, who latched onto each other, and it formed a toxic bond. charles did later become abusive, but it was a result of the trauma of bunny dying. this isn’t an excuse, simply a reason, but before bunny charles never hurt camilla.

donna tartt is a genius. richard, in his obsession, makes us view the group as he does. from the aestheticism to the romanticization, the book carries on by the reader’s themselves unintentionally writing in richards perspective.

unreliable narrators are not dangerous in what they don’t reveal, but how we interpret what they do.

Donna Tartt, The Secret History

What if I changed Henry's (and Bunny's) glasses so they're a bit more accurate...

henry, girl, your defence for killing a man cannot be "it was dark, you understand, and i couldn't really see."

I don't see enough people talking about Judy poovy repeating exactly what the greek class just discussed in a simpler matter. It's the definition of men's deeply philosophical thoughts being just another Wednesday afternoon for teenage girls

i could write multiple ESSAYS on the misogyny in the secret history and how well donna tartt writes it. MAYBE I WILL

"camilla led richard and henry on" and who said that? the men? including richard, world class manipulator who at one point wanted to beat and rape her? if sleeping or flirting with multiple boys in the group makes her an evil temptress then i suppose francis is also a slut and richard and charles are both evil for hooking up with him as "straight" men. but we all know why no one cares about that.

𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲. 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐲'𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐩 𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐲.

𝐈 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭. 𝐈 𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤. 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐬, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧.

“It's a very Greek idea, and a very profound one. Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it. And what could be more terrifying and beautiful, to souls like the Greeks or our own, than to lose control completely? To throw off the chains of being for an instant, to shatter the accident of our mortal selves? Euripides speaks of the Maenads: head thrown I back, throat to the stars, "more like deer than human being." To be absolutely free! One is quite capable, of course, of working out these destructive passions in more vulgar and less efficient ways. But how glorious to release them in a single burst! To sing, to scream, to dance barefoot in the woods in the dead of night, with no more awareness of mortality than an animal! These are powerful mysteries. The bellowing of bulls. Springs of honey bubbling from the ground. If we are strong enough in our souls we can rip away the veil and look that naked, terrible beauty right in the face; let God consume us, devour us, unstring our bones. Then spit us out reborn.” ― Donna Tartt, The Secret History

A study in Henry and Francis

Henry is especially gifted. His great memory, mastering many languages and the ability to translate ancient works of literature just because he feels like it shows great intelligence that could take him much farther in life, but he is simply not interested. If you ask me, he was on autism spectrum but that's another conversation. While I don't think Francis' intelligence was quite on the same level as Henry's, I think he did have more potential but like the rest of the Greek class, didn't care as much about the ancient languages as Henry did.

However, Francis has the cunningness that Henry simply does not possess. Some consider Henry an evil mastermind for orchestrating a murder while others make fun of his methods, but if we really judge from apart the narrative, Henry is acting like a child who cannot fully comprehend what killing someone means. He considers different, elaborate, over the top, needless theories for killing and escaping. I mean, running away in Argentina, really? Henry is exceptionally well-read and it seems that the only thing he took from that are the acts, not the meaning. He still does not have his own understanding of the meaning of life. No wonder he cracks on Bunny's funeral. He also thinks that he can solve every problem, get away with anything, because he has considered how things would work out in theory based on what he has read, but he doesn't have much experience in real life, so he falters at difficulties, such as Julian abandoning him, Charles turning on him, his own conflicting feelings, the snow covering up Bunny's body, etc. I also don't think Henry was a good, or even an ill-intentioned manipulator. He has a simplistic, childish view on friendships as well. He considers the Greek class his friends: he pays for stuff, solves problems when they panic, so he expects the same kind of help in return without any unnecessary questions. Same with Richard. Henry helped him, offered him friendship and inclusion, then expected him to help him since he was included now.

Meanwhile, Francis is more savvy. The whole Greek class is detached from the real world and has an askew view on morality, yes, but Francis, unlike Henry, knows exactly how to use people. His dramatics often make us forget that he is perfectly able to figure out how to make things happen when he wants to. He knows how to poke Richard, knows what to ask of him. And with Charles? He got him alone and tried to have an intercourse with him, he also saw his drinking problem and tempted him with alcohol in exchange of sexual acts or had sex with him when he was drunk. That is using people in one of the most vile ways.

Hopefully, someday I shall articulate this in a better manner.

stop drawing henry and bunny as skinny and lanky

…like its cuffing season

sorry guys but richard is absolutely insufferable to me. the way he spoke abt his ex gf had me raising my eyebrows cus liiikeee

hate to break it to u babe but you’re literally her in a different font

rip Bunny Corcoran you would've loved gramarly bc u couldn't spell for shit

nothing is too big. if it exists in imagination, it exists in potential

can we forget about the terms “3d” and “4d” and everything else. it was helpful at first when it came to understanding the loa but now it just overcomplicates it for some of y’all. before any of you guys learned about loa, you were already manifesting unconsciously. when manifesting, you were never like “okay so I have to have it in my 4d for it to show up in my 3d” you just had an assumption which turned into reality. when you overcomplicate manifestation, it gets complicated and it’s as simple as that. you said loa was hard, so it was hard. you said loa was easy and effortless, so it’s easy and effortless. manifesting is literally just deciding a desire. you don’t have to believe it, you don’t have to feel it, you just have to state that it’s true so it’s true. you said you’re rich so you’re rich. it’s instant. time delay doesn’t exist unless you make it exist and the only way you can do that is if you decided that it exists. so forget about the terms 4d or 3d and just decide your desire and tell yourself that it’s true. if you said it’s true, it’s true. thats simply just the law. think/affirm in your favor (since affirming is just thinking) and that’s exactly what will show up in your life. matter of fact, stop separating the 3d and the 4d. although they are different things, think of them as a whole since your 3d is literally a reflection of your 4d. manifestation is life. your entire life you have been manifesting. ALWAYS. so why make it complicated now? you’ve been doing it your entire life, the only difference is that you’re consciously doing it or being aware that you’re doing it but being aware of the fact that you are constantly manifesting shouldn’t change how easy it is. manifesting is literally so simple. affirm that you have a desire/think in favor of your desire and BOOM! just like that, your desire INSTANTLY manifests.

I saw this tiktok and felt like it can be applied to manifesting. Affirm while ur scared, annoyed, frustrated, etc

"Kamala Harris raised 50+ million dollars after Biden dropped out!" you fools.... that's the money she got from selling Biden to One Direction :(

I don’t know what it is but I feel like henry winter has his fingers in every fold of my brain

I can’t escape the man

Francisco Goya and Gustave Doré Gothic Hatchings

Not Richard trying so hard to conceal how much money he really has only for Henry to turn around and tell him that literally everyone in the group is broke 💀💀

It’s very funny to me that the inciting incident of The Secret History is the bacchanal but we never actually get to see a bacchanal. It occurs to me that this book easily could have had a supernatural element and indeed from any other character’s perspective it likely would have. But because Richard is our narrator, we never need to question if Dionysus was really there or if the bloody cleansing was really necessary because Richard despite being a liar and generally unreliable narrator is still the most firmly grounded in reality of most of the classics class.

new henrymilla just dropped i was inspired by this photo

the thing I love the most about The Secret History is that like... so many readers fell for Richard's bullshit. Like anyone who legitimately thinks Henry is cool - no! That man didn't know about the moon landing and thought they could get away with a murder by fleeing to Argentina! He's stupid! But Richard loved him, so he wanted us all to love him too. And it worked!

i wish men were as disgusted with rape as they are with periods