Confessions of a Teenage Drama King

A huge idea in The Queen of Attolia is the love story between the Queen of Attolia and Eugenides. An interesting component of Eugenides’ confession to Queen Attolia is the fact that he directly connects this confession to his death. There’s a common trope in media of dramatic teenagers connecting unrequited love with death (most famous: Romeo and Juliet). However, in many cases, the concept of dying is very separate from these individuals’ day-to-day lives. This is not the case for Eugenides. He has been in many intense situations where he really did believe he would soon die. We can take therefore take his declaration, “You can kill me here, Your Majesty, and be done with this. Or you can believe me,” (248). As having more weight than a typical teenage declaration. Eugenides has grounds for comparison, and we see throughout the novel that he does fear death. In spite of these experiences, Eugenides still places Attolia over his life.

This confession fits in perfectly with the twisted, obsessive love between the two characters that we discussed in class. There is a depth to their love that is somewhat incomprehensible, but appeals to the audience due to its intensity. This sort of love appeals to many readers, and I wonder what part of this relationship appeals to readers. In class, we mentioned that this would not be an extremely healthy relationship in real life – nonetheless, I was one of the readers who felt invested in this relationship. Is investment due to the potential happiness that could arise out of a love this intense?

What does this say about the sort of love we secretly crave, and what messages is Turner trying to tell the audience with this love story?

 

10 responses to “Confessions of a Teenage Drama King”

  1. storylesher Avatar
    storylesher

    I think this is a really interesting thing to think about. I have always acknowledged that basically all young adult lit books have some crazy love drama mixed into the storyline, but I have never thought about why YA lit authors always fall into this pattern. I read a TON of young adult fantasy when I was younger and the love stories always appealed to me (the more love triangles and relationships between humans and other fantastical human-like characters, the better). Fantasy characters have become so romanticized that readers would be disappointed if they didn’t get the exciting love story they wanted.
    The Queen of Attolia story gives us the surprising, dramatic, unrealistic love story we were waiting for. I think that this appeals to people because it is so obviously something that will never occur in real life. We talked about in class that fictional stories are most popular during times that are calm in the real world because we crave the opposite of what is actually happening (the grass is always green on the other side type thing). I think this same idea can be applied to the love stories in fantasy books. People desire what they can’t have.

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    1. edwardslo Avatar
      edwardslo

      This is a great connection – it’s interesting that people desire what we’ve been taught is an unhealthy relationship all throughout our lives. I also find it interesting how the same obsessive relationship can be portrayed positively or negatively in fictional plots, and is dependent on the author.

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  2. helenagruensteidl Avatar
    helenagruensteidl

    This is an excellent point! Your discussion of Eugenides’ willingness to trust Attollia with his life despite his prior experience with near death really stood out to me. It reminded me of that old cliché saying that goes something like “Love is giving someone the power to destroy you, but trusting them not to.” This novel felt like an extreme embodiment of that saying. I wonder if Turner had had it in mind when writing and if it was something she had intended to convey to her readers as they would presumably be in an age range where love is dramatic to them.
    Additionally, this idea of over dramatization is also seen in Eugenides’ character throughout the entire novel. It feels as though Turner was attempting to engage her audience by writing a character that is as dramatic and angsty as them. In which case, this love story is certainly not uncharacteristic.

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    1. annabilly Avatar
      annabilly

      Speaking of angst and building on to your point, do you think Queen of Attolia and Valiant can draw any parallels (especially concerning Val and Eugenides)? Valiant is filled with angst! I think there could be an interesting argument made about the similarities between the two protagonists despite their wildly different settings in their respective novels. In my opinion, each protagonist is lost (in some sense of the word) and goes on a journey of self-discovery, though the path they take to get there may be wildly different. Does anyone agree? Disagree? I think this could be a super cool and interesting paper to write.

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      1. edwardslo Avatar
        edwardslo

        I would agree that the protagonist goes on path of self-discovery, which is probably due to the strong character-focus in both of these novels. There are many differences in setting, feel, and writing within the two novels, and yet the age group of the protagonist is the same. Maybe this connects to the transition into adulthood and responsibilities that teenagers feel during this time period.

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    2. edwardslo Avatar
      edwardslo

      I think it’s an interesting concept that Turner purposely overdramatized Eugenides in order to appeal to her audience – I wonder whether this sort of love can be found in novels that are meant to appeal to an older audience.

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  3. hwseo1004 Avatar
    hwseo1004

    Hey this is great!! I wish we would talk more about the romance in our novels in class! I totally agree with what @storylesher said, that the Queen of Attolia gives us the unexpected love story behind all this politics. However, I don’t think it was that unrealistic – from what I understood, Attolia really didn’t know about the feelings Eugenides had for her, and was legitimately angry about it. BUT Eugenides has expressed his emotions somewhat (although the readers weren’t told) through the things he did when he was sneaking around her palace. Also, I think Turner places his love and dread for her together very nicely. It was interesting to see a new romantic dynamic like this, where one both loves and is deathly afraid of the other, rather than those generic love triangles and relationships where one gets fed up with the other.

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    1. edwardslo Avatar
      edwardslo

      I agree, I think that Turner does a good job of mixing Eugenides emotions toward Attolia to come up with a more complex and believable connection between the two individuals.

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  4. kedam07 Avatar
    kedam07

    I found this an interesting read. It’s quite true that when YA teen characters do declare their undying love for one another, they don’t actually mean what they’re saying. Putting Eugenides words in context, and understanding the weight of what he’s actually saying is something I didn’t think too deeply about. It’s a very intense sort of love. I actually don’t know where the line is drawn specifically in this story between love and obsession ?

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    1. edwardslo Avatar
      edwardslo

      In this story it seems like the obsession is deeply connected to the love, and fuels the actions Eugenides takes toward Attolia.

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