Good meta always prompts new insights for me, and your meta got my wheels turning so I thought I'd share. :)
If monsters are real, and monsters killed Mom, and Dad fights monsters, then Dad could die, too. "They" could get Sam.
I loved Sam's reasoning. Even as a child, it's clear that Sam was the kid with the gears grinding away in his head. Character continuity is so satisfying.
These lines really resonated with me; I felt like they explain so much about Sam's behavior in S2 and give Sam's desperation in S3 much more depth. "IMToD" proved that one of Sam's deepest childhood fears came to fruition (dead John) as another layer of safety separating him and Dean from "the dark" was removed. Now perhaps another reason Sam clung so hard to the hunter lifestyle and out right rejected the normalcy ("ELaC") he'd been so keen to return to as he stated in "Salvation" was because he was completely freaked out. Staying with Dean, his protector, and battling the monsters head-on seem like a very Sam-way of dealing with deep-rooted fear. Now in S3 Sam's facing the prospect of not only loosing Dean but also having the last bit of his life-long safety shield ripped away. No wonder the poor boy is so hopelessly desperate that he's willing to spin blind deals with rogue demons.
Also, I find it fascinating that both Sam and Dean are terrified of being alone, but for different reasons. To me, it seems that Dean's fear of being the last Winchester standing is rooted his role of big brother/protector being his primary definition of self (in order to fulfill this, Dean needs Sam around to protect), guilt, and fear of failure. Whereas it seems like Sam is scared of fear itself, which is partially derived from being without his family to act as a buffer between him and the fear-inducing "evil" (which, interestingly enough, if you interpret the demon blood to be representative/an incarnation of "evil" and being that it's part of Sam, Sam's technically not safe with or without Dean as nobody can protect him from himself. Heh!).
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If monsters are real, and monsters killed Mom, and Dad fights monsters, then Dad could die, too. "They" could get Sam.
I loved Sam's reasoning. Even as a child, it's clear that Sam was the kid with the gears grinding away in his head. Character continuity is so satisfying.
These lines really resonated with me; I felt like they explain so much about Sam's behavior in S2 and give Sam's desperation in S3 much more depth. "IMToD" proved that one of Sam's deepest childhood fears came to fruition (dead John) as another layer of safety separating him and Dean from "the dark" was removed. Now perhaps another reason Sam clung so hard to the hunter lifestyle and out right rejected the normalcy ("ELaC") he'd been so keen to return to as he stated in "Salvation" was because he was completely freaked out. Staying with Dean, his protector, and battling the monsters head-on seem like a very Sam-way of dealing with deep-rooted fear. Now in S3 Sam's facing the prospect of not only loosing Dean but also having the last bit of his life-long safety shield ripped away. No wonder the poor boy is so hopelessly desperate that he's willing to spin blind deals with rogue demons.
Also, I find it fascinating that both Sam and Dean are terrified of being alone, but for different reasons. To me, it seems that Dean's fear of being the last Winchester standing is rooted his role of big brother/protector being his primary definition of self (in order to fulfill this, Dean needs Sam around to protect), guilt, and fear of failure. Whereas it seems like Sam is scared of fear itself, which is partially derived from being without his family to act as a buffer between him and the fear-inducing "evil" (which, interestingly enough, if you interpret the demon blood to be representative/an incarnation of "evil" and being that it's part of Sam, Sam's technically not safe with or without Dean as nobody can protect him from himself. Heh!).
I really enjoyed reading this. Great meta!