Saturday Soapbox: Jace

Hello, hello! It's me again. ^_^ While not intentionally trying to start a new discussion this came to me days after a conversation with a fellow blogger. I can't say this will be every week, but I think it's appropriate to have a Soapbox discussion on characters, plots, book genre, etc that we'd like to rant about (whether good or bad) and discuss. And what better day to have a Soapbox discussion then Saturday? ^_^ So, here's what's been pestering me for the better part of the week.

I had this conversation with a fellow blogger a few days ago and I’ve been still thinking about it, so I’ve decided what the heck, let me post it as a conversation piece and see what everyone else is thinking. This is her part of the conversation:

Question, do you like Jace? How do you perceive him as a character? Do you get the vibe that even though he's always self loathing, that there's really nothing for him to be hating himself about really? b/c that's how I feel. He's good; we know he's good, he just won't acknowledge it and that’s why he drives me up the wall and the author I was arguing with told me... "Is he really good if he was still willing to have sex with Clary after he knew she was his sister?" and I was like whoa…

I’m sure everyone can see where she’s coming from. And I’m sure everyone knows the author she was arguing with had a valid point… but what do you think? Here’s my input on Jace:

In my opinion Jace is really confused. He’s been raised by a really bad man for the most impressionable years of his life. This is bound to leave scaring. I think he knows that he’s a good guy, but instead of examining the light in him, he’s always focusing on the negative in him. Because his father was always quick to point out flaws and weaknesses Jace automatically tortures himself over flaws and weakness that aren’t really significant. 

As far as still wanting Clary even after thinking she was his sister… this doesn’t make him a bad person. He was always acknowledging that it was wrong. That he shouldn’t love her the way he does. This very response is what makes him a good person. As the Seelie Queen said, “Desire is not always lessened by disgust. Nor can it be bestowed, like a favor, to those most deserving of it.” Jace was disgusted with himself for loving his “sister” as more than his sister. He knew it was wrong; he tormented himself over it; and he tried really hard to walk away from it. 

And really we can determine Jace’s goodness by comparing to Sebastian. Sebastian IS Clary’s brother. He wasn’t all disgusted by kissing her and he knew. He was in fact disappointed with her rejection of him. Obviously, there’s something wrong with his head and he’s the bad guy. He didn’t think it was wrong in the least. Which makes him another kind of sicko as well, but we’ll skip over that for now. 

End result of this rant: Jace isn’t a bad guy he’s just massively confused and needs to take some meditation time to figure out what the hell he really wants.

What do you think? I’d love to read it. ^_^ Feel free to share in the comments or link back your post. ^_^