Dostoevsky as Last Airbender

I have never typed the name Dostoevsky until this moment -- it's a milestone. I have also never read any of his books (though I probably will eventually).

However, I did recently read a blog post called "Dostoevsky as lover" by Henrik Karlsson on his blog "Escaping Flatland" -- it's part 2 of his series of posts starting with Looking for Alice, which was a high-impact article for me.

As part of the article, Henrik describes a key aspect of Dostoevsky's writing style:

*Instead of using his characters as mouthpieces for his ideas, what Doestoevsky does is craft situations in which the characters reveal themselves. And then he listens. *

He does this by crafting conflicts^[1]:

Why conflicts? Because we often say what we really think only when everything around us is breaking, when a relationship is ending, when our hopes have been crushed, when we think we have failed beyond repair. We hide our true word, out of fear, until we break, and then it spills forth. Dostoevsky’s books are feverishly intense because of this: he is trying to push people into full crises, so he can hear their authentic voice.

Henrik beautifully connects this to his own story of mutual growth with his partner Johanna.

I just want to talk about Avatar.

Spoilers for Avatar: The Last Airbender - Season 3, Episode 14/15 (The Boiling Rock)

I'm not here to say anything super duper insightful here. But I just watched this episode and I felt like it had some good examples of conflict leading characters to break and show their true colors.

• Sokka is forced to decide between his initial escape plan and escape with Suki, or stay at the prison another day with the chance that his father will be part of the incoming war prisoners. The tension is between protecting the safety of Suki versus the chance to save his father. He chooses to stay and help his father escape (of course it's a win win because Suki stays and helps and they all escape in the end).
• When the guards are going to cut the gondola cable, May is forced to choose between her love for Zuko (because his life is at risk) and her loyalty to Azula (and May's own freedom / not "betraying" the fire nation). She chooses Zuko.
• When Azula is about to (probably) kill May (in response to May's betrayal), Ty Lee is forced to choose between her friendship with May and her own loyalty to Azula (and her own freedom). She chooses May.
• Just thought of this, but the warden also was forced to choose between his own life, and his loyalty to the fire nation. He chooses his loyalty to the fire nation -- he shouts to the guards to cut the cable, knowing that he is unlikely to survive (but at least he prevented the prisoners from escaping).

Wow, that actually got kind of deep. Especially when I measure up these parallels.

There's a consistent theme with those examples -- tension rises until each character is forced to make a decision between their own safety, versus their loyalty to others. May, Ty Lee, Sokka, and the warden all choose to sacrifice their own safety/freedom, for the sake of their values (which includes their loyalties).

Nice job, writers.

Slightly tangential but related to this line of thinking:

• Not this episode -- but Zuko recently had chosen to leave the fire nation royal scene and switch sides. This was more of a slowly rising tension which culminated in his self-discovery, rather than an intense in-moment conflict.
  • Though, there was the moment of crisis in S2 when Zuko had to choose between helping the Avatar or staying loyal to Azula / fire nation. He chose Azula. But eventually he saw that this choice was not actually in line with that his values had transformed into; he regroups with the fire nation, but slowly sees that world in a new light (given his new values) and comes to his own conclusions and ultimately decides to branch out on his own.