The Stark Sisters; Different Needles Same Intention

The Stark Sisters; Different Needles Same Intention

Within any siblings there is always a responsible and rule follower while the younger or middle child tend to have low acceptance of responsibility and being independent. Sansa and Arya Stark both foil characters to one another give culture, characteristic and quality differences. Traditionally raised as a lady and soon to become queen one day, Sansa’s decisions to different scenarios causes an unfavorable attitude from different characters and the audience. 

            But why can’t people see Sansa’s strengths much like they see Arya’s? She may not be a favored character like her sister Arya Stark but she is not deeply hated like the Lannisters. For one, she resembles a lot like her mother and her inheritance from the house Tully. We can recall that she is well dressed and looked her best and had her hair brushed until it was shone. Unlike her sister who has been wearing the same riding leathers from two days before and not caring about important events such as meeting the Queen.  Her feminine activities much like sewing, etiquette, literature and her other ways of being raised makes her the most “girlest” character much like any highborn Lady. Although because she still is a child and had not become a women yet, we can hear her low voice, unconfident, and seen as weak. Unlike the older women such as Lady Catelyn who rides horses in a dress and goes off to help her husband when matters need to be taken or Queen Cersei who gives out orders and speaks her mind and even Arya who prefers her sword needle rather than doing needle work in which she despises Sansa for being so good at it.

Sansa only 11 years old and the eldest daughter, her only desires is to one day become queen to her soon to be king Prince Joffrey. A boy who she has never met and claims to be in love. I think we can all agree upon when we hear “love blinds you”. 

After the incident with Arya’s direwolf attacking Joffrey, the biggest turning point towards her being an unlikeable character sprung. Her betrayal to her family by not sticking up and telling the truth of what happened causes anger and distrust towards Sansa. Arya on the other hand speaks up and even hits the prince as she had no manners. Another reason why she is the likeable Stark sister.

Why not tell the truth? Why not be on your family’s side? Why satisfy someone you barely know? Sansa is taught to be lady and to be loyal to her future husband. The only way she could get Joffrey, her betrothed, to not upset him and for him to know that he can trust her in the long run is for her to keep quiet. Her obsession and love over Joffrey at a young age causes her to react in only a matter to which she was taught.

As her time in King’s Landing goes by her mentality of a fairy tale romance changes and she is finally woke and realizes how cruel and evil the Lannister are. Especially Joffrey, after beheading her father and making her watch. She has no one at this point so her only way of survival is through fear. Her cowardness causes her to not stand up for herself, not leave King’s Landing, and get humiliated and physically hurt. But with fear it only grows strength and the will to fight in order to survive. Yes, she may not be physically be able to fight but her mentality of fighting starts growing. She watches what she says and agrees upon  mostly everything she asked about.

Arya, on the other hand, flees King’s Landing of course with the help of Yoren. Through out her journey in leaving King’s Landing and back to Winterfell her way of survival is through physically fighting through anger. She physically kills people even if it was on accident like stabbing the boy and angrily telling him to “stay away”. She seeks revenge after what happened to her father. After all she is seen as Ned Stark’s favorite child. Sansa speaks about the moment when Arya is covered in mud and brings her father flowers he does not tell Arya to ack like a Lady but instead hugs her, making Sansa feel bad about herself. In these types of situation Sansa could not get away with.

 Arya has always been seen as tomboy and for her to dress and look like a boy is another form of her ways of survival. She never cared of being dirty or well-dressed so it works out for her. But if it were Sansa readers and viewers could not imagen her risking her life by leaving in away Arya does. One might tell themselves, “if I were Sansa I would have just left Kings Landing” but put yourself in her shoes. Here you are with a the traumatic event of your father getting killed in front of you, no knowledge of the place you are staying at and especially no trust with anyone anymore. Even if she is highborn there is much more power that surrounds her. Sansa is put in difficult scenarios in which she usually trapped in. If she is not carful with the people around her who have such great power then she is basically a goner.

Apart from bringing each sister down from their looks, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and mostly their way of survival, they both are still alike. They both resemble from their parents. Sansa looks up to her parents and mostly her mother as she wants to be queen and love her husband one day the way Catelyn loved Ned. Her care for Arya is somewhat the same like her mothers. Although they show it differently like when Sansa cares about how she acts and dresses and for her mother to know where she is at when they captured both Sansa and Arya in Kings Landing, Sansa has the same care for her Arya in which her mother does as well. As for her father, she is loyal like him. She grew up in a honorable family environment in which her father sheltered his family with. As for Arya, her hair and way of style like her father but as well as her mother who wears dresses much like her mother.

Both Arya and Sansa fight for survival, differently, but still manage to fight. In a metamorphic way, we see both of them using the a “needle” from needle work or sword fighting they are seen to resemble their different personalities yet used in the same way which is survival.

Sansa may be a hated character due to her feminist ways, actions that causes betrayal to her family and making her own life miserable in way, but we can see a strong female character. When seen fearful  and weak there is always a chance of growth with survival through many obstacles in which she has no control or help with. Just because girls that are physically strong and are doing things out of the norm does not mean an intellectual girl who wears dresses should be bashed by the way one is traditionally raised and their way of thinking their trouble out.