THE WISDOM OF THE IVYVERSE

       In regular everyday life, it is important to know who is in charge. If you are a child, your parents make the rules. If you have an employer, you answer to his or her policies. And if you live in a civilized society, you must obey its laws or you will be imprisoned by them. But not all situations are easy to evaluate in terms of who is boss. At times it can be counterintuitive!

       For instance, most children—even teenagers, like Ivy—would normally answer to the folks who raised them. But for Ivy, tough love can be dangerous. Take, for example, her feelings about Alix when he tries to tell her what to do in a very NON-optional way:

“He has no authority over me. He’s just trying to boss everyone around again, if he gets in my face this time I’ll show him who’s really boss.” —Ivy, Book 1, Chapter 1

       Immature people like Ivy often like to talk big, but the difference is, Ivy can deliver on these threats.

“You never know, he couldn’t stop me if I really wanted to get him back, and he knows it. I’ve had it with his stupid demands, I’m not gonna take it anymore.” —Ivy, Book 1, Chapter 1

       In this situation, Alix would do well to make sure he doesn’t cross any lines with Ivy; suggesting a course of action is fine, but trying to enforce it could easily result in bodily harm depending on her mood. Especially since she’s very well aware that she has the upper hand:

Most of the others were smart enough to get out of my way if I was mad and avoid antagonizing me. —Ivy, Book 1, Chapter 1

I’d gotten what I wanted in the end. I always did. —Ivy, Book 1, Chapter 3

       Sometimes, Ivy can be reasonable enough to take into account the fact that the adults in her world might actually know what they’re talking about.

[T]he grown-ups always seemed to have good logical reasons for every harebrained idea they hatched.” —Ivy, Book 1, Chapter 2

       Here, she’s demonstrating that she might not like or understand her elders’ reasoning, but she goes along with it because she does know they’re more practical and educated than she is. In some situations, everyone has to make judgments like this: Is the person in authority actually deserving of it, like Adele is when she tells Ivy to help carry out the above “harebrained idea”? Or is the person who’s telling everyone what to do doing so because he or she wants to be in charge but doesn’t necessarily deserve it, like Alix in Chapter 1?

       It’s all about understanding authority.

       Ivy learns a lot about that when dealing with Carl, Nina’s father:

It wouldn’t do to shout at him or do something violent; that would only prove I wasn’t fit to be friends with Nina. I was proud to be learning how to deal with authority around here. I stayed silent and crossed my arms, not meeting his eyes. I was being submissive but I didn’t have to like it. —Ivy, Book 1, Chapter 7