History Fridge / DollangangerSeries

* Cathy's recall provides an alternative interpretation of what occurs when the siblings first meet Dr. Sheffield in ''Petals''. As written, he encounters the three of them for the first time and instantly spends a long moment ogling Cathy. While Paul ''is'' obviously attracted to Cathy later, and obviously had some terrible sexual boundaries towards his late wife, it would also just be deeply weird on multiple levels for him to react that way in that moment: Cathy was 15, wearing ill-fitting clothing, malnourished, suffering from arsenic poisoning alongside her siblings, all three were clearly in distress, and oh, ''they had a seriously ill child with them''. Even if he was a pervert, it beggars belief that his first response in that situation would be to openly stare at Cathy--if he had that little control over his urges, he'd barely be able to function in public, let alone work as a doctor. It seems more plausible that this was embellishment Cathy added years after the fact--basically BackportedDevelopment. Considering that throughout ''Petals'' and even into ''Thorns'', Cathy makes frequent reference to sleeping with/marrying Paul because she felt she "owed" him, it seems just as likely that Cathy, a deeply traumatized teenaged girl who had already internalized some very dysfunctional ideas about men and sex (quite apart from her stuff with Chris), was interpreting a moment of shock or confusion on Paul's part as attraction, and assumed she'd have to "earn" his kindness and hospitality.

* Cathy's recall provides an alternative interpretation of what occurs when the siblings first meet Dr. Sheffield in ''Petals''. As written, he encounters the three of them for the first time and instantly spends a long moment ogling Cathy. While Paul ''is'' obviously attracted to Cathy later, and obviously had some terrible sexual boundaries towards his late wife, it would also just be deeply weird on multiple levels for him to react that way in that moment: Cathy was 15, wearing ill-fitting clothing, malnourished, suffering from arsenic poisoning alongside her siblings, all three were clearly in distress, and oh, ''they had a seriously ill child with them''. Even if he was a pervert, it beggars belief that his first response in that situation would be to openly stare at Cathy - if he had that little control over his urges, he'd barely be able to function in public, let alone work as a doctor. It seems more plausible that this was embellishment Cathy added years after the fact--basically BackportedDevelopment. Considering that throughout ''Petals'' and even into ''Thorns'', Cathy makes frequent reference to sleeping with/marrying Paul because she felt she "owed" him, it seems just as likely that Cathy, a deeply traumatized teenaged girl who had already internalized some very dysfunctional ideas about men and sex (quite apart from her stuff with Chris), was interpreting a moment of shock or confusion on Paul's part as attraction, and assumed she'd have to "earn" his kindness and hospitality.

* Cathy's recall provides an alternative interpretation of what occurs when the siblings first meet Dr. Sheffield in ''Petals''. As written, he encounters the three of them for the first time and instantly spends a long moment ogling Cathy. While Paul ''is'' obviously attracted to Cathy later, and obviously had some terrible sexual boundaries towards his late wife, it would also just be deeply weird on multiple levels for him to react that way in that moment: Cathy was 15, wearing ill-fitting clothing, malnourished, suffering from arsenic poisoning alongside her siblings, all three were clearly in distress, and oh, ''they had a seriously ill child with them''. Even if he was a pervert, it beggars belief that his first response in that situation would be to openly stare at Cathy - if he had that little control over his urges, he'd barely be able to function in public, let alone work as a doctor. It seems more plausible that this was embellishment Cathy added years after the fact--basically BackportedDevelopment. Considering that throughout ''Petals'' and even into ''Thorns'', Cathy makes frequent reference to sleeping with/marrying Paul because she felt she "owed" him, it seems just as likely that Cathy, a deeply traumatized teenaged girl who had already internalized some very dysfunctional ideas about men and sex (quite apart from her stuff with Chris), was interpreting a moment of shock or confusion on Paul's part as attraction, and assuming she'd have to "earn" his kindness and hospitality.

* Cathy's recall provides an alternative interpretation of what occurs when the siblings first meet Dr. Sheffield in ''Petals''. As written, he encounters the three of them for the first time and instantly spends a long moment ogling Cathy. While Paul ''is'' obviously attracted to Cathy later, and obviously had some terrible sexual boundaries towards his late wife, it would also just be deeply weird on multiple levels for him to react that way in that moment: Cathy was 15, wearing ill-fitting clothing, malnourished, suffering from arsenic poisoning alongside her siblings, all three were clearly in distress, and oh, ''they had a seriously ill child with them''. Even if he was a pervert, it beggars belief that his first response in that situation would be to openly stare at Cathy - if he had that little control over his urges, he'd barely be able to function in public, let alone work as a doctor. It seems more plausible that this was embellishment Cathy added years after the fact--basically BackportedDevelopment. If Paul had been staring at Cathy at all, it could have been for any number of reasons, ranging from shock at her poor health to confusion at these three kids who had just randomly appeared in front of him to being dazed from getting awoken from a nap. Alternatively, Paul ''wasn't'' actually staring at Cathy at all, but Cathy, at the time a deeply traumatized teenaged girl who had internalized a number of dysfunctional ideas about men and sex (even apart from her stuff with Chris), simply assumed she'd have to "earn" this man's kindness and hospitality towards her and her siblings.

* Cathy's recall provides an alternative interpretation of what occurs when the siblings first meet Dr. Sheffield in ''Petals''. As written, he opens his door to the three of them and instantly ogles Cathy. While Paul ''is'' obviously attracted to Cathy later, and obviously had some terrible sexual boundaries towards his late wife, it would also just be deeply weird on multiple levels for him to react that way in that moment: Cathy was 15, wearing ill-fitting clothing, malnourished, and ''suffering from arsenic poisoning''. Sheffield--a ''doctor''--had just opened his door to two clearly-ill and distressed teenagers and a ''very'' sick little girl. Even if he was a pervert, it beggars belief that his first response in that situation would be to openly stare at Cathy. It seems more plausible that this was embellishment Cathy added years after the fact--basically BackportedDevelopment. It's even possible that Paul was staring in shock at her condition, but that Cathy misinterpreted his staring for attraction. The book goes so far as to note that the three kids woke Paul from a nap on his day off by appearing in his back yard without warning, and Cathy observes him shaking off the cobwebs before assuming a more professional attitude, so his "ogling" might have simply been momentary confusion. Alternatively, this could have been the perspective of a traumatized teenage girl who had been taught a number of weird things about sexuality in general (not even getting into all her stuff with Chris), who quickly jumped to the conclusion that she'd have to "earn" this adult man's kindness and hospitality.

* Corrine's behaviour as TheTease has some creepy implications when you become aware of her twisted relationship with Malcolm, her father figure. Though physical incest doesn't appear to have taken place, emotional incest would actually account for a lot of her behaviour as an adult.

* Cathy's recall provides an alternative interpretation of what occurs when the siblings first meet Dr. Sheffield in ''Petals''. As written, he opens his door to the three of them and instantly ogles Cathy. While Paul ''is'' obviously attracted to Cathy later, and obviously had some terrible sexual boundaries towards his late wife, it would also just be deeply weird on multiple levels for him to react that way in that moment: Cathy was 15, wearing ill-fitting clothing, malnourished, and ''suffering from arsenic poisoning''. Sheffield--a ''doctor''--had just opened his door to two clearly-ill and distressed teenagers and a ''very'' sick little girl. Even if he was a pervert, it beggars belief that his first response in that situation would be to openly stare at Cathy. It seems more plausible that this was embellishment Cathy added years after the fact--basically BackportedDevelopment. Alternatively, this could have been the perspective of a traumatized teenage girl who had been taught a number of weird things about sexuality in general (not even getting into all her stuff with Chris), who quickly jumped to the conclusion that she'd have to "earn" this adult man's kindness and hospitality.

* The scene in ''Flowers'' where Chris rapes Cathy. Chris calls it rape, and in the scene itself it pretty clearly is. But Cathy--beginning later that same night, and going all the way into ''Petals''--frames it as closer to QuestionableConsent. This is a realistic (if disturbing) depiction of one of the ways people cope with trauma: by telling themselves it wasn't really that bad. In ''Literature/IfThereBeThorns'' that event is brought up again when Jory reads that scene in Cathy's manuscript of ''Literature/FlowersInTheAttic''. Jory views it as rape, and is absolutely horrified that his father could do something like that. Cathy is our main narrator, and ''she personally'' has more or less {{retcon}}ed it--but this scene with Jory makes it very clear that that's ''Cathy's'' thing, and that the series as a whole is ''not'' retconning it.