YMMV / Mahabharata S 01 E 67

• Wangst: A lot of Karna’s complaints to his mother do sound a tad bit Wangsty.
  • He complains about his abandonment. While it is a serious matter that he was cast away, Kunti did so at the Sun God’s urging only because his armor and earrings made him Nigh-Invulnerable. Also, he was found as an infant and raised by the king’s charioteer. He had a comfortable childhood as the Happily Adopted son of people with comfy lives. He didn’t live as a destitute Street Urchin, like some other orphans might’ve.
  • Sure, being rejected by Dronacharya’s school stung, but Dronacharya instructed Karna’s adoptive father to seek out a different Brahmin to teach him archery. He didn’t completely ban Karna from seeking that knowledge, he just told him to seek it elsewhere. Karna did end up learning archery from Parashuram, who may have been an even better teacher than Dronacharya.
  • Karna complains about having to endure insults at the proving arena, but what in Vishnu’s name was he doing there in the first place? That event was a private “graduation” party for the Kuru princes, which Karna gatecrashed. And then challenged Arjun to a duel, over nothing else but to “prove who’s the best archer”. No wonder Arjun was pissed. And was this what he learned archery for? To just go out and duel others? Didn’t Parashuram train him to be a vigilante who’d fight corruption and tyranny? He devalued his education by using it for selfish purposes.
  • Karna complains about his mother never acknowledging him all this while. Now, while Kunti should definitely be faulted for ignoring him, what did Karna want with that acknowledgement? He didn’t need royal heritage to learn archery, he already acquired that knowledge without such heritage. It would appear as though Karna valued being included in the fellowship of warrior princes, rather than to do something with his knowledge.