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So ends Mar's first true disillusionment of many. The word balloon arrangement on this page is a bit wonky. I really tried to keep balloons up near the top later on, to avoid the eye being led in a seedy direction. Seedy balloons for a seedy character.
10 thoughts on “#296 – working for someone”
bryanew710
So she's disillusioned because she thinks he's totally self-employed, but even HE has a boss?
Kilo Lee
It feels more like she's seeing that Will's job is just a job like any other, like hers, and there is no adventurous life to be had.
Esc
And the fact he LIKES it!
cjmaloof
I think it's more that she envisioned dealing as being glamorous and exciting, a way of escaping society's mundane constraints. But it turns out that not only is there less of that than she expected, but Will actually is fine with the constraints.
(It later develops that the actual high-adventure career in Octopus Pie is being a barista.)
bryanew710
I think you are saying what I was trying to say (that Will's job is more constrained than Mar thought, and surprisingly Will is completely OK with it).
Marvin Choi
I think that's one of the conclusions, but I think it overall stems from Mar trying to find solace in breaking societal norms.
If you put it in the context of Mar eventually getting a more corporate position in BB&B but ultimately still not being very happy with that and then eventually realizing that she's gay, it seems like she's trying to deal with being comfortable with herself in ways that aren't directly addressing what's probably in the back of her mind, which is her sexuality.
She's initially looking to be very deviant at her work, which her adventure with Will sort of points out isn't really a thing. So then she leans hard the other way, plays into exactly what is expected of her at a job like this, schmoozes and makes work friends, etc., but it still doesn't satisfy. It's only when she looks at other aspects of her life and finds Jane does she begin to let her anxieties unravel instead of trying to numb them away with drinking and partying. It's like how Jane says (which ends up being a direct counterpoint to how Eve views relationships early on), when she started working on the right stuff, she didn't realize how effortless it could be, not only to love, but to heal and work on herself.
There's a period during Mar's super corporate phase where Mar seems super happy and into what she's doing, and Hanna, having just suffered a break-up, lashes out at her and tells her how fake and awful she's being. At first, it just seems like a cruel lashing out, but in retrospect Hanna could actually have been right, she just expelled that observation in a cruel way. And though Mar sort of brushes it off, it probably sinks into the back of her mind and becomes toxic, which leads to her disillusionment again. That is, of course, until she finds Jane.
Also, not sure how much of that was actually planned out from the get-go? But it ends up working out this way in a retrospective analysis. At least to me? *shrug*
bryanew710
@cjmaloof mentions one of those strips below.
Mara
Is Mar gay? I figured she was bi.
Marvin Choi
http://www.octopuspie.com/2017-01-06/973-eves-thi…
*shrug*
cjmaloof
I didn't remember this strip, but I can see now how it completely leads into one of my all-time favorites: http://www.octopuspie.com/2011-11-30/496-you-guys…
Sometimes losing your illusions about what a good life should look like is just what you need to start making one for real.