Ahh, Becky. She’s the absolute worst. In my life, I have written some really terrible characters, and Becky honestly makes top five. Yet despite all her horrible qualities, she somehow has a great life: popularity, good grades, and even… friends? What’s all that about?
I completely understand if people think Becky’s character is nonsensical. How can she be so horrible and still have friends? This is something that even I asked myself. Becky is very clearly a racist and isn’t afraid to voice her opinions-- however, her friends are people of color. So why would people be friends with her?
Many times, I thought back to my own high school experiences. Many times that I was friends with people not because I genuinely liked them or saw a lot of good qualities in them, but because I believed it was better to be friends than enemies. I didn’t want to be on their bad side, because I saw how they treated people that they didn’t like. I wanted to avoid being a target.
When you grow up with a certain group of people, as did many of the kids living in Copper Junction, you’re going to spend a ton of time with them. You’ll share the same classes, and at times, the same clubs and activities. We do strange things to fit in as kids. We sacrifice our self esteem so we can avoid being bullied. We internalize self-hatred to avoid external hate. We do all of these things so that we can avoid confrontations. It takes a long time to learn that it is better to develop trustworthy relationships than it is to have many meaningless ones. More than that, you have to learn that you are deserving of healthy relationships, and people who truly love you and appreciate you for being you.
Eventually, and it takes a lot of time, but Becky’s friends pull away from her in the end. When she graduates, she’s standing by herself. Even if you don’t complete their quests, Inez, Tara, and Winnie all avoid her. Why? Because they have no reason to treat her like she’s one of their own anymore. They’re not on the cheer team, attending classes, or even living in the same neighborhood. As you grow up, it becomes easier to pick and choose your friendships, because you have more freedom. So this is the end result for Becky-- she has no friends, except for her boyfriend Kenny, who is in jail.
Maybe some of you think that Becky had a chance for redemption at the end of Chapter Two. After all, she extends the olive branch to Seri by offering her a heart. But Seri rejects it. Some of you might ask… why? Why does Seri automatically reject it?
Throughout the game, Seri and her friends put up with a lot of abuse from Becky. They are met with indifference by their school administration, and the cycle repeats itself over and over again. Everyone who has been bullied can say that this type of behavior and abuse is emotionally exhausting. And honestly? An apology wouldn’t erase the years of abuse. It wouldn’t even begin to break the ice.
Worse, Becky’s apology isn’t even genuine. For one person to go from “Hey loser!” to “I’m sorry, please forgive me,” within the course of a single conversation is bizarre. Their final interaction is meant to come across as strange, not touching. Becky’s offer of a heart, to me, comes across as an action meant to reassert control rather than repair a friendship. The hearts have the power to change the course of a game, but you don’t need to take it. Seri’s words hold truth: she doesn’t hold any power over you, and she never has. To reject the heart is to not give her the satisfaction.
Perhaps Becky’s final conversation with Seri motivates her to be a more empathetic person. We’ll never know for sure, as we leave Becky behind at the end of chapter two. But it will take years, at the very least, for Becky to unlearn all the toxic behaviors that she enthusiastically developed. And honestly? It’s not Seri’s job to teach Becky how to be a better person. It’s not anyone’s job to invest that level of emotional and mental effort into another person. Becky has to work on being a better person, and moreover, she has to want to be a better person.