I feel like Jake English is a very tragic character that I just feel so bad for throughout most of Homestuck. Something I don't see a lot of people bring up when talking about him is that the writers, mainly Hussie I presume, forgot that one important conversation happened between him and Roxy where Roxy straight up tells him that Jane likes him. Later on, however, the story treats this conversation as if it just never happened and as if Jake had no idea Jane felt that way about him or whatever. And because of this, the story then proceeds to sort of label Jake as "stupid" or "oblivious" because it was "soooo obvious" that Jane liked him.

I don't actually agree with the way later Homestuck treats Jake because of this one simple mistake lol. I also just don't know where the idea that Jake is 'stupid' came from, so I can only assume it came from the writers just leaning into this idea that he missed something that was obvious which was that his friends both liked him romantically. But that's not Jake's fault, I don't like the trope of thinking a person's a dummy because they can't suddenly read minds, and I certainly don't think it's Jake English the Fictional Teenage Boy's fault that the man writing him just forgot that he already knew something T_T

In the Epilogues, both of his romantic partners treat him by and large like hot garbage (literally, because they objectify him lol)And so does the story! The narrative wants me to think that Jake has learned helplessness in his situation and that he just won't get out of his own problems by himself. And I can sort of understand why the story would try to go there, considering he was paired up with Tavros, the actual character who encapsulates that idea a lot better. (Note: This is not to say all of Tavros' character is this one trait, mind you, it's just a large part of his personality.)

But being emotionally and physically abused by two people who are supposed to be your friends, and who you trust because you still think of them AS your friends, and not "doing anything about it" or "standing up for yourself" is not learned helplessness. I guess what I'm saying is that it's super easy to tell someone to stand up for themself when you're not being subject to the abuse at hand, and you're an outside observer. I do hope that in the later chapters of Beyond Canon they like idk...address the weird victim-blaming undertones a bit? Maybe have Jake tell the other people in his life to fuck off for once T_T?

It's disheartening seeing him get a bit bashed by other characters because he distances himself from the rest of the people actively ruining his life lol. And I always see people who hate Jake for some reason act as if he is the problem in the relationships he had, when in reality I think the problem was more so that he just wasn't ready for any relationship, has issues telling other people no, and garnered the attention of some of the most power hungry controlling individuals in Paradox Space. If anything, I think the best thing he ever did was actually just move in with John.

That was like the only moment in the Epilogues where he actually took a stand, and the ONLY reason he goes back is again because of an abusive ex making him do that T_T.