Hi! I'm creating a new topic to welcome in-depth analysis of various Homestuck characters, by whoever wants to! Let's talk about our thoughts and observations regarding various members of the cast!
JUNE EGBERT
- So, starting with the first one presented to us. The one and only June Egbert!
- I must say I was not interested in June at all the first time I read Homestuck. She may have even played a large part in the fact I had trouble even going through Act 1, and in fact abandoned my read two or three times before discovering the work seriously. It is easy to categorize June as a kind of bland, generic heroine. In some way, the narration itself encourages you to do so, since she is both presented as an innocent, brave and inoffensive character and surrounded by way more colorful ones. But in time, I came to really appreciate her. During my second complete read I think. Some aspects of her personality are introduced and then quickly dismissed - for example, for an aspiring trickster and magician, she really does not do a lot of tricks, same for programming, music, etc, to the point most of her initially announced interests work more like informed interests, almost off-screen stuff -, but she is still a quirky character with her own personality, her way to do things, her way to speak about things. In some ways, she is the voice of the truth.
- She never changes a lot, she suddenly appears as more mature after Hivebent - Homestuck Made This World really helped me to realize the difference in tone between Act 4 June and Act 5 June - and she suffers sadly some inconsistencies in behavior and motivations in late Act 6, but otherwise she stays the same, "good old June", up to and including Epilogues June and Homestuck^2/Beyond Canon June, who still keep a flavour of franchise and direct way to do things to them. June's main flaw, both as a main character and as a human being, may be that she remains very passive.
- She does not have much agency, and this is never really corrected, even in post-Homestuck works. She remains the good kid who does as she is told, she does not plan or decide and even when she is taking decisions, more than often the rest of the cast can easily convince her to deviate from it. Still a character I appreciate a lot!
- And these days... they may have become one of the characters I appreciate the most.
- There's a freshness to June.
- And I will add that I appreciate the canonization of June Egbert, too. June as a trans woman may have not been intended in Homestuck from the start, but it does not perturbate me, since all works of art evolve with time, and sequels often develop such themes. In a politically queer perspective, it is more than welcome that the only member of the main cast who seemed to remain a representation of cis-heteronormativity ends up brandishing the pink, blue and white flag. I like June. I welcome this interpretation, this evolution of the character. I'll be happy to see more of her.
- Let us go back to TRUTH now. June has a specific relationship to truth/reality.
- Which could be linked to the way the Epilogues work, with all of this Meat/Candy duality. But furthermore, the dualism brings us back to gnosticism once again.
- One may wonder if it is deliberate, inconscious or purely coincidental that it fits so well. That June, even though it is never said and not truly central to her character, is in some way a seeker of truth, someone who will discover things, someone who will not accept Caliborn's Homosuck world of lies... She may be more of a gnostic figure than Jade in the end.
