“To be mad in a deranged world is not madness; it’s sanity”
Although this quote is by Leslie, Alyssa’s biological father, it sums up Alyssa and her journey in the show ‘The end of the F****** world’. She grows from being a naïve girl who just wanted to experience freedom to a young woman who realizes that having blind trust and living in a romanticized fantasy world will only hurt her in the end.
Her maturity to step out of her reverence for her estranged father and attack him to protect herself and James is a sign of her realizing who are ‘her people’ Throughout the show, she is a rebel by all means but her vulnerability and childlike innocence often comes to the shore. Her calm in the time of crisis is almost comforting. Her ‘What next?’ attitude teaches us to be patient and make amends with whatever situation is presented at hand. In our Delhi lingo, she is Jugaadu. But what makes her a little hatke from the girls her age is her perseverance to fight her circumstances and to do what she wants even if it means that she is breaking the law. However, let’s make it clear that breaking the law is unacceptable on all accounts.
This fictional one season series depicts Alyssa’s range of emotions and qualities. Her resilience to trauma and abandonment and her ability to quickly think on her feet kept the duo going for so long before they’re ultimately captured. She makes mistakes but her bold and brave behavior comes through to reflect her more aptly.
While we Indian girls shouldn’t run away from home, we should learn from Alyssa that it is only courage and the act of standing up for the wrongs happening against us, that matter. Spontaneousness and careful planning, both have their outcomes but it is that taste of freedom that emerges after the battle that it makes it worth fighting for.
About the Author
Nandini Agarwal is majoring in Finance and Accounting at the University of South Florida where she is actively involved on campus and in the Tampa Bay community. Nandini has lived in New Delhi, India for sixteen years and she is back in the city to intern with CSR as she is pursuing an undergraduate research project on the impediments that women face in India to become financially aware and independent.
