Originally an ambitious young girl with wit and charm, Rory Gilmore is said to have gone down a slippery slope in the later seasons. “Spoiled,” “ignorant,” and “pretentious” are just a few of the words used to describe her personality. And I have to say— I get it. By the end of the show, she ends up doing some quite questionable actions such as dropping out of college, attempting to steal a yacht, and ruining a marriage. In no condition am I justifying her actions, but to deem her a bad person overall is arguable.
So here is my claim: she’s not a bad person, she’s just a person. A living, breathing person who goes through the same things as me and you (ignore the fact she’s an imaginary character). She makes choices and not all of them are first class decisions. Guess what? Neither are yours.
Stars Hallows is a minuscule town located in the state of Connecticut where nothing ever happens. Rory grew up treated as a symbol of perfection, the pride of Stars Hallows. This can be reflected in the town’s reaction to the breakup between Dean and Rory, where everyone iced out Dean and treated him with the utmost animosity despite no one knowing the full details of the situation. When Rory goes off to the “real world,” she is faced with a harsh reality: she isn’t flawless. This is a tough pill to swallow and is reflected in her actions.
One moment which severely impacted her (and me when watching) was when a prominent figure in the newspaper world, who also happens to be her boyfriend’s father, tells her she doesn’t have what it takes to survive in the journalism field. Imagine you’ve had a life dream for as long as you’ve been able to think, and suddenly you’re told that you’re simply not suited for it. And not just by any random person, but by someone who is worshipped in the very same industry.
Like any sane person, she doesn’t take this news well. Rory goes out and steals a yacht. Right after, she drops out of Yale. While many people see this as dramatic or an overreaction, taking a break from college is more common than people think. She needed the time in order to reassess her life. This decision provides an insight into the other side of Rory, one we didn’t see during her life at Stars Hollow. Her perfect exterior is cracking, and she’s struggling to patch it up as best as she can. Her vulnerable moment is bashed by many who can’t be bothered to acknowledge Rory is not the same naive little girl many seasons before.
Ruining a marriage can’t be justified with any words. What can be done is properly assessing the situation and acknowledging who is responsible for what. Dean is set on his advances to pursue Rory despite being married and is the initiator in this instance. Rory makes attempts to reject his advances, weak attempts but nevertheless still an effort. She double checks with Dean many times before counting that his relationship with Lindsay is one hundred percent over, with no chance of reconciliation. Dean, being the manipulative man he is, affirms her questions, assuring her that he and Lindsay have essentially broken up.
By acknowledging Rory’s flaws, we can see what makes her human. These flaws, however, in no way define who she is. She makes mistakes and grows from them, and while some of these blunders are inexcusable, Rory’s remorse is evident. She doesn’t have to be the Ivy League graduate and ingenious journalist we all expected her to be from day one. She has liberty to fail like we do and build herself back up from the rubble.
