Illuminae

“All kittens and rainbows. Apart from the screaming and explosions.”

Kady’s interview tone is overtly sarcastic and relies on her sense of humor to blunt the difficult emotions accompanying the trauma she’s experienced. This dialogue characterizes Kady early on as someone who has difficulty expressing her feelings and uses defense mechanisms to push people away when they try to get too close to her. This small quote attempts to minimize what Kady experienced during the invasion of Kerenza, but it underscores one of her major flaws instead.

“I am frequently underestimated. I think it’s because I’m short.”

Kady feels like people don’t see her for who she is and what she is capable of. Once again, she plays this off with humor about her height. Even if she means this a little, her being short has nothing to do with the fact that the face Kady wears isn’t the person who is underneath, such as how she lets Ezra go without stating the full extent of her feelings, or that she shortchanges herself, such as when she fails the neurogramming exams on purpose.

“I think I made a joke about needing to see her license and registration. Because, you know, she just ran over a bunch of–...And then I said, ‘I’m bleeding,’ and she said, ‘Shut up, I’m not talking to you,’ so I just kinda concentrated on not dying.”

Ezra has a dark sense of humor like Kady, and although he is hostile when confronted about his dad’s death, he is more upfront about his feelings in the moment than Kady is.