Quote:
Originally Posted by kitten320
Actually it always bothered me... does Asami have any friends? So far she never interacted with anyone except the gang and her father.
If it is an indication that Asami has no friends in rich world then there is no way she would break the connection with the gang with whom she had spent so much time.
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Kitten, when you asked this question a week ago i did not give it much serious thought, but the answer may well be, "No Asami does not have any friends."
The Avatar world was an Eastern traditional society where everyone knew their place from birth and to move up the ladder more than one step would be exceptional. Sokka's father was a leader in their village, probably the headman, and so Sokka expected to take on those responsibilities in turn. A second son would have the status but not the inheritance and might have to make his own way in the world unless he married well. Katara, being from an important family and being a bender could probably have her choice of husband in the water tribe.
In the Earth Kingdom classes are even more distinct. You have the peons inhabiting the lower city, the tradesmen and merchants who may become rich, but are still lower class, the aides and functionaries who run the empire, and the nobles and royalty at the top. The Bei Fongs, being of very high class, are not expected to mingle or take part in the entertainments of the lower class. Having friends or suitors from a lower class is unthinkable.
Into this rigid society the industrialists appear. Gauche, nouveau riche, vulgar, money grubbing, they can buy anyting they want except a pedigree. The cabbage vendor through sheer tenacity never gives up no matter how many setbacks he encounters and becomes one of the richest people in the land, but his grandchildren still are descended from a lowly vegetable merchant.
So where does Asami fit into this society in transition? No one in her social stratum would consider her marriagable material unless the family fortune had fallen on very hard times. No one like Mako would ever consider approaching her unless she ran over them first. The classic Poor Little Rich Girl, and her hobbies don't help either. Who needs a wife who likes to tinker with machines? Can she even serve tea properly?
So yes, I would not be shocked if the girls she knows bully her for being beneath them and the Cabbage grandsons bore her. She is ripe for a cause larger than herself and when it comes to love perhaps someone from the old royalty who lives and fights in the real world would suit her best.