A Court Of Silver Flames, Developed By Karen Horney

A Court of Silver Flames is an epic young adult fantasy novel that explores deep human emotions, complex relationships, and societal structures. Psychoanalytic Social Theory, developed by Karen Horney, is used to explain how personality can be shaped by social and cultural conditions, especially in childhood. The two main characters in A Court of Silver Flames, Nesta and Cassian, show very distinct and different personalities based on their childhood and adolescent experiences. Nesta, who is guarded, hot-headed, and depressed, and Cassian, who is sarcastic, playful, and stubborn, are complete opposites, yet fated to be together.

A Court of Silver Flames is the fifth installment of the book series A Court of Thorns and Roses written by Sarah

A Court of Silver Flames is a fantasy book, so in the plot there are humans and there are faeries, also known as fae. Each group has its own land, and they dislike each other. In the first book of the series, Feyre gets turned into a fae, which increases Nesta’s resentment for Feyre even more, since Nesta is human. After this, Nesta and Elain are kidnapped by Feyre’s enemy and forced to be turned into the fae against their will. This is very traumatic for Nesta since she and the only person she really cares about, are turned into the very thing she hates. Shortly after this, Nesta’s father comes to help his three daughters win a battle to make up for years of emotional abandonment. Unfortunately, he is murdered right in front of Nesta, which devastates her. These traumatic social and cultural events weigh heavily on Nesta, leaving her ridden with anxiety. Karen Horney suggested that people can try to ease their anxiety in three different ways (Monasterial, 2020). One of the ways Nesta adopts is by moving away from people. “You have your lives, and I have mine” (Maas, 2021, p. 47). She moves out of her family home and stops speaking to them. She spends all her time drinking alone, bringing different men to her bed, avoiding bathing and eating, and yelling meanly at any of her family that tries to talk to her. “For what it’s worth, I was hoping you’d turn yourself around. I wanted to give you space to do it since you seem to lash out at everyone who comes close enough, but you didn’t even try” (Maas, 2021, p. 48). Karen Horney also addresses four different ways that people can try to protect themselves against feelings of being alone (Monasterial, 2020). Nesta engages in two of these behaviors: affection and withdrawal. She withdraws herself from any familiar connection she has and then tries to fill the void by