E S S A Y S
Dawnie in the Background by Jo
I was researching Dawn over at Doll Eyes and somewhere in the middle of reading I had an ephiany: I understood Dawn. Not only because of the essays but because it suddenly occured to me that I was Dawn in a lot of ways when I was younger.
I grew up as an only child between my parents. I had an older brother by my mom but that was it. Then my parents split, leaving me with my mom's boyfriend's kids as siblings for me - she was living with him a year before they married. I was about the age of Dawn in Season 5 and I had two older sisters suddenly. One was always nice, tried in include me - succeeded a good bit too - but the one I wanted to include me was having a hard time letting me in on a regular basis.
It took a lot of hurt years to realize Angela, the younger of the two, was afraid I was trying to take her place. I didn't want her place, I've always just wanted my own space but to included too. It's an issue I've had all my life. I'm a loner by nature but at times I need to included. Dawn does that a good bit. She has her friends, her school associates, and by extention Buffy's group. Yet, she still manages to barely hang on the fringe when it comes down to it.
Why you ask? It's hard to be included when everyone sees you as one thing but you want to be seen as the real you. In Season Seven, you see this especially in Potential. A cloud hits what everyone thinks is Dawn - placing her as a potential - but then when she is up in her room, the three (Willow, Xander, Anya) all discuss that she shouldn't be one because it would upset Buffy. Instead of someone talking to her and not about her, she - the person she really has become - is regulated to background. No one takes her into consideration, simply as a part of Buffy's world but nothing more.
When it comes time to fight the vampires and Bringers on the staircase, Dawn does so without hestiation. She knows at this point it is Amanda that was the potential and with a grace allows the other girl to take over. She still fights like she has in the past, when most people don't notice what she does. Then at home, it's Xander who tells her how extraordinary she has become over time. It's not about super powers, but about fighting the best way you can. Suddenly, it looks like someone gets her. She's included, and not just at the fringe.
Later on though, Dawn is back to being the background. You know, the one who does work, but doesn't get the major acknowledgments. She doesn't have to help. She could be the little sister that ignores the evil in the world if she wanted. She doesn't want to do that. It's not what a Summers' does. Her mother, even if only by mystical ways, was strong; her sister is strong. Buffy said in Amends: "strong is fighting." Dawn wants people to realize she's a strong young lady now, not the brat kid they "knew" her to be.
Buffy occasionally realizes that her sister is strong but Dawn is not important enough to include as a friend. Regularly, Dawn is left out of Buffy's life: her relationships with Riley and Spike, depression over being ripped from Heaven, dealing with the Potentials and the First. All Dawn wants is Buffy to look at her and see the young woman she's become. She's not a brat because she wants to be, she's a brat that is trying to grab her sister's attention. Some thing or someone usually is holding the attention away from her.
Buffy stopped Dawn's training when something more "important" came along, which led to Dawn feeling that once again she wasn't important to her sister when it comes to demonology. Dawn reverts back to Research Girl instead of Battle Girl, the side of Buffy she wanted to be. It's something that happens a lot in the sibling world. Where the younger one who adores the older is neglected because they aren't in the same place in their lives.
I think understanding that will make writing Dawn as a sister easier. Dawn just wants to be recognized for being her self and not a background Scoobie. She pulls her weight, later on at least, and she just feels like she doesn't matter. Instead of just writing her as a brat, try and give her reasons for being that way. Weren't we all brats at some point?