Little Points About Xander
by Angel Negra
Not so much an essay, more like little hints for writing a better Xander and little points I realized that others might or might not have.
Xander's Home Life
Contrary to popular fanon, Xander's parents aren't physically abusive. They can be emotionally abusive, however. We get our best idea of what Xander's parents are like in the episode Hell's Bells. Both from seeing them on screen and from the 'visions' Xander gets of his future.
From seeing Xander's parents on screen, we see that Xander's mother is very dependant and downplays her importance. She can't seem to exist outside of her husband and son; she also makes small cracks about herself, like her probable exclusion from the wedding pictures. These qualities are something Xander himself has picked up. Xander defines his actions through his friends; first Buffy and when she died, Willow. Xander's first years of BtVS are filled with little cracks he makes about his talents and cowerdice, they've lessened as he's become more sure of himself, but they still show up.
Xander's father is insensitive, controlling and a drunk. He refuses to see any other definition of people besides his own. He's very much in control of his wife's life, and to a certain extent, his son's as well. He's also a heavy drinker, more than likely using it as a coping method for his apparent lack of success. Again, these are qualities Xander has picked up. Xander refuses to see Angel as anything besides an evil vampire, and has shown that same anger towards Spike since Buffy's almost rape. Xander's relationships with Cordelia and Anya were both controlling to a certain extent; Anya more so than Cordy. While Xander isn't a heavy drinker, his 'possible future' hints that he could be driven to it if he felt his situation was bad enough.
Speaking of Xander's 'possible future', this is also a good example of Xander's home life. The future that demon showed Xander was based on Xander's deepest fears of becoming just like his parents. While not exactly a perfect household, it's safe to assume that Xander wasn't physically abused. Emotionally abused is more than likely, but that's about it.
The Hyena
Interesting fact about hyenas, they're matriarchial. This means that it's the biggest, baddest female that's in charge. Not the male.
In Xander's "pack" there were two females, Rhonda and Heidi, and yet neither of them took over as leader. Xander was leader, with Kyle as his second. Which probably means that the hyena spirits possessing these two were female, or at least Xander's was.
The Zeppo
When Cordelia called Xander 'the Zeppo', what she was referring to was Zeppo Marx.
Zeppo Marx was the youngest Marx brother, he's usually pushed to the background when all his other brothers are on stage. However, according to his brothers, Zeppo was the funniest of them all and he would often fill in for any one of his brothers who would be sick.
Sounds a little
like Xander, doesn't he?