Where do you think is Peridot's place on the Homeworld hierarchy? Your posts regarding Jasper and Peridot, irc, mention that Peridot and Jasper doesn't seem to have a that big of a power distance, so do you think Peridot has at least a somewhat important role to play, instead of a disposable low-level technician?

anonymous

I was actually just talking to a friend about this!



We got a hint for Peridot’s status in Back To The Barn, when she discusses the idea that it would be apparently unheard of for “a Peridot” to have a personal servant. At the same time, though, she’s entirely enthusiastic about the idea.

Peridot was sent, at first alone, to an abandoned and potentially dangerous planet. Homeworld clearly hasn’t done much to try and get her off Earth before the Cluster goes and she seems to have fairly quickly assumed backup is not coming and her only chance of survival is with the Crystal Gems.

But at the same time, she’s bumping elbows with Jasper- a fairly important Gem. She has ritzy equipment and apparently fairly lavish resources at her disposal. And, as mentioned, when she debates doing something that’s potentially ‘above her station’ (having a servant) she’s thrilled at the prospect, to Pearl’s irritation.



My thinking is that Peridot is maybe a modestly established Gem by “birth” but may have moved up the hierarchy a bit by virtue of talent. (She is incredibly good at what she does). But it’s given her a bit of a taste for social climbing- and a fragile, but perhaps larger-than-life idea of her own importance. She definitely seems to feel entitled to voicing her own opinion and sulks when Jasper won’t listen to her, but as we just saw in Back To The Barn when faced with a complete lack of approval from people she’s looking to earn the validation of, she tends to become considerably meeker.



So Peridot would have to be at least well-off to have that kind of upward mobility in the first place- but the fact that she feels initially threatened by being told to work with Pearl as an equal suggests that she feels her position isn’t a guarantee- that she has to try and defend it.

