MBTI Type: ISFP

ISFPs are so inward, it’s often difficult for others to know what they are thinking or feeling at any one time. They act based on what they feel, which embodies Alma’s behavior completely. She loves Reynolds and wants his full attention, but when he asks her to marry him, she sits in total silence for about thirty seconds, totally oblivious to his curiosity and distress, as he waits for an answer. What’s she doing? Processing how she feels and dwelling in the moment. Introverted feeling is more concerned with its own reaction than that of others, which makes her, in that moment, unable to respond quickly. It bothers her that he focuses so much on work as to neglect her, and that he chastises her for her food choices—things she deliberately cooked for him, hoping to earn his approval. So rather than up and leave (she loves him too much for that), she decides to do something else instead—poison him. Not enough to kill him, just enough to make him sick and dependent on her for a few days, to satisfy her need to take care of him, and to punish him for his behavior. Because Alma can’t deceive him forever, and does not want to, she tells him what she did, and implies that she is going to keep doing it—and in a weird way, he agrees to it, because it brings them closer together and gives her what she wants: control over him. Alma has no thought for the consequences of what she is doing, she just is living in the present moment. She could go to jail! But that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t even cross her mind! She shows gentle flits of Ni, in how she says “sometimes I jump ahead in our life together and I see a time near the end…” in which he has given her everything that she wants, and they are “together” in the way she envisioned. She wants this enough to do whatever is necessary to make it happen, even if that means forcing him to quit being a workaholic and “need” her.

Enneagram: 2w1 sp/sx

Enneagram 2s seek love above all else, and want to be useful to the people whom they want to attract. Self-preservation 2s in particular want to care for the domestic needs of their partner; that is how they show their affection, through “doing for you” in the physical realm. Alma is a particular kind of 2, a slightly demented one. She can’t stand it when Reynolds is “strong” without her, so she intentionally makes him sick, so that she can care for him, and he will be dependent on her. What’s more, she directly tells him about it to his face, and admits that she wants him weak and frail, so she can nurse him back to health. This shows not only her 2ish nature (she needs to be needed, and takes pride in being the only person who can care for him), but also her line to 8. If she doesn’t get the respect and love she wants, she will force it out of him, by giving him food poisoning whenever she wants to feel needed. In doing so, she creates a sick dependency in him, with his permission. Even though there’s no sense of right and wrong preventing her from doing this (it won’t kill him, just make him dependent on her), she also does not mold herself in any way to his lifestyle. She continues to loudly eat (even though he hates it) and to make noise whenever she pleases, in angry defiance of his control issues—responding to his over-control of his environment through her own assertiveness.

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