INTJ 1w9 Characters

At first, I thought Lib was an ISTJ, but as the story went on, she revealed a surprising depth of intuition—not in how she figures out what’s going on with Anna, but in her awareness that to give Anna life, she has to change Anna’s thinking and perceptions. N types in particular believe in curing the mind more than the body; if you can change a person’s thought process, you can alter their behavior, and that’s the tack she takes with Anna, once she learns the truth of her horrific reasons for starving herself to death. Instead of forcing her to eat, or removing her against her will, Lib introduces her to the concept that Anna can die, but that the soul can find a new name, a new purpose, and live a new life, starting all over again, as someone who has never gone through the bad things that hurt Anna. It’s a remarkable way to convince Anna to save herself, which shows her intuition’s ability to take a different vantage point and look at the situation from a new lens. She then strategically and meticulously plans their escape, Anna’s “death,” and their future lives together in another country, and asks her boyfriend to come with them. She shows a lot of ITJ behaviors in general. Lib comes to the remote countryside of Ireland to “observe, but not interfere” as a nurse investigating the mysterious fasting of a child who claims that she is fed manna from heaven by God. She brings her vast wealth of experience to the situation, and knows there must be a rational explanation for what is happening—that the girl is somehow being fed, or eating in secret, and she just has to figure out how it’s done. She trusts what she knows, what science and medicine tells her, and is accurately convinced that if the human body does not eat, it soon dies. Lib meticulously investigates, talks to Anna, watches over her, and looks around for any way her family might be sneaking her food, but doesn’t start digging into the reasons why Anna might want to waste away, until the situation becomes crucial. Then, all of a sudden, while eating, it dawns on her what “manna from heaven” means (Anna is being fed by her mother, like a baby bird). Though she can stand opposition, and calmly asserts herself in front of others (even denying Anna’s mother the right to kiss her goodnight) in the interests of a “fair trial,” Lib also has a tender heart. She is mourning the loss of her own child, and that makes her more vulnerable to Anna’s plight. She doesn’t understand how any mother could stand by and watch her child starve when she could prevent it. This drives her to do something about it, and to give Anna a new life. She also shows low Se, in how she takes risks and over-indulges (she is a morphine addict to cope with her pain, and gives in to her sexual urge for Will Byrne after knowing him only a short time).

Enneagram: 1w9

Lib embodies gut type energy in how she calmly goes about her business, but is also annoyed by any attempt to thwart her, call her a liar, or get in her way. She is angry at being brought hundreds of miles into Ireland on a fool’s errand, but then dutifully does what she is told and looks after the child, at one point forbidding her mother from visiting her, in the hopes of exposing how she is being “fed.” Being a super-ego type, she can’t help but become involved in the situation and angry that no one is doing anything about it—it baffles her that she is watching a girl waste away, because no one will allow her to save her life, and she becomes so unable to deal with this, she breaks the law to change Anna’s life, because she knows it’s the right thing to do. She manages to keep her cool under pressure, even when being accused of lying to the council members, or under suspicion of having burned down a house. Lib doesn’t like others to get upset with her, either; after she tells off Will and hurts his feelings, she begs him to forgive her.