MBTI Type: ISFJ
Dominant Introverted Sensing—a strong emphasis on memories holding personal significance, meticulous, and detailed: Via has gotten used to her brother getting all the attention and settled into a routine, where she keeps her head down, tries to do her best by her brother, and treasures the relationships she had. She expects nothing to have changed over the summer when she meets up with her old friend, and it shocks her to be cut out of her life and ignored. For a while, she resists changing anything about her life, in favor of sameness, but only when she connects with another student, who eventually becomes her boyfriend, does she try out for the school play (and she doesn’t put herself forward for anything important, yet still winds up an understudy for the lead).
Auxiliary Extroverted Feeling—ease of emotional expression and shaping their actions around how their decisions affect others: Via tells the audience the reason she stays quiet and behaves herself is that her parents need no more angst or drama in their life. She is good, sweet, and kind, because it comes naturally to her, and because she sees how her actions could disrupt their family as a unit and cause her parents stress. Why would she want that? She reminds Auggie that other people have feelings too, and that everything in life does not revolve around him, even if by her own admission, in their household… it does. Via is good at getting him to open up, but angers him by inviting him to talk about his feelings (he does not want to). Via can also calm him down, and persuade him to take part in life, by being kind but firm (she takes off his helmet and tells him it’s time to face the world; that he shouldn’t feel bad about sticking out when he’s designed that way).
Tertiary Introverted Thinking—desires to understand how systems and people work so they can better communicate or figure out how a hack that works: She wonders why her best friend stopped talking to her, ponders various things, and spends a lot of time thinking about how best to support her family and loved ones, by not causing more stress to enter their lives. On a couple of occasions, she becomes critical of her parents’ parenting methods when she gets upset (pointing out that they’ve never cared about her life until now, why start?).
Inferior Extroverted Intuition—curious about the future and in distinct possibilities, but skeptical of “unrealistic” ideas and allows others to lead the way there: Via doesn’t like change and finds it hard, and does not try new things. It didn’t occur to her to try out for the play until she saw a boy she might like, and found out he wanted her to do it. But once she does, she opens herself up to having a boyfriend, acting in a school play, and having more of a rich life that eventually brings her former best friend back into her world.
Enneagram: 9w1
Enneagram 9—desires freedom from others’ influences, by going along with them and being tolerant, until it matters not to: Via wishes she could get her mother’s attention, and take up space in their life, but “Auggie is the sun, and we all revolve around him.” She has gotten used to being quiet and causing no trouble, because she doesn’t want to burden her parents with her drama. Even when her best friend stops talking to her without an explanation, Via doesn’t bring it up, assuming no one will care or ask about her day. She doesn’t assume her parents will be interested in her school play, when she is playing such an insignificant role as the understudy. Rather than ask her friend what happened between them, Via quietly goes off by herself and lives in isolation, until other people approach her. She reads or listens to music, making herself unavailable.
1 wing brings in a desire for moral rightness and perfection: What keeps her in check? A sense that she needs to be a good person, so her parents can give Auggie the love and attention he requires, given his “special” needs. She doesn’t make her drama anyone else’s business, and tries to be the bigger person, do right by others, downplay her suffering out of a need to be good, etc. Via is too hard on herself.
