America: Just admit it. We all know you like McDonald’s.

England: Why I never.

Also England:

Oh yeah, definitely. I could do that.

England’s parenting messed up America beyond belief. However, what some of Horney’s theories set out to do is explain that parents who haven’t experienced a loving childhood are often incapable of raising their own children in a loving manner.

In fact, what you’ll see is that a lot of the neuroses of the parent (e.g., anxiety, depression, other mental health issues/ complexes) are passed onto their children.

Post coming up tonight!

Of course. How might I
forget that people depict him as cold and emotionless when in actuality…

…he’s a gigantic
sweetheart in his own awkward way.

France tells Germany out
of the blue to meet with him secretly and to dress inconspicuously.

Germany does this, no
questions asked.

Italy gains weight when
his country’s obesity rate rises.

Germany pulls up data to
prove that it’s okay if “handsome Italian men” have some stomach fat.

America doesn’t believe
the large reading on his bathroom scale and calls Germany for ‘electrical help.’

Once again, Germany
comes, no questions asked.

He also helps America
train harder to shed off some extra weight (it’s actually just muscle, but
America doesn’t realize this).

He loves his dogs.

He loves baking and
graciously shares this passion with others.

Being scared to get into Hetalia

The aftermath

The purpose of this post will be to analyze the ways in
which childhood traumas and unhealthy relationships are continuously repeated
in how the nations lead their adult lives.

England:

What you’ll see with England is that the rocky relationship
he has with his brothers is replicated in how he maintains future
relationships. As a child, his brothers, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland
had a profound hatred of him. The hatred was so deep that they would send hexes
to England in the mail or attack him with arrows and stones.

The consequence of this, from a psychological standpoint,
would be that England learned to have a hostile distrust of others. Just like
his brothers would send him away, England replicates this through his own
hostility. He denigrates others because it’s something he grew accustomed to –
it’s all he knows how to do.

In other words, he isolated himself and became the Black
Sheep of Europe.

Likewise, this denigration is also imposed on himself. England
has poor self-esteem and deprecates himself just as much as he does to others.

Those who have problematic upbringings unconsciously pass on
their own neuroses (inferiorities) to their children. You can’t expect a parent
to be a true parent if they haven’t experienced what it’s like to be a child
who’s cared for and loved.

This would explain why England did such a poor job in
raising America, despite caring so deeply for him. He’s capable of love but has
a terrible way of expressing it. He was alone in childhood, so leaving America for long periods of time was, in his mind, ‘normal’. It’s not.

This is why I also believe he was so critical of America
post-Revolution. The relationship he shared with America was full of unconditional
love and care on the part of the latter. He could come back and visit at anytime and be able to expect a warm welcome from America.

America was naïve and had no reason to hate him. The hostility came when America declared his independence. England was being pushed away again… The care was gone, and not knowing how to cope with this, England
went back to being hostile.

Notice the repetition in behaviour where England, the older
brother figure, casts a hex on America, the younger ‘brother. ’I don’t think
this was done for no reason.

He attempts to get America to sit in the cursed Busby Stoop chair. Russia sits in it instead.

America:

With England gone for long periods of time, America had to
grow up fast. Of course, this didn’t stop him from [initially] having panic
attacks over being left alone, especially given how young he was biologically.

In more modern strips, America still panics over the thought
of being alone.

Ex: America pokes his nose into other nations’ business to
the detriment of them ‘hating’ him. Desperately, he tries to convince himself
that at the very least he has Japan as a friend.

Germany:

As a nation that was thrust into wars right from birth,
Germany has trouble understanding sincerity in others.

He also has difficulty understanding the concept of
praise and doesn’t know how to react when he’s on the receiving end of it.

Similarly, when he gives praise himself, it takes him a
while to realize that he’s done so.

Russia:

Growing up under repressive rule warped Russia’s conception
of what a healthy relationship should be like. As such, he mistakenly grew to
believe that power is what is needed and essential in a relationship. The
adults [conquering leaders] are giants that can do whatever they please. Russia,
as the child [underling], is both powerless and coercively subject to
satisfying what the adult wants.

He claims that he and Lithuania can’t be friends until they have more power.

This child imagery pops up again during Bloody Sunday. The
way he describes the protestors as children, as something to be controlled and suppressed,
is even more telling of what he perceives to be a ‘normal’ relationship.

Russia is attacked during the 2010 Christmas Event and calls
on General Winter for help. When they’re both defeated, Russia realizes that
his power has been taken away. He’s no longer in control of the situation and tears
up over how nostalgic this is of the past. It’s the perverse power dynamic
that is most important here.

I’ll end on the note that a lot of the ‘childish’ behaviour
that Hetalia is criticized for has meaning and purpose to it. There’s a ton to
unpack if you step past the simplicity of external appearances and dig deeper –
that’s just how detailed Hima’s characterization is. It’s easy to overlook if
you only look.

I think we need some more wholesome America

Remember when he dressed up as Santa to give presents to a kid whose family couldn’t afford them? [x]

I’m also going to leave this here…

Sure thing! This could easily be a massive essay, but I’ll try to sum things up as briefly as I can. Post on the Soviet Union coming up tonight!

Q: If there are two
Italies, how come Veneziano is referred to as Italy and Romano isn’t?

A: There’s no
real reason given. It’s just how it is.

The other nations generically refer to Veneziano as Italy, and
Romano as “Italy’s older brother” – Romano gets pissed off at this since he
resents being stuck in Veneziano’s shadow.

Nonetheless, BOTH are Italy.

Q: What did Chibitalia represent? Did anything
change?

A: Nothing’s changed in what he represents. Veneziano has always represented the north of the country, and Romano, the south.

The only difference
then is that Italy was fragmented into several small city-states after the
Roman Empire fell. The country wasn’t as
consolidated.

By this, I mean that each city-state was diverse and different
enough to be considered as a nation in its own right. Veneziano and Romano were
the collective personifications of these states. Similarly, their names are
each likely references to Venice and Rome, city-states that were thriving with
culture at the time.

Veneziano refers to his half of the country as his house, meaning
that when city-states under his jurisdiction were conquered, he would also be
conquered.

This is seen when Milan gets thrown into a war between
France and Prussia. When Milan gets taken over by Spain, it’s Veneziano who’s
captured. Again, he represents the collective of these northern city-states.

“This is how the War of Austrian succession looked like. Basically, everybody just bullying Austria. At one point, Northern Italy (Milan) got caught in a war between between France and Prussia, not noticing Spain surrounding him from the South until he got kidnapped.” [x]

The same thing goes for Romano.

He was once conquered as Naples by France [parts of Veneziano were also conquered here].

Q: Would APH Genoa still be alive today?

A: It’s difficult to say since we don’t see him in the
present, so I can only speculate.

However, I would guess that it’s possible for a variety of
reasons.

1) Personifications are personality-based. These personalities
are based on how strong the culture(s) of a collective organization of people are [x]. Since
Italians are so diverse and tend to identify themselves regionally, it’s
possible that while Genoa is no longer a city-state, he can still be a
personification of Genoan culture.

2) It’s stated that when the culture dies and the personification
loses their nationhood, they either die or become a representative of the
region. In other words, he could be active in politics. [x]

3) This one is more unclear and open-ended, but it’s
still substantiated in canon. We’ve seen personifications that technically
should be dead still existing well past their date of dissolution.

Ex: Holy Rome.

If that’s the case, then Genoa could still exist, either because his culture is still there, or for no explicit reason. Nationhood is often very flimsy and loosely defined in the
series.

You also have to factor in the existence of the micronations, where
even Hima states that the reasons that founded their existence are “amazing” – as in no concrete rules
apply to them. It also has to do with the bizarre reasons regarding how they formed in real life. [x]

It’s likewise important to mention that real nations are often just as perplexed by the existence of micronations.

In sum, it’s possible for Genoa to still be alive if you use
the canon rules I provided; however, it’s not canon.

Q: Is State-talia
real or OC?

State-talia is real. You can find notes on states and
provinces if you search the tag in the English translation of Hima’s blog
(Bamboo Thicket)

Tag: states and provinces

Ex: China’s provinces are personified.

Ex: Japan’s prefectures [blog only] and feudal clans/territories are
personified [make appearances in the manga]

Interestingly, these feudal clans/territories still exist during Japan’s Westernization phase. Again, the rules of nationhood are loose, and personifications don’t always die and fade out right away.

Sometimes it takes a while before they die, and other times they won’t die at all.

Osaka, a previous feudal domain, later evolved to become a prefecture from the Meiji era

– present.

Ex: America’s states are not personified, but Hima does
provide a hypothetical description of what they would be like in their relation
to America [x]. There’s also a brief dialogue between some states.

Notice how America refers to his country as his house in the
case that his states were personified. It’s the same exact situation with North
Italy. Point is, there’s a consistent rule here.

Given that Genoa is personified, it would be possible for the city-states in each Italies’ house to be personified as well.

In previous posts [x] [x], I’ve laid out the rules that explain what
affects a nations’ health. This post, however, will elaborate in more detail to
show the different ways in which they can be affected and why that is.

For one thing, we know that the personification’s health is
predicated on their economic and political situation. That is, if they are
suffering from political issues (either domestic or international) or are
experiencing an economic recession, they will fall ill.

That said, let’s go through the symptoms they can experience.

They can get colds or fevers:

Ex: Several nations develop fevers or colds in reaction to
the Great Depression.

Ex: Austria will develop a high fever and eventually collapse if
Germany acquires a cold [from an economic slump].

“A reliable country that likes to approach things with a sober seriousness.
He approves of and supports lots of Germany’s ideas so he may look like one of the helper countries, but in reality the level of his dependency is pretty high.

So high that when Germany catches a little cold, Austria goes straight to high fever and eventually collapses, and so he doesn’t have much of a choice than to take good care of himself.”

Ex: England develops a cold after the American Revolution.

They can suffer from fatigue and exhaustion:

Ex: The aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.

They can die:

Ex: Spain nearly dies during an economic recession before
Romano starts helping him recover with imports.

They can cough up blood:

This symptom in particular is depicted more as a consequence
of war (which includes separate battles/attacks) or civil strife. You’ll often
see the most devastated nations coughing up blood in panels where Hima
introduces different sides of the conflict.

Ex: Prussia, Spain, and Italy during the Napoleonic Wars.

Ex: Prussia during the American Revolution.

Ex: China during WW2 after being betrayed by Japan.

Ex: The disunity in the Holy Roman empire causes Holy Rome
to fall ill and cough up blood. His political situation isn’t stable, which, in
turn, is reflected in his poor health.

Bonus case:

The nations cough up blood and get sick during conflicts,
but are nonetheless able to heal from these wounds with time as their country’s
situation stabilizes.

But, what if a personification never healed emotionally from
a conflict and keep reliving it over and over again?

Wouldn’t that explain why England coughs up blood and falls
ill every year during the fourth of July? The event is still fresh in his mind,
and regardless if it’s over and done with, his body reacts as if it’s still
happening.

All righty! Looks like it’s time for a more comprehensive guide focusing specifically on their health. They suffer from a variety of symptoms – it’s not just colds or fevers.

Post coming up soon!