Well said. I have almost nothing to add because you addressed everything I was going to comment about very well.
STXI!Spock doesn't suppress his emotions in a way that's any more or less healthy than any other Vulcan. He's just worse at it, ostensibly because of his half-human heritage.
On this point...I think a lot of people easily misunderstand Vulcans in general because of a sort of "nature vs. nurture" misconception about what exactly it means for Spock to be half human. To my knowledge/memory there's never been anything in canon that necessarily indicates Spock struggles more with controlling his emotions because of a sort of genetic handicap of being half human. This wouldn't make much sense since the Vulcan/Romulan history proves that they're not naturally an emotionally reserved race and their self-control has to be learned.
As STXI suggests pretty strongly, I think it's more of an identity conflict that holds him back from being a perfect Vulcan. Like you pointed out is a big factor, his relationship with his human mother was a very integral and influential part of his life and that has made him feel like his human side is still an important part of who he is rather than something that needs to be completely overcome. There's a lot more choice involved in what makes him the kind of Vulcan that can have close relationships and make subtle sarcastic remarks than some people seem to give him credit for.
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Re: it would be awesome to actually complete my thought!
Date: 2009-05-31 05:00 am (UTC)STXI!Spock doesn't suppress his emotions in a way that's any more or less healthy than any other Vulcan. He's just worse at it, ostensibly because of his half-human heritage.
On this point...I think a lot of people easily misunderstand Vulcans in general because of a sort of "nature vs. nurture" misconception about what exactly it means for Spock to be half human. To my knowledge/memory there's never been anything in canon that necessarily indicates Spock struggles more with controlling his emotions because of a sort of genetic handicap of being half human. This wouldn't make much sense since the Vulcan/Romulan history proves that they're not naturally an emotionally reserved race and their self-control has to be learned.
As STXI suggests pretty strongly, I think it's more of an identity conflict that holds him back from being a perfect Vulcan. Like you pointed out is a big factor, his relationship with his human mother was a very integral and influential part of his life and that has made him feel like his human side is still an important part of who he is rather than something that needs to be completely overcome. There's a lot more choice involved in what makes him the kind of Vulcan that can have close relationships and make subtle sarcastic remarks than some people seem to give him credit for.