Is Kate Free?

[Audio Pineapple]

Tabula Rasa
MARSHAL: You really are one of a kind. You know, you would have got away if you hadn't saved him.
KATE: In case you hadn't noticed, I did get away.
MARSHAL: You don't look free to me.

The Question

Is Kate free on the island? Is she still imprisoned physically or is it mentally and with regards to her personality?

The Case for Freedom

Kate is no longer running from the law, which she has been doing for what looks like a number of years. She isn’t going to go to jail, she isn’t going to be punished for her crimes, she doesn’t have to run away anymore, if she chose to, she could settle down.

The Case for Physical Prison

Kate is trapped on the island, she can’t leave it, therefore, however large the island, it is still a prison.

If people knew what she did she might still be punished.

She has been punished to a certain extent, with Sawyer’s attempts to ostracise her in Exodus by revealing her plan to steal Joanna’s identity.

The Case for Mental Prison

She is a woman who fell very quickly into a repetitive pattern. Go to Jack, cry to Jack, get shot down by Jack, go to Sawyer, cry to Sawyer, get shot down by Sawyer, go to Jack……. And so on and so on. In my opinion this is partly down to survival instincts, she isn’t sure whether it is Jack or Sawyer who hold the best chance for her to obtain freedom on the island and therefore she flits between the two, keeping her options open.

She is so used to running that she doesn’t seem to know how to stop. She said to Jack that she ‘can’t be Eve’ when he suggested moving to the caves. She can’t settle down, she can’t let herself relax around the other survivors. Which could be the reason why she always tags along on every mission that arises.

She can never get really close to the other survivors without telling them the truth about what she did. And, chances are, that at least some of them would react negatively against her, therefore, it will be safer not to explain.

Summary

In my opinion, I think that Kate has trapped herself by her mind and her personality on the island. I’m not sure that anyone on the island can truly be free; Jack is free from his father but is still trapped into being a doctor; Locke is free from his past life, but is still trapped by the hatch…

So, to make my point I shall to agree with the Marshal: she don’t look free to me.

[D-Roc]

Kate will never be free until she herself stops running. Despite being on an island she is still running away from her past and has not faced up the the terrible things that she has done and the crimes she has committed.

She is imprisoned mentally, emotionally and spritually imo.

Im still waiting for her to step up the the plate and become the heroine that she's meant to be..but i just dont think she's got it in her. I dont think they are going to make her character blossom in that way. But we'll see. Maybe she'll stop running in S3?

[The_abbott]

Kate is always free. Noone would pay money for her

[kirsty290182]

nice one!