I can't cite studies off the top of my head, but economically underprivileged communities tend to have a stronger community? I think I read an article about how volunteer work in the United States skyrocketed during the recession. And of course, it depends on the sort of neighbourhood your character grew up in, as well as specific people that your character grew up with (or whose mother met.) Edith Piaf grew up in poverty and her memoir kind of really glamourized it, if I recall. She also had a habit of being overly generous, even though poverty tends to be portrayed as this thing so awful that people would do their best to keep away from that by Scrooging, it really depends on how the individual thinks about it, what events shaped their lives.
Zzzzzzzzzz
I don't generally refer to Cracked.com as a good resource for accurate information, but this article: The five stupidest habits you develop growing up poor
is dead fuckin' bang on.
What kind of poverty did the character experience? First-world poverty? Third-world poverty? Something in the middle?
Was it extreme poverty? Did his mother have a job? Did he go to school? Did he have to work since he was a child?
How was his house growing up? Did he have toys? Did he have more than one change of clothes? Did he even have a mattress to sleep on?
Why is he an artist?
Depending on the level of poverty you'd want him to have experienced, I may be able to offer some insight and maybe some advice.
He lives in a setting where social security doesn't exist except on a private basis (wealthier citizens giving money and resources to the poor) There isn't public education available, but he was taught by his mother to read and write, as she is educated.
His mother grew up quite well off but was disowned by her family and run out of town because she was framed for someone's murder. She found out she was pregnant shortly after. As a child he lived with his mother and a healer who owned the house they lived in.
His mother didn't have a regular job (she did odd jobs and occasionally helped their landlord with curing people) He often was home alone as a child so his mother taught him some basic art skills (as she had worked painting designs on ceramics every so often) so he could keep himself entertained. He ended up really enjoying it and worked to improve. He became very good at it and eventually chose it as his profession.
He had some very basic toys (balls, etc.) and when he was young he often had to sleep in the same bed as his mother especially during cold weather (this in itself is less unusual in this setting)
What about going hungry? Thirsty? Or what was the quality and amount of food and drink that he did eat when he and his family could get it?
What about outgrowing his clothes? Shoes?
What about illnesses? (Was he ever left home alone with the flu because his mother really needed to work that day)?
What about his own social life? Did he make friends with other poor kids? Or was he the poor kid among the social strata that his mother was aiming for and sending him to socialize with? Or was he really just hidden away with his art as he grew up, while the grown-ups coped or helped how they could and when they could?
About the toys: I've read something about how these street urchins took to using discarded hypodermic needles (from the garbage outside hospitals) as water pistols. I've seen street urchins use escalators at the train station for slides after the train station closes. Anything that's actually a toy rather than a make-do, to me, would tell me that they're not that bad off if they can think about things like that, instead of seeing everything as potential food/medicine if they could only turn it into money, and then essentially weighing the need for food/medicine against the need to be warm or not naked.
edited 5th Mar '15 12:17:13 AM by Faemonic
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I've actually read that article along with some of the others in that series (they're excellent and were a great foundation for me to work from)
A major thing I'm looking for is exactly how someone with such a shitty childhood (despite the fact he didn't realize exactly how bad it was until much later) could be such an optimistic adult.
Zzzzzzzzzz
Oh, that's easy:
"I've gone through hells you will never know. There is nothing you can throw at me that I can't handle."
"Compared to my childhood, I have it great now."
"My life was shitty. I will not let it be that way again."
I think you've got a pretty good idea of what a character who lived in poverty would be like. Either way, I'd like to offer a couple of suggestions that could help you (or not) polish his personality.
First of all, there's two things I'd like you to keep in mind: children aren't idiots, and growing in poverty shapes you in a way that is difficult to change.
Being an artist: Generally speaking, people who grow up in extreme poverty are unlikely to follow a profession related to the arts. This is not because they don't like the arts or because they think being an artist is bad, it's just that people who manage to escape from poverty seek the security of more conventional jobs.
In a way, the mind of a person who was very poor is shaped to try to stay away from that life, whatever it takes. This is because these people have known what it's like to not have anything to eat and thus they are far less likely to take the risk of choosing a profession or having a job that could mean they'd be unable to have a meal, for example.
You could say they seek conformity because of an irrational fear of going back to nearly starving to death. This is even more common in those who were born (or raised from a very early age) in poverty. I suspect is has something to do with that kind of world being what they first knew. They don't hope things will get better, they hope they won't get that bad again.
That's not to say the character couldn't or shouldn't be an artist, just that you could work some kind of determination into him as for why he'd choose the job he chose.
More than just a family: They say poor families tend to have stronger bonds than middle-class and rich families. In my experience, there's some truth to that.
You see, when living in extreme poverty, children aren't allowed to be children. This has nothing to do with what the parents wish for their children, but there is a point when nature itself seems to kick in and force the child to grow.
As I said, children aren't idiots, they can see how bad things are, they can feel hunger just like adults, they can sense the stress in the adults nearby, etc. Even if they don't know what not being is poor is like, they still know something is off.
Now, returning to the original point, extreme poverty forces people to work together as a team, including the children. It's not necessary that they go out to work from a young age (although some do), but when facing the threat of starving to death even the little ones will have to pull their weight. For example, keeping the house clean, cooking, etc.
''Edited to add: There's also the fact that trying to keep her son out of the loop might be too stressful for the mother, especially as a single parent. Having her rely (to a certain degree) in her kid might mean the difference between being a satellite to the character and having more agency of her own.''
The Pollyanna: You mentioned he and his mother received help from others, help that meant the difference between life and death, so it's not difficult to see why he'd become one himself.
Simply put, he was helped when he was at his lowest so of course he thinks the best of people.
This particular trait could also have been developed if he grew up in a poor and small community. People in such places tend to help each other in a "I'll scratch your back..." kind of way. For example, looking after each other for security, babysitting each other's children when the parents are working, throwing some parties together on special occasions to reduce costs (e.g. Christmas), etc.
One final thing to note is that not every person who grew up in poverty is ashamed of that. For them, poverty was the way things were and, even if not ideal, it was normal. In fact, even if they know things were really bad, they not make the association unless they're directly comparing it to something else, and in some cases they might even talk about their experience with some fondness and nostalgia much to the shock of people around them.
edited 5th Mar '15 5:54:07 PM by Lorsty
On being an artist, I don't know. While there's definitely an industry standard to arts, and an education in it can still be very valuable, and talent doesn't ever ever get you the whole way…it is a profession the relies largely on an actual product.
On being a not-embittered person, well, I think that's very simple: somebody loved him through it. (And/or, he loved somebody and it didn't end in any sort of betrayal, just developed an empathy and understanding that leads to serenity.) Everything above poverty then becomes something to be grateful for, rather than something to rail at because it's so unfair, even if he might know it's unfair, even if he might do what he can, he wouldn't feel enraged.
Elementalist
>> "A major thing I'm looking for is exactly how someone with such a shitty childhood (despite the fact he didn't realize exactly how bad it was until much later) could be such an optimistic adult."
It really varies from person to person. There are people who are comfortable with having "something", regardless of whether they were brought up in poverty or slept on a pile of gold as kids. And there are also people who never are comfortable no matter how much stuff they have.
Human perception is subjective, so for as long as they have something to compare with that was worse than they have it now, humans are capable of being content with what they have. The only question is, what exactly are they comparing?
Because someone who is comparing their present to their past but not paying attention to money but rather to something they can't get with money and that they do not have now, and then trying to get richer "because they lack something" won't ever be content with their lives in spite of having enough money to live comfortably for a few lifetimes.
And on the other hand, someone who is comparing something they do have now and will have, something that can't be bought or sold for money, might be content with having just enough money to live because for them money isn't the most important thing and thus they don't care about it any more than they have to.
And of course, any possibly optimism or lack of it is mostly a matter of personal experiences and how comfortable they feel, so it is possible for the character to be that optimistic if they experienced things that made them be this way.
edited 6th Mar '15 2:17:16 AM by Kazeto
One of my main characters in my Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic was diagnosed with sleepwalking when she was young, and one night when she was eight, had an episode where she burned her house down along with her sleeping parents (she turns out okay, cuz she crashed in a nearby neighbor's lawn afterwards). So she was sent to an orphanage in a slummy city. (but the orphanage itself wasn't some orphanage from Hell or anything, the guy who owned it was all-around a cool guy).
Doe this count as a character "growing up poor"?
edited 6th Mar '15 8:07:33 PM by Nate-of-a-Hundred-Things
SUPER POOPER SCOOPERS ARE JUST LEGENDEH!
Elementalist
Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the exact circumstances and how much money the orphanage had.
And, to a certain degree, how much money it had is your choice. Generally it's enough that the kids there are "humble, but not impoverished", and being situated in a place where there are no rich people everywhere around them you can't really say they are in poverty even in comparison.
So I presume the answer is "no", unless you pull some plot shenanigans to make it different.
edited 7th Mar '15 3:21:12 AM by Kazeto
One of my main characters is eventually revealed to have grown up in poverty, but at the beginning of the story is comfortably a middle working class artist with enough money to send to his mother (he is in a setting where this is a feasible way to support oneself)
Without the occasional aid from others, as a child with his mother he would have starved/frozen to death. But for a majority of his childhood he underestimated exactly how badly off they were (and the sacrifices his mother made to ensure he was happy and healthy) and didn't realize how close they were to dying until much later (and he very rarely talks about it)
He also happens to be the a major Polly Anna who assumes the best in people until proven otherwise (and is occasionally too trusting) I'm trying to figure out exactly how to reconcile these aspects of him in a way that make sense to have been developed from a childhood in poverty (I grew up middle class, so I have little frame of reference to work from)
These are some traits so far that he has that arise from this.