Characterisation: How to make it evident that a character's flawed perspective is intentional?

Question

I'm writing a novel which has alternating point of views; odd chapters are from an angsty, neglected twelve/thirteen-year-old girl who's struggling with belongingness, puberty, and parental confusion/neglect, and even chapters are from the perspective of an academic who's been thrust into his scholarly position at too young of an age (twenty-five), and in general has prematurely aged to the point of wanting to adopt the first POV character.

Naturally, both of these characters are highly flawed, and the girl in particular has a poor attitude to sexuality in both others and herself (calling herself a 'slut' for liking a boy with a girlfriend, blaming her mother's promiscuity for her childhood neglect when in truth it's her mother's hedonism and inability to prioritise her children's wellbeing).

Now, I know this is a flawed perspective, I intend it to be a flawed perspective (I don't think an angry, confused twelve-year-old girl is the epitome of a role model), yet some (not all) readers interpret my work as somehow endorsing 'slut-shaming'.

I have a few ideas of my own regarding how to make these flaws appear to be deliberate, but obviously I'm not fully clued in if readers are still making this mistake, so I want to know you guys' thoughts on the matter.

Edit: I'll elaborate on a few of the ideas I already have.

• Have reality or another sympathetic character disagree with their view, in the form of consequences or interpersonal conflict.
• Have the character wrestle with these wrong viewpoints themselves.
• Incorporate the removal of these misguided views into their character arc.
• Make sure the character's worldview is regularly challenged by other characters and not taken as gospel (acting closer to a broken clock, right twice a day).

None of these are mutually exclusive. Can you guys think of anything else?

Answer 1

I think to some extent it depends on the point of view. (It might be harder to distinguish in first person narration rather than from third.) Its tricky, because if your story is set in the southern USA in the 1800s, a white protagonist would almost definitely be an extreme racist. Or if your main character lives in Nazi Germany, etc. It can be hard to step into that mindset of problematic beliefs you don't agree with when trying to write a flawed character who has those beliefs.

I think what user32626 said is a good idea, of having those flawed beliefs get in the way of their goals. But I think there are ways to take it further. I think it's possible to have background/supporting characters who have more rounded beliefs, or the polar opposite. These characters of yours have flawed opinions, challenge those opinions, and (over time, of course) force your characters to grow, introduce them to other characters or situations that challenge how they think about the world and about themselves. How is their mindset holding them back? Do they know it's an obstacle? Do they want to change?

I think, overall, it is the message you shape about these beliefs that make all the difference. You, obviously, don't want to promote these ideas, but they are real mindsets that people have. You can demonstrate these mindsets and challenge them and use these flawed mindsets to spread a broader message.

Answer 2

I think the most effective method of showing that a POV character has a sense of reality that is in some way warped is to contrast their beliefs with the concrete events of the narrative, and have them be baffled by the way things don't line up with their expectations.

The issue is that reader interpretations are tricky; clarifying the flawed nature of the main character's perspective is not necessarily going to change readers' perspectives on the message you are sending.

Answer 3

A good solution is to clearly show how the flaws are an obstacle for the character when they try to achieve their goals.

For example, if the girl in your story manages to seduce the boy who is in a relationship and has great sex with him, it might seem as if you endorse such behavior. But if the boy rejects her and expresses his contempt for her because she tries to have sex with him although she knows that he's in a relationship and others witness her attempt at seduction and she is socially isolated as a "slut", then all this makes it clear to the reader that you do not endorse sluttiness but rather want to show how it is a problem for those who behave in such a way, because it increases the loneliness and leads to further trauma.

Answer 4

On the one hand, I think it's plain silly for a reader to assume that all the beliefs and actions of characters in a story represent the beliefs of the author. Obviously when I read a murder mystery, I don't assume that because a character in the story murders someone that therefore the author must think that murder is okay. But I've heard plenty of readers say things like this. "Oh, this story is terrible, it condones X!!", when to my reading the story portrayed X as a terrible thing.

To some extent, there's nothing you can do about this. I'd think that if I write a story in which someone commits murder, I don't need to say "murder is a bad thing". That should go without saying. But apparently not.

That said, I think the best thing to do is to make the actions you want to portray as evil or foolish turn out badly. Like the girl tries to seduce a married man ... and he scornfully rejects her and she is humiliated. Or he goes along with it and ultimately they are found out and his marriage is destroyed and we see all the pain and suffering it caused.

You can create a character who is clearly portrayed as the "wise one" who comments on the goings on in a sophisticated way. "You know, you wouldn't have gotten into so much trouble if only you had ..."

Most of all, I'd avoid having evil or foolish actions turn out just fine. Like the character does become a promiscuous slut ... and at the end this results in her being very popular, everyone likes her, it leads to her getting a great job, etc etc. Or the violent killer murders his enemy, and now all his problems are solved, he's never caught, and everything his great. Etc.

Also, it's good to have villains who are believable, that is, who have plausible motives for their evil actions. But don't make them SO sympathetic that the reader is lured into thinking, "Yeah, he was right to beat his wife senseless, she was such an annoying screaming shrew", or "Yeah, the Klan was right to run those negros out of town, they were all trying to rape white women", or whatever.

Answer 5

I'd leave it. As far as a 25 year old male "adopting" a 13 year old girl; my suspension of disbelief is already broken. Without a blood relation, I'd be amazed if any court allowed that, or closet pedophiles would be adopting them daily.

You'd have a better chance with same-gender professor that IS a blood relation, like an aunt or older cousin. The courts are sympathetic to keeping blood relations together, and the "pedophile danger" is far lower for two females than for any other combination.

As for slut-shaming: What's wrong with an immature character, just beginning to think about sex, that engages in slut shaming, or has all kinds of immature misconceptions about sex, what is moral and what is not? (particularly in the age of Internet porn). I see nothing wrong with that dynamic, or her having the notion (gathered from porn) that girls are expected to be promiscuous, or forward, and deciding she can "belong to the club" by being promiscuous and forward.

One of the dynamics you can play on with two MC that are supposed to get together is complementary characters. Give both of them strengths and weaknesses, so together they really are stronger than they are independently. And like friends, you can give them similar interests in entertainment and activities, so they bond over shared experiences.

I wouldn't worry about slut-shaming, you probably want that to be a lesson she learns somewhere in the book, what is and is not "slutty", and in general to avoid self-denigration and self-devaluation over sexual feelings. But to start, she's 13, she's got ten or twelve years before we can expect her to be thinking like a fully functional adult (same for guys, btw).

Answer 6

One solution is to make the POV character's perspectives absurdly strong.

If the girl (figuratively) flagellates herself for falling for the boy, calling herself all sorts of names and imagining her punishments in hell, it will be obvious to the reader that her views are out of proportion. Obviously, you don't want this to go on long, but a few sentences along this route can go a long way.

You can also contrast this with the behavior of others around her. If, during this self-flagellation, a maidservant sighs about falling in love with yet another boy, the protagonist might accept this blithely. This would further show that the protagonist has unrealistic personal expectations.