Hey ill been loving meet me by the try line, but the latest chapter hating on Masons mum for wasting her universal credit (which is a goverment service i personally use) just didnt really rub me the right way. I just dont know if its necessary to use it like that in the text when in the uk the demonisation of using goverment services is so prevalent? I understand Mason could have internalised ableism and its more about how shes selfish but id just ask you to reconsider how youre writing working class characters and their parents, as it feels like playing hard into stereotypes. Thanks for sharing your writing and i hope you have a nice day!
Appreciate your response!Ā
But it was absolutely intended to be interpreted as a negative portrayal of his mother.Ā
That particular part was primarily written by me and I gave it a lot of consideration - including the risk that people may take it as my own views or even a baseless stereotype.
For what it's worth it's NOT my view of working class people HOWEVER it has been my lived experience of SOME people.
Part of this fic is highlighting the differences between the two schools and the social dynamics between them, as well as following the boys (specifically Edwin and Charles. Mason actually wasn't intended to become such a character !) as they addressed their own prejudices and the environment they've been raised in that have fed into them.Ā
Simon himself is battling with his own parents rhetoric that, by the very nature of going to state school, Mason is beneath him and Edwin and Simon are obviously both grappling with their parents opinions on homosexuality whilst Charles is walking a fine line of his abusive homelife.Ā
Mason is 'stuck' in his 'social class'.Ā
He's a product of his environment and of his mother's apathy and a generational expectation that there is no point in hoping or trying for more - an attitude I'm unfortunately very familiar with in part of my own family and friends.Ā
Perhaps it wasn't framed as well as I'd hoped! But the intention here was not to 'hate' on working class people or recipients of welfare but to highlight the type of environment that Mason comes from and where his own (occasionally abrasive and kind of prejudiced) attitude comes from.Ā
His mother isnt particularly wasting her money - the bills are all paid and the kids are looked after - it's more that her attitude towards life is exhausted and ultimately she was a young mother with two kids who doesn't always have the maturity/mental space to prioritise them over herself.Ā
It's also worth noting this is from Mason's perspective - what teenager HASN'T thought their parents were wasting āspareā money just because it wasn't being spent on them!?
A couple of paragraphs are doing a lot of lifting here! That's fair! And I'm sorry if you felt it was a slight against working class people - it wasn't intended that way at all.
It was intended to contexualise Mason's thinking and the Eastfieldās team (and school) in general and perhaps to make people consider a little and be a little uncomfortable with the stark difference between Masonās home life that is almost parentifying him and his very real problems (his sisters hopes and dreams being his problem because he knows his mother will let her down and his own expectations for life after college that just aren't practical because ultimately he knows he'll need to work) compared to Simon's privileged home that provides him multiple international travel opportunities, luxuries like game tickets and a guarantee to a high tier university.
Yet both of them are still held down by prejudice and parental expectations/blinkered beliefs.
Again I'm genuinely sorry if you felt it was a slight, that wasn't my intention!
But it also isn't my intention to portray all the wealthy individuals in this fic as evil caricatures of āthe richā whilst the āpoor kidsā all have hard, honest, working folk at home with no problems or negatives.
I both don't feel thats a realistic portrayal and also the fic IS from the boys viewpoint and it's written in their voice (to the best of our ability!) with the immature and ill informed understanding of the world that seventeen year olds have whilst they try and navigate forming their own opinions when faced with this sudden exposure to culture and society different to the one they were raised in and people who are in direct opposite to their stereotypes they have been fed from the adults around them.
I hope this explains somewhat and I'm not invalidating your feelings or interpetion. If anything the way you feel (I think) shows the writing conveyed what I intended.
Masons POV of his mother isn't entirely fair or accurate - he only sees what pertains to him not the work she DID do to raise him or the things she DID sacrifice or the battles she DID fight before giving up.
In the same way Simon's POV (and Charles and Edwins) are also self centred and flawed and unfair to the people around them (including each other)
And honestly a chunk of this is about them learning that. š
(apologies for the lengthy reply I really felt like this was important for me to over explain š
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