(Meta) Faith's Childhood

[stormwreath]

What was Faith's childhood like, before she came to Sunnydale? A while ago, I was involved in a conversation about that in the comments on deird1's LJ, and gave a fairly in-depth reply. I thought it would be interesting to take that, polish it up and add lots more examples and inferences, and post it here for everyone to read.

There's probably not

Comments

[menomegirl]

Very good meta! I linked this on the su_herald. Hope that was okay. :)

[stormwreath]

Yay! Of course it's okay. Thanks. :-)

[beer_good_foamy]

All very interesting, and I pretty much agree with your take on it - though I still don't see where the illiteracy angle comes from; the fact that she doesn't read doesn't necessarily mean she can't read. (Not to mention that she never actually exhibits any signs of adult illiteracy - plus, she's obviously literate enough to figure out the pimp's address in "Five By Five".)

However, fanfiction often suggests that she had a Catholic upbringing

I think that's partly due to her later arc; as I think I've said before, it fits that the two characters in the Buffyverse who are most into confessing their guilt ("Just tell me how to make it better!") and doing penance for past wrongs - Angel and Faith - are both of Irish stock, as opposed to the rest of the mostly Anglo (and OK, Jewish) cast. I'd say that Faith may not actually be Christian, but she's definitely Catholic.

However, it's also widely assumed in fandom that Faith was also sexually abused as a child. This is based on her attitudes and behaviour as an adult, rather than any

[stormwreath]

I still don't see where the illiteracy angle comes from

Simply from this question: given that Faith seems to have had very little formal schooling - and that her home life doesn't exactly sound to be very conducive to learning - when and where, exactly, would she have learned to read? It's not something you just pick up by osmosis, except maybe if you're a genius. (I could maybe believe Willow teaching herself to read from the back of cereal packets; but Faith, not so much.)

There are 30 million adults (one person in seven) in the US who have "below basic" literacy; 55% of them were high school drop-outs like Faith. Is it really that strange to assume Faith is one of them?

how do we know Faith is completely honest about her past?Oh, I don't think for a moment she is. I'm sure she exaggerates, embroiders and plain makes things up all the time... at least in Season 3. The question is why? - and I'd say the answer is "out of self-defence". Faith doesn't ever want to be vulnerable again, and that means never admitting a weakness. She

[beer_good_foamy]

when and where, exactly, would she have learned to read?

In school? Canon has her being a high school dropout, not a kindergarten one. I'm not saying she was a good student, or that she reads Proust for kicks, I just think that her being completely illiterate is a pretty big assumption to make with no real textual evidence - and in fact, several hints to the contrary. That said, thoose are very interesting stats - do you know how they define "below basic"?

She's got no motivation to lie about her past to Spike; she seems to enjoy just relaxing and being herself with him. (And Spike himself is pretty good at detecting bullshit, and seems to see Faith as genuine there.)

Good point, and if it weren't for my inner devil's advocate, I'd probably agree. ;-) But I do think it's ambiguous;

SPIKE: Not all that tension was about you. Giles was a part of a plan to kill me...for Buffy's own good.
FAITH: Well, that makes me feel better about me, worse about Giles...kinda shaky about you.Faith has just been more or less outright told that

[beer_good_foamy]

...and I just saw your response to erimthar below, so nevermind about the "completely" bit. Sorry.

[elisi]

Very, very excellent meta.

Re. her watcher then I can definitely see her bonding with someone who could probably fill a mother-like role in her life. And not just that, but someone whose *job*, whose *mission*, was her, because she was *special*.

Poor Faith.

(Actually, I think she ended up a lot better than Joss suggests in the comics, but that's just me and my crazy logical mind speaking... *g*)

[stormwreath]

Thank you! :-) And I defnitely agree "poor Faith"; I kept thinking it all the way through writing that.

Her Watcher may have been more a grandmother than a mother if she was really much less "young and cute" than Giles - though of course she may have been saying that purely to freak out Buffy and flirt with Giles, rather than it actually being true.

And given Faith's new commitment to helping out younger Slayers and stopping them going down the same path she did, I'd say she'd ended up in a not-so-bad place in the comics. That's probably why eowyn_315's recent fic has Buffy asking Faith suspiciously "Since when did you become the voice of reason?"

[elisi]

Her Watcher may have been more a grandmother than a mother if she was really much less "young and cute" than Giles
True. I think I meant more 'parental', than motherly - someone who is focussed solely on *her*. And we see with Gwendolyn Post that she happily accepts [harsh] training regimes etc that are thrown at her. It's the betrayal that stings.

"Since when did you become the voice of reason?"
Since Joss lobotomised Buffy? *waves RTD flag and runs away*

[erimthar]

Good stuff...

I personally have assumed Buffy to be slightly older than Faith (as in my story "Dead Girls' Party"). But I think they're probably close enough in age that they'd be in the same grade in school.

I see Faith as being more "under-literate" than illiterate. I think she'd have little trouble reading signs or packaging on products, or even the basic newspaper or magazine article. She's probably never read a real book cover-to-cover, though.

I'd say she has a pretty good case of ADHD going on.

[stormwreath]

I see Faith as being more "under-literate" than illiterate.

Well, that's probably more like what I meant to say. :-) Faith's actually pretty perceptive and intelligent, just uneducated. (And as you suggest, maybe attention-deficient. Doesn't Buffy actually call her "Miss Attention Span" at one point?)

Thanks!

[deird1]

(*knows a fair bit about ADHD*)

I'd actually say that Faith probably doesn't have ADHD - but Anya almost certainly does...

[erimthar]

Really? I would have pegged Anya as Asperger Syndrome.

[murielle]

Love the Faith's Childhood meta. Thought provoking, infact bunny inciting. ;-))

However I must agree with beer_good_foamy about the lying. Having known a few young women in my life with very similar histories as described above I found them to be frequent, inspite of not being very good, liars, who spun their tales to get attention, to give themselves importance, etc. Their lies were never deliberately malicious, but often involved others--particularly sexual exploits with men--who might have been adversly affected by said lies if they were believed and repeated.

One thing I don't think you touched on, yet I saw in Faith (and in the young women I described) was the ability/compulsion to manipulate the people around them. (Perhaps you alluded to this in your take on the "flirting".) Faith is always looking for "an edge" and seems to have very few restrictions on using whatever edge she finds.

I really do love this meta. It has opened Faith up to me in so many ways I really hadn't considered that deeply.

[stormwreath]

Thanks!

It's certainly worth considering that Faith's teens were not nearly so adventurous as she makes out... maybe I'm too trusting of attractive young women, and would therefore be easy prey for a Faith in real life. :-)

But then again Faith really is remarkably good at mingling with the aristocracy, suggesting her boast about "banging enough bankers" isn't a complete fabrication...

One thing I don't think you touched on, yet I saw in Faith (and in the young women I described) was the ability/compulsion to manipulate the people around them.While I did touch on her character in general, this was meant to be a meta on Faith's childhood specifically rather than her personality as an adult. I agree with you that she'd manipulative, though. I think Faith was taught very early on that life is a zero sum game, and you're either a winner or a loser. She's determined to never again be a loser, which means grabbing every advantage she possibly can in life - and lying, cheating and stealing to come out ahead

[murielle]

I'm so sorry, I didn't finish my thought about Faith and manipulative behviour. Abused children survive by being manipulative. That is one of the things to look for in a child whom you consider may be being abused. So, really I was suggesting that behaviour as supportive to your argument. (But alas, my thoughts got away from me. Which is why I don't really do much in the way of meta myself.) I think your position was really enlightening. I know I will be reconsidering what you've written the next time I write Faith in fic.