Does suffering build character?

[Scaver]

Even though I hate suffering, that's why I don't do that often to my character—I hate to say it, but the reader likes it. Especially for the character development.

As a reader i love seeing character break. And as a writer even though i haven't written a scene yet like that just thinking about breaking them is so ah~

 

[Sylthix]

Suffering gives the opportunity to build character. A basic example, main character makes a mistake and suffers for it, character development happens so that they don’t do it again

Meaningless suffering just makes the author look like they have a torture fetish

 

[taesijr123]

Suffering/mistakes of the MC provide realism to the story.
Not this one sided: I KEEP WINNING AND I AIN'T EVEN QUESTIONING HOW!

 

[Sylthix]

Suffering/mistakes of the MC provide realism to the story.
Not this one sided: I KEEP WINNING AND I AIN'T EVEN QUESTIONING HOW!

That sounds more like hardships than full out suffering, e.g death of a loved one or bodily harm.

 

[Daitengu]

Voted 'maybe'.

Suffering only builds character if the person actually learns, over comes, or motivates from it.

There's nothing to gain from suffering like social anxiety for example. You don't "get over it". It's just a part of your life. It's basically like trying to learn to talk to giant spiders who always could just randomly decide to kill you. You can, but all it does is drain your mental fortitude fast. Eventually the panic attacks start then the not leaving the house for a month. Help? Ha, that actually requires talking to professionals and that costs money. Money you ain't got cause ya just can't get/keep a job.

 

[ArcanePunkster]

If you're doing Dark Fantasy or anything else close to that genre always make your characters suffer!

 

[AnnonBee]

If so, how much suffering would you inflict on your characters?

In real life it wasn't always necessary. You can develop your chracter after reading a book or after receiving the good will from another person.
However, in a novel it is important. Think about it.
1. in an eastern fantasy novel the immortal mc sit down and hear two mortal arguing about how he would need to beat the shit out of someone even if he have to die. From hearing it, he realised what was wrong in his character, and decided to fight against his brother who was stronger than him.
2. In same novel his brother beat the shit out of him and threw him out of the house. Now he returned to take another thing from him, so he decided to fight against him even if he have to die.

No doubt the second one is more interesting to read.

 

[Alfir]

I totally agree, that's why I make my readers suffer.

They should thank me.

 

[CheertheDead]

It's a maybe.

Each person has a different personality.
Each personality perceives the world differently.
Some people takes suffering in a positive light and grow on it.
Others withdraw. Sometimes, suffering could even contribute to negative growth of a character if that character doesn't know how to take that suffering correctly.

In education and training, there is no sure way or one size fits all. The best is always exploring and find what works best for you.

We have generalization like this way to get stronger or that way to become better but it is not always working out. It's natural to have an exception to the rule.

 

[Lorelliad]

As a reader i love seeing character break. And as a writer even though i haven't written a scene yet like that just thinking about breaking them is so ah~

Sadist!?

 

[Scaver]

Sadist!?

I beg to differ. I would rather refer it as artistic viewpoint and interest.

Character breaking is one of the fundamental part of the story. Even a slice of life has it.
Reading it is fun too

 

[AliceShiki]

I don't put my characters through suffering to let them grow, their suffering is the story in itself. The moment they stop suffering, is when the story ends, because I now finished telling what I wanted to tell about them.

Like, sure, I love the happy endings, but the path to the happy ending will be filled with suffering, and the MC overcoming those things that make her suffer is the crux of the story in itself... And well, once the happy ending is reached, then we're at the happy ending, so... That is where it ends~

... Granted, not all of my stories are like that, but I do like making my characters suffer usually. I don't have much else to tell in a Slice of Life story other than suffering, I'd say... Unless I tried making comedy, but comedy is not my genre, so suffering it is~

Though I do like to mix and match suffering with fluffiness. There needs to be a good balance between them to make me happy~

 

[Kenjona]

I would beg a differ.

Adequate suffering is another form of hunger, like trials and tribulations. You either evolve and learn how to grow or get your face decked onto the ground hard enough until you learn what NOT to do.

Likewise, having no suffering means that you are in a state of peace and bliss, a joy to be in but sometimes it leads to complacency.

Though this is just my opinion and the term "suffering" might have a different notion to you.

The question was does suffering build character.

I say no for the following:

You can suffer to build a better body, you can suffer to learn skills, and you can go through suffering to get something done or just survive. But your character is something you learned growing up by watching others and defining yourself in your mind. Building character comes from how you were raised and what you take as your ideals. Character is composed of the qualities making up someone's personality.

If your getting constantly shat on growing up, and have no one to give you a hand or advice. Chances are very good your character traits will consist of poor ones. But if you have someone give you a hand, lend you a shoulder or even show you how to go forward. Then your character could develop to be a better, because you have an example of good character.

Suffering is used by many militaries and agencies of the world. They exhaust you and break you mentally down through group suffering, either to give you concentrated accelerated training or so they can mold you to their standards of being a part of a unit. They do not change your character. If you are a Blue Falcon before you join, you will still be a Blue Falcon afterword. You just will be a Blue Falcon who has learned what is required by the military/agency, and that is what you will do when everyone else is watching.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blue_falcon#:~:text=Noun,always%2C%20for%20his%20own%20benefit.

Mind you, if you survive intact from suffering, what you learn is more about your own character and its limits, rather than actually building on it.

 

[NotaNuffian]

The question was does suffering build character.

I say no for the following:

You can suffer to build a better body, you can suffer to learn skills, and you can go through suffering to get something done or just survive. But your character is something you learned growing up by watching others and defining yourself in your mind. Building character comes from how you were raised and what you take as your ideals. Character is composed of the qualities making up someone's personality.

If your getting constantly shat on growing up, and have no one to give you a hand or advice. Chances are very good your character traits will consist of poor ones. But if you have someone give you a hand, lend you a shoulder or even show you how to go forward. Then your character could develop to be a better, because you have an example of good character.

Suffering is used by many militaries and agencies of the world. They exhaust you and break you mentally down through group suffering, either to give you concentrated accelerated training or so they can mold you to their standards of being a part of a unit. They do not change your character. If you are a Blue Falcon before you join, you will still be a Blue Falcon afterword. You just will be a Blue Falcon who has learned what is required by the military/agency, and that is what you will do when everyone else is watching.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blue_falcon#:~:text=Noun,always%2C%20for%20his%20own%20benefit.

Mind you, if you survive intact from suffering, what you learn is more about your own character and its limits, rather than actually building on it.

I give a Maybe because suffering is an entry ticket to build a character, as well as being something that might break a character into something anew.

All I got to say is that suffering is an experience (thank you, captain obvious) and a negative one, which means that it will be more impactful than positive memories because humans are worry warts. But this is not the main point.

I will not downplay the importance of upbringing because it IS a crucial factor of human growth, once a person gets older, he tends to stick to what he had and hence the term "a leopard never changes its spots" . It is paramount enough that education and positive reinforcement should be granted to a child not as a want, but rather a need. At here you stated that "character" is one that remains unchangeable or rather, cemented from young and slowly chiseled with age (chiseled is the wrong word as it suggests change but I can't find a better term for now) .

While it is true that the influences when young is an important aspect, so are the mindset and willpower.

Take a story told to me by my relatives as an inspirational tale, a story about a drunk childbeater and his two sons. Upon seeing the daily abuse of his father, one son had thought to himself 'I don't want to be him' while the other one believed that 'I will become him' , guess what happened? In an ideal ending, the former becomes not-drinking, child doting father of his own while the other suck balls. I will not say BS like "why can't you just be better" or "stop being poor" to a downed person, because it is insensitive and boorish.

For the record, I totally agree on the blue falcon example and how people just learn how to hide in the general public. Also, working as a volunteer before, I was constantly bombarded with people worsening in suffering. But a small part of me understand that people learn as they age, with newer experiences that might do minute changes to their personalities (or it is the blue falcon thing, I dunno, I can never tell as I suck at reading people) and by a thin chance, I think they can change for the better.

So my stance is still maybe.

 

[SirDogeTheFirst]

Suffering alone not, but overcoming that suffering does build a character.

 

[AKnightWithaKnife]

suffering for the sake of suffering isn’t character builder

 

[AnUnknownMan]

It depends on how much. A little is good, a lot breaks the spine, but if you get it just right you get both a motive and a trauma/character ark. If this is the backstory, you have room to both expose the character to harm and save them with a deus ex machina. Else you will have to be careful with the setup and execution. Also consider how different characters would react to similar experiences. If you can get both a heroic and a villainous interpretation, this makes for an excellent foil dynamic.

 

[SakeVision]

Well, it clearly builds something, but it ain't necssecerily a character, chief!

if you know what I man, owo ;33333

 

[Ai-chan]

Suffering probably wouldn't build character, since if the author's skill sucks, any amount of suffering would just feel like sadism. But some people enjoy watching others suffer or at least feel good about not being in that shithole situation.

That's why Ai-chan watch youtube documentaries about Congo and Burundi.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

I think suffering can build character, but it can only emotionally progress a character in certain directions. You can’t have a character that is constantly abused by others grow into a more trusting individual, but you can make their suffering cause them to be more emotionally distant from others.