killing the dreams of the teenage traveller

[Wynnara]

I'm currently feeling my way around a scenario for a story. It's important to note that while the majority of the story is traditional fantasy, the scenario I'm talking about here is very much in our world.

I've got a 17 year old girl who has lived in a small town all her life. For a variety of reasons, she desperately wants to leave and has set her sights on the idea of getting a youth work visa and travelling by herself to London. She's been saving every cent for as long as she'd been able to hold an after school job and, just as soon as she finishes high school and turns 18, she's on a plane and out of there. Her family have other plans for her so she's been keeping this dream secret from them.

What I need is for the family to find out about the plan and then ruthlessly throw a wrench in the works. I'm imagining something like... at 17 she's still a minor and so the family threatens to go to the bank and seize all her hard earned savings... or maybe she has a small inheritance that she knows is coming when she turns 18 and the family says they'll do something to ensure that she never gets it... I'm looking for something simple, but plausible that would absolutely devastate this girl... make her feel like she's trapped and helpless by her circumstances.


Any thoughts?

 

[Kit]

Here's a good one- give her a younger sibling that she cares deeply for and feels responsible for... then give that sibling some kind of crisis right before the MC is preparing to leave, that makes the MC feel conflicted about leaving him/her.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

You would have to check the laws of England but I am pretty certain that a parent couldn't just take the money of their child. Also if she was guaranteed in the will then the family could not take the inheritance without changing that will. Now they could physically stop her or you could do what Kit said. That would be really compelling.

 

[Wynnara]

Hmm, yes I suspected the money thing could be problematic.

The thing I really want to convey with this character is her independence... this notion that the only way she feels like she can feel strong and empowered is to push everyone away and just run... get as far from everyone as possible--both those who love her unconditionally and those who simply seek obedience and control. Obviously there's a streak of teenage rebellion to that, but I think there's also something about that place we sometimes get to when we feel like the only way to make a real change in our lives to just destroy everything around us... push it all away... burn all the bridges and let it all go.

I'm NOT suggesting this is a positive character trait by any means, but it is where I want this character to start so that I can build the arc to EVENTUALLY get her to the point where she sees it's not as simple as walking away... that she can stay and still be strong... that she can empower those she thought she could just leave behind.

HOWEVER before this arc can happen... I feel like there needs to be this crisis point... this moment which really highlights how badly she wants to leave and the forces set against her. Then again, maybe I am making it too complicated. Maybe all the moment needs is some big family fight... "What do you mean you're not going to college and you're heading off to London? I simply won't allow it!"... "Oh yea, well YOU CAN'T STOP ME!"


Then again... what about her passport? Maybe it's as simple as the family holding her passport hostage? Or burning it before her eyes? It wouldn't stop her permanently, but it could be a real pain to replace--particularly if she's got her flight lined up already.

 

[Kit]

You would have to check the laws of England but I am pretty certain that a parent couldn't just take the money of their child. Also if she was guaranteed in the will then the family could not take the inheritance without changing that will.

She hasn't gone to England yet.... and even if she does, she will still, for a time at least, be considered a citizen of whatever country she was born in. I'm pretty sure that in most places, the law says that while you are a minor, your parents legally own everything of yours- and they totally have the right to clean out your bank account at whim.

 

[CupofJoe]

She has to travel and they want her stopped? Report her passport stolen...
Just the hassle of getting things sorted, let alone obtaining / issuing a new passport would take weeks...

And even if she managed to get out of country [Canada?] there is no way the UK border agency would let her in. She could some wonderful time at one of our always welcoming detention centres... there haven't been any riots there for months....

 

[tlbodine]

Depends on the type of family she has, I think, and how creative/vindictive they are. Are they acting out of pure concern, however misguided? Are they more malicious and controlling? I have a brother who would put himself in the hospital for attention if things weren't going his way. Maybe she has the same.

Something to think about: In some states, at least, if you're 17 and you run away from home, your parents can just call the cops and report you as a runaway, and the cops will track you down and force you to go back home if they find you. I'm also not sure about the logistics of buying an airplane ticket when you're underage -- pretty sure that you need someone over 18 to buy the ticket on your behalf. I vaguely recall running into issues with that when I was in college (I left at 16, which was a logistical nightmare for my parents).

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

When it comes to the bank account issue it really depends on country. However, I know in the United States taking the money of your child could be considered a form of child abuse if that child had earned that money on their own. Now does that mean that the parents absolutely can't take all the money, no. Does that mean your MC can sue for punitive damages plus a restoration of what was lost and win. Oh you bet she could. Now, if you wanted this scenario to play out you could put a time stamp on when she needed to be there and pursuing the legal field would be out of the question because of that time restraint.

 

[Kit]

Does that mean your MC can sue for punitive damages plus a restoration of what was lost and win. Oh you bet she could.

Maybe, *if* she could navigate a legal system that's too complicated for many adults to navigate, come up with the time and transportation to pursue the case (when presumably she has school), and how's she going to afford a lawyer- especially if her parents cleaned out her account?

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

There are various avenues to pursue legal recourse without actually paying. Lawyers often do pro bono work. Often times a law school in the state will be have a clinic that will give them advise and connect the poorer client to a lawyer that will do the work in that area. Transportation can also be arranged by the lawyer.

 

[Wynnara]

Mm, I don't want to let things get too complicated here. She's essentially a potential teenage runaway whose family is choosing very poor options to keep her under their thumb, ostensibly for her own good. I was reading up on parenting advice on my commute today, (I don't have kids), and the things that drive teenagers to run away and the sorts of things that you shouldn't do when they're in that mindset.

I'm increasingly liking the simplicity of just having a family member tear up her passport. It's simple. It's symbolic. It has the potential to be very visual. Technically she probably couldn't get a passport on her own or buy plane tickets, but maybe that's another way to illustrate that sense of rebellion. She forges a family member's signature to get the passport and has an older friend buy the plane tickets for her online. Her rationale is that by the time she actually uses them she will be 18 and no longer a minor.