Children of Privilege in Fiction

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In many cases, the children and grandchildren of the rich and/or famous don’t turn out so well. Growing up in privileged families can leave them spoiled, nasty, entitled, coldhearted, etc. Not always, of course, but often enough.

This is also the case in novels — which, as we know, usually mirror real life in some way. My most recently read example involves the title characters in Sons, Pearl S. Buck’s sequel to The Good Earth. In that first China-set book, Wang Lung built himself up from being a poor farmer to a rich landowner via endless toil and strategic smarts. He did exhibit some very problematic behavior in his older age, but overall was more admirable than not.

His three sons in the sequel? Not as admirable. With no worries about money after being among the inheritors of his father’s land, the eldest son becomes fat, lazy, and weak-minded. The more-intelligent second son works hard but is exceptionally greedy and miserly. The ambitious third son becomes a brave but antisocial war lord who forces his son — a gentle soul — into a military life. One wouldn’t want any of that sibling trio on their holiday card list.

Other novels in which the next or next-next generation isn’t so scintillating?

The title character of Alexander Pushkin’s novel-in-verse Eugene Onegin is a son of privilege who becomes a bored and selfish man making some unfortunate decisions.

Vernon and Petunia Dursley (more upper-middle-class than rich in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series) are not-nice human beings who raise an even-worse son, Dudley — who’s petulant, pampered, and beyond spoiled.

Another novel with a depressing descendant is Booth Tarkington’s The Magnificent Ambersons, in which the grandson of the family’s aristocratic patriarch is an arrogant jerk.

Obviously, rich and/or famous parents themselves can be problematic, with their children often following suit but sometimes becoming decent human beings.

In George Eliot’s Silas Marner, for instance, Squire Cass is quite unlikable, and his sons Godfrey and Dunstan are no picnic, either. Things are more mixed in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, in which the repulsive dad’s sons include Dmitri (who behaves kind of like his wealthy father), Ivan (an intellectual who’s a relatively decent person), and the compassionate Alexei.

Your thoughts about, and examples of, this topic?

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50 thoughts on “Children of Privilege in Fiction”

  1. Yes. And, to be fair to Tom Tulluver, he did suffer in the academic education for which he clearly wasn’t cut out. Today we’d see Maggie at the school and Tom doing something more ‘hands-on’, at which I’m sure he’d excel.

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  2. Once more my day has not been my own,, Dave, so here I am late at night doing a fast reply. I haven’t come up with too many examples, but one solid one is from my favourite book of all time, ‘The Mill on the Floss’. I can’t be the only one who loves Philip Wakem (think I’ve spelled that right), the disabled son of the lawyer so hated by Maggie’s father and who loves her nonetheless. If he gets cross with Tom at times it’s due to the latter’s insensitivity. Stephen Guest, on the other hand, has a sense of entitlement through the ceiling, in my view … which of course is prejudiced by my love and sympathy for Maggie. That he eventually get Lucy (as is suggested at the end of the book) is typical of the bad guy not getting what he deserves. Then how about the Bingley sisters in ‘Pride and Prejudice’? Their family is only a generation or two away from a background in trade, hence their snobbery over others they consider inferior on that score – although their brother is not affected in the same way, and it speaks volumes about Darcy’s character that he is close friends with that young man. For other examples I had to move closer to home, to my own ‘An Honourable Institution’, where billionaire’s daughter Cressida is an unpleasant and entitled young woman due to a difficult childhood; she evolves through bitter experience, however, although I won’t say quite what that is. If I think of any more I’ll be back; but now my bed and the inside of my eyelids await. Have a good week, Dave, and thanks for another engaging post. 🙂

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    • Thank you, Laura! I think your examples from “The Mill on the Floss” and “Pride and Prejudice” are excellent! I’ll add that, re George Eliot’s novel, Maggie is certainly a nicer, more “together” person than her brother — which makes his getting the better end of things in a patriarchal society even more unfair. And thanks for your mention/description of your book “An Honourable Institution” — definitely fits with this topic!

      Hope you have a good week, too. 🙂

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  3. An interesting topic this week with a lot of great mentions! I actually might mention my own book that just released for this topic – Hold On To Tomorrow – as the main character, Jolene, comes from a very privileged background! 🙂 It was an interesting perspective to write, for sure, and the writing of it actually made me rethink some things about my own life and choices. The journey that writing takes us on! 🙂

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    • Thank you, M.B.! Glad you mentioned your “Hold On To Tomorrow” book — and good luck with it as it hits the marketplace! As Dan Antion also mentioned in his comment here, it’s not necessarily easy to create a character from a privileged background when most of us writers are not that privileged. 🙂

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  4. A great topic, as always, Dave. And a very stimulating discussion. I agree wholeheartedly that books are a mirror of our societies, our values, our family structures. What comes to mind is not so much wealth itself, but what it can quietly take away if we’re not careful. The necessity to struggle, to imagine, to create a path forward.

    A historical example that always stays with me is Commodus, the son of Marcus Aurelius. His father was shaped by discipline and reflection, while Commodus inherited power without that same formation, and the contrast is striking. It seems that when everything is already provided, there can be less reason to reach outward or inward in the same way. Not always, but often enough to make one pause. A fascinating conversation and one that reaches far beyond literature. It comes to our thoughts, as Marcus Aurelius reminds us “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”

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    • Thank you, Rebecca! You focused on the “nub” of the matter of children of privilege; they don’t have to struggle like their parents might have (if those parents didn’t come from wealth themselves) and this can result in something lacking in their children’s personalities.

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  5. I think you’ve given us great examples, Dave.

    My own thoughts are on how authors know how to portray these children, wayward or otherwise. I only had one childhood friend whose parents were truly wealthy. I visited his house one Saturday, and I was astounded by things like a playroom the size of my parents’ living room and multiple servants showing up to bring us snacks, put away the toys and things I never dreamed happened. I could never write about a wealthy child.

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    • Thank you, Dan! That’s a great angle on this topic: how authors who are usually not wealthy themselves (unless they “hit it big”) can realistically portray rich characters.

      Interesting to hear your evocative description of visiting your childhood friend from a wealthy family. Rang a bell with me from when I (from a lower-middle-class family) would visit the homes of upper-middle-class friends. Then, later on as an adult covering cartoonists and columnists for a magazine, I would sometimes visit those creators’ homes to do interviews and such, and some of the wealthier ones had rather posh living spaces.

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    • Thank you, Marie! Your comment’s last line is SO true; wealth is definitely a mixed bag for the next generation. As for “The Brothers Karamazov,” the major differences between the three brothers was one of the major fascinations of that novel!

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  7. This post made me smile…thinking about a conversation I just had with a client who said one of her children is incredibly soothed by the movie “Mary Poppins”….but in an unlikely way. She said her special needs son adores the affluent, odd parents (George and Winifred Banks? It’s been a while) because he’s stern but has a ‘mushy middle’ and because she’s so flighty and fun. This may sound like a wayward comment in response to your post, Dave, but you did it again. Pulling threads from my head in unlikely ways! Thank you! 😊💝😊

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  8. Ah interesting, Dave. I have a couple of thoughts, two children’s books. The young Eustace was rather spoiled for most of this book. It was ‘The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ by C.S. Lewis. Great book! The best of the lot, I would say, although I read it many moons ago. The other one, popped into my head is ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’. Well done lovely Charlie Bucket, but Veruca Salt and Augustus Gloop were beyond the pail! Plus the movie with Johnny Depp was most pleasing.

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    • Thank you, Ada! Reading about aristocratic/rich/entitled characters can definitely be a guilty pleasure — especially when they get their comeuppance. 🙂 Which, sadly, seems to happen more in fiction than in real life. “The Magnificent Ambersons” is an excellent novel, though not exactly upbeat.

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  10. Hmm, I can’t think of any books that meet the brief. Coincidentally, I’ve just written a new flash fiction story that includes the following line: “To the dismay of his father [the king], he had grown up a cosseted, willful, and vain young prince.”

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  11. DJT and vile family term nepo baby slang for nepotism ,live off wealth grift, silvers spoons ,children of wealthy not having to really work.

    Michele

    E & P way back

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  13. Having worked for several family companies where the sons were spoiled and worthless additions to the companies their fathers built, I can attest to the reality of the stereotype. I can’t think of any books offhand, but I’m sure I must have read some. (K)

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  14. Hi Dave. It’s late here, and although I’ve got a couple of texts in mind I’m falling asleep so will have to come back to you tomorrow on thid. PS. congratulations to your daughter on her rowing achievements; taking part is the most important thing, as in the Olympic spirit, because nobody could win if lots of people didn’t take part. So well done her. Night night for now and catch you tomorrow. 🙂

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    • Thank you, Laura! Will look forward to your comment tomorrow! And I appreciate the kind words about my daughter and her college rowing team. Yes, competing in itself is great — plus the team camaraderie, the time management of juggling a sport and academic work, etc. She had a lot of winning in high school, so there can be a lesson in tougher times.

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  16. An excellent topic for our times. I’ve read Pearl S. Buck’s “The Good Earth,” but missed the sequel “Sons.” No similar fictional character comes to mind, though the fictional stories we tell are filled with the mischief and cruelty of such privileged miscreants.

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  17. Kind of hard-pressed for an apposite comment, especially considering that, in real life, I much prefer my children’s over their mother’s character and general attitude towards society. That aside, A House Full of Daughters by Juliet Stevenson (I mentioned it in a comment to another post) does seem to do justice to the theme, portraying generations of daughters who, if not always worse than their mothers, broadly failed to be better than them.

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    • Thank you, Dingenom! Certainly some children (in real life and in novels) are more appealing and admirable than their parents; Huck Finn, a kid with both a conscience and a problematic father, is one fictional character who comes to mind. And I appreciate the “A House Full of Daughters” example!

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